Slipperless Series (Book #4)(17)

Gabe was not a stupid man.

There was no chance he didn't understand the significance of my confessions. It's not that I expected him to say anything of the kind in return, but the callousness of his words since then left me in a state of confusion.

Some part of me had changed during that time. Foolishly, I'd believed that seeing me in a vulnerable state would somehow change things between us. That’s what made the tone of his communication to me all the more cutting and harsh.

Suddenly, it was as if what I’d confided to him meant nothing. Once again, it was all about the bottom line and what I could bring him to make Hawkins Biotech, and the Link Protocol, as successful as possible.

This was the first time since I’d known him that I’d seen this side of his personality. Yes, he could be difficult and demanding, but I always imagined myself safe from his ruthlessness. After all, he'd always been supporting and encouraging of me, since the beginning.

Listless, I reached for my fork.

As I held it, I pushed the remainder of my dinner around on my plate in absent-minded circles and realized how wrong I was. I’d trusted him with my heart and with my most painful secret.

Whether I wanted to admit it or not, I was in love with him.

It saddened me beyond words that the emotion was one-sided.

Staring at the mishmash of leftover food I'd created on my plate, the depth of my disappointment manifested itself, for just then tears began to stream in rivulets of aching fire down my cheeks.

Gabe was incapable of seeing how I felt and most likely shared nothing similar towards me. Because if he couldn't, even after everything we'd been through together in those few days on the island, then I had nothing else to consider.

It was obvious that he wasn’t in love with me.

Like it or not, I was left with only one choice. I could never let him know I felt this way. The only logical way forward for me was to do the job I’d been assigned to do. With any luck, there might be a sliver of hope still remaining for my grandmother and my job.

The same, however, could not be said about Gabe and me.

What might’ve been was now dead.



FIONA

I was somewhere between sleep and consciousness, in that place where dreams and reality mix into kind of a hazy awareness. And so it was within that state I thought I heard the sound of my cell phone ringing.

I ignored the sound at first, accepting it as part of my unconscious state, but the irritant persisted, and before long my eyes fluttered open. In the dark of my bedroom, I looked to my right and noticed the flashing blue screen on my device.

I extended my arm and slapped my hand down on top of it, dragging it from the nightstand. As I turned it over, I noticed a phone number unfamiliar to me.

“Who the hell is calling me at three o’clock in the morning?” I muttered.

Still half asleep, I swiped the phone on and answered.

“Miss… Matthews?” A strange voice said on the other end of the line.

I licked my lips, still trying to come to full consciousness.

“Yes?” I said as I propped myself up on one elbow. “This is Miss Matthews.”

Over the next several minutes, I listened in horror as a nurse from the floor where my grandmother was in the hospital told me about her condition. Apparently, she had several episodes where she’d lost consciousness and stopped breathing. The doctors were on their way, but even after consulting with the nurses over the phone, they didn’t know what the problem might be. As she finished bringing me up-to-date, I sat up in my bed and turned on a nearby lamp.

“What are you telling me?” I asked her.

Without a moment’s hesitation, she responded, “Ma’am I’m telling you that you need to come to the hospital right away. At this point, your grandmother is stable, but we have no way of knowing if her condition might worsen.”

“Okay, okay… I’ll, um, be there soon as I can.”

After hanging up the phone, I rushed about and got dressed as quickly as possible. Within ten minutes, I was in my car and on my way across town to the hospital.

The elevator doors opened and I hurried in the direction of my grandmother’s room. As I entered, I noticed a couple of nurses and my grandmother’s primary doctor attending to her.

Even from across the room, I could tell something was terribly wrong. Her skin appeared ashen and lifeless. Horrified, I drew my hands towards my face and covered my mouth with them. Without realizing it, I began to cry. Salty streams gushed from my eyes and ran down over my fingers in heated ripples.

I felt frozen in place as I watched what looked to be my grandmother’s final moments unfold before my eyes. Just then, one of the nurses happen to turn and look at me. Reaching for a box of tissues next to my grandmother’s bed, she hurried in my direction. As she approached, she grasped several tissues, snatching them from inside the box.