by Sara Daniel
“I brought your favorite drink.”
She whirled to find Colin, holding a Perrier in each hand. “What are you doing here?”
“I like to consider myself a friend, but the flyer said the benefit was open to the public, too.”
Drawing a shaky breath, she stared, her chest aching from missing him. Before her surgery, she’d crammed every moment full, half-convinced she’d die on the operating table, or from complications afterward. But she’d survived, and he’d remained by her side at the hospital every day.
After sending him away, she didn’t develop a deadly infection, or die in dramatic fashion of a broken heart. Worse, for the first time in her adult life, she stopped living life to the fullest. Rather than fill her days with him, she’d wasted a whole month.
“Of course you’re a friend. I’m glad you’re here.” Wrapping her arms around him, she soaked in his warmth and strength. As much as she never wanted to let him go, she limited the touch to a quick embrace then stepped back.
A relieved smile broke across his face, but with a drink in each hand, he didn’t hug her in return.
Before he walked away, she hurried to invent a conversation. “Who’s juggling phone calls and spreadsheets in your office if you’re here?” Still shocked he’d left his office to visit her in the hospital, let alone been a constant presence at her side, she was no less surprised he’d seen any value in mingling at her work-free dinner.
“I discovered a management secret called delegating.” His tone held an unfamiliar hint of self-directed humor. He handed her one of the glasses, his fingers brushing hers. Her body tingled at the contact. “I don’t know if you remember the big merger I negotiated during your massage sessions.”
“I’ll never forget. I learned more about it than I did about you.” The joke slipped from her lips, but as she sipped the Perrier, she couldn’t swallow around the lump in her throat. After she’d dumped him, he’d come to the party, going out of his way, not just to be polite, but to bring her a special token of their time together. She didn’t deserve such a sweet, thoughtful man.
With a nod, he acknowledged her words. “I changed my plans. I’d planned to lay off all of Downing’s upper management and run everything myself. Instead, I kept everyone on who wanted to stay, gave them more projects, and a schedule for reporting to me. I worked a fifty-hour week this week, and I’ve set a goal to shave it down to forty by the end of the month.”
A fifty-hour week equaled part-time to him. Again, she wanted to hug him, but managed to hold back, brushing her fingertips over his yellow and orange paint-splotched tie instead. “What are you doing in all your spare time? Tie shopping?”
Glancing down, he smiled. “Do you like it? I thought of you and decided to splurge.”
“Glad to see I was instrumental in introducing another color on the spectrum.” In truth, she found it hideous compared to his blue ties, but knowing he thought of her when he wore it, elevated it to her favorite.
“When I’m not out tie shopping or practicing my delegating skills, I’m going through training to become a hospital volunteer. But most of my hours I fill by daydreaming about you.” His gaze locked on her for a long, tense moment. Then his tone shifted. “What about you? You’re not getting into trouble with your doctor for skydiving, are you?”
Grateful he allowed her the reprieve to keep the conversation light, she said, “Not a chance with the way my mother’s been hovering.”
“How much longer are she and your dad staying with you?” He set his empty glass on a passing waiter’s tray, and she did the same.
“They’re leaving at the end of the weekend.” Hallelujah. As much as she loved her parents, she needed to regain her freedom. “If you want to watch Peter’s head blow off, give him a lecture on how he needs to stop in and see me before and after work every day to make sure I’m okay because texting is no substitute for real contact.”
Peter snuck up behind her. “That is not funny,” he snapped. “Why don’t you try to convince them to lay off? It’s not like you want me around all the time, either.”
“Hey, as long as they’re nagging you, they’re not focusing it on me.”
Peter stormed off in a pretend huff.
Laughing, she turned back to Colin. “Trust me on this. You never get too old to torment your big brother.”
Watching Peter across the room, he showed no sign of amusement. A moment later he returned his focus to her. “He’s not ordering me to leave like last time. That’s an improvement.”
She glanced away, ashamed of her actions. After regretting and stewing over her treatment of Colin for weeks, she prepared to deliver her overdue apology. “He regrets that. When he saw me crying, he assumed you were breaking up with me. When he found out I’d ended things… well, luckily I was lying in the hospital, looking pathetic and near death, so he tempered the yelling and knocking-sense moves I deserved.”
“You think you needed sense knocked into you?” The emotion lacking in Colin’s gaze a moment earlier bubbled to the forefront.
Taking a deep breath, she clasped his palm in hers. “Yes. If you recall, I told you to get out of my life immediately after we both admitted we loved each other. I’m pretty sure that means I need my brain fixed more than I need heart surgery.”
Without hesitation, he squeezed her hand. “Your need for medical specialists, no matter what body part, doesn’t scare me away. My question’s still open. Do you want me to repeat it?”
“Marriage?” She wanted to scream yes, but he had to understand what the vow would mean for him, being such a future-oriented guy. “For richer or poorer will make you a heck of a lot poorer. I have health insurance, but it’s not great coverage, which means I end up with huge bills and need my friends and the community to come to my rescue every time I end up in the hospital.”
“I have great insurance. I should have mentioned it last time. Pre-existing conditions are covered.”
“I’m not telling you this to get access to your plan. I’m telling you I’ll be expensive. I’ll be a high-maintenance wife.”
He grinned, showing his lack of concern. “I think of it as a future investment, and you know how big I am on investing in the future.”
Before reminding him how little future she might have despite those plans, she reassessed his expression. Having good insurance didn’t guarantee anything. In order to live in the moment, she needed to believe a long, full future awaited her.
“Is it tacky to turn a benefit dinner into an engagement party?” she asked.
“I like it. It’s spontaneous, classic, Willow behavior. I wish I’d thought to buy you a ring in advance of coming here.”
“No ring.” She threaded her fingers with his. “But you can donate what you would have spent on one to my medical fund.”
He took her in his arms and kissed her. “I’ll give you both. You captivated me from the first moment you walked into my office, Willow. Thank you for teaching me how to live for right now and reminding me of what’s important in my life.”
Not the least bit lightheaded from his kiss, she held him to her, treasuring the moment. The stars dancing in front of her eyes came from the man she loved more than she ever imagined possible. “Thank you for reminding me I have more in my life to live for beyond today. I love you.”
“And I love you.” He cradled her against his chest, and their hearts beat as one.
~ABOUT THE AUTHOR~
Sara Daniel writes irresistible romance, from sweet to erotic and everything in between. On the personal side, she’s a frazzled maid, chef, chauffeur, tutor, and personal assistant. She battles a serious NASCAR addiction and was once a landlord of two uninvited squirrels. She follows research and new developments concerning tricuspid atresia and other congenital heart defects, and she holds a special place in her heart for “heart kids” and their families.
You can visit Sara at:
www.saradaniel.com
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