Sadi shifted under the dryer again, touching the tin foil in her hair in an effort to quell the itch of the bleach. How had she come so far from those early giddy days where even the slightest touch could send shivers of passion racing through her body? Even the smallest smile Luke sent her way never failed to brighten her day. Now Sadi felt like she was living someone else’s life. She felt as if she were using Luke. Sadi felt like she was adrift, floating in a sea of apathy and being swallowed by the waves of a meaningless life.
She turned her attention back to the television when a large red banner flashed across the screen. The TV was on mute and Sadi couldn't hear anything, but she could read what the neat tiny white writing said as it flashed along the bottom of the screen.
Bombing. Pearson and Pearson.
Sadi felt like she had been punched in the gut. She was completely winded. She watched in horror, pinned to the chair, hair dryer continuing on, blissfully unaware that Sadi's world was collapsing in around her.
Chapter 2
She watched the wretched pictures flash across the screen. The building on fire. Flames spouting and roaring out of busted windows. Shards of glass sprayed all over the street. A giant hole gaping like a wounded toothless mouth in the side of the building. The side on which Luke's office was located. Oh Jesus. Luke.
Sadi finally spurred herself into action. She slid from under the hot blowing air, ripped the black salon covering off and tore off through the front entrance. It did dawn on her that she should pay, but she couldn't wait one second longer.
Was this really what her life had boiled down to? Thoughts of paying for a half finished dye job she didn't even want in the first place shouldn’t enter her head alongside the worry about her fiancé and everyone else she knew in that building. She had worked there for over a year. She knew at least half of the employees.
Sadi said a prayer for the first time in as long as she could remember. She vowed that if Luke had survived, no matter what happened to him, she would marry him and do her damn best to try and help them find their way back to where they had been in the beginning.
When they had been in love. She would cherish Luke like she should. She would never take one single thing for granted again.
Sadi had felt so numb for so long she had thought that her love for Luke was dead, but the thought of him lying injured or worse brought it back in a rush.
Every single feeling and emotion, every joy and sorrow, every memory from their relationship came flooding back. How could she have wasted so many minutes, hours, days, months? Precious time she had with Luke that she hadn't even been grateful for.
Sadi felt ashamed as she rammed her car in gear and sped away from the stupid salon. It was true that her life had become all but meaningless, but she had been wrong to blame Luke for what had happened.
The choices she made were hers alone. She had done nothing but waste the money and opportunity she had been given when she had met Luke. She knew there were many people who made it their life's mission to ensure their money was well spent on philanthropic endeavours. They lived to help others. Sadi had lived to get her hair dyed every twenty one days without fail.
She glanced in the mirror. She could see the tin foil sticking out all over her hair. Far worse, Sadi didn't even recognize herself anymore. Where was that girl who had grown up rough and tumble? Who didn't care about perfectly manicured nails or if a dark root was showing? Who didn't need designer clothing and fast cars to define her self-worth?
It was going to change. All of it. Sadi needed it to. If Luke had survived, she knew it was a message. It was a wakeup call, a second chance.
A chance to get to know her husband. To fall back in love with him. To find that girl she had been when she had been proud of herself. Sadi wasn't going to squander it. If Luke was alive, Sadi knew it would be nothing short of a miracle. She had never believed in miracles before, but she wanted to now. She needed to.
Sadi pulled as close as she could get to Pearson and Pearson. The street was a mess of swirling sirens, ambulances, police cars, specially marked vehicles… everything. She got out of her sports car and left it with the door hanging wide open. In the back of her mind Sadi thought she should shut it but she didn’t. She just left it. She did have the foresight to grab her purse.
She approached the scene with trepidation. The building didn’t look half as bad as it had on TV. The hole that had been blown in the side was much smaller, but it filled her with dread all the same. It was as she thought- the side of the building that Luke’s office was on.
Sadi approached one of the uniformed officers who was holding back the swarming crowds and media frenzy. There were people holding cameras and people recording everything on cell phones.