Series: The Laws of Opposite Attract Series by Vi Keeland
Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 98878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 396(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 396(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
He shook his head. “You got lucky that Kyra told her the truth. Not sure I would’ve believed you either, if I were Alex.”
“Keep it down,” I whispered. “I don’t want her to know I’m talking about it.”
He lowered his voice. “Anyway, I think you should keep going for it.”
“I’ve been trying, but she’s hard to get.”
“Some of the best things in life are.” He patted me on the back. “Anyway, hate to drag you away as soon as you got here, Romeo, but I need you to come with me to the store. I’m gonna need your help unloading a couple of appliances.”
I looked back over at her. “Shit. Okay. Let me just go say hi first.”
He nodded. “Don’t take too long. I gotta get back to the City soon.”
I entered the bedroom where Alex was still chatting with those guys.
“Hey.” I forced a smile.
She turned and blew a hair up into her forehead. “Hey.”
“I’m sorry I’m late,” I said.
“I didn’t think you were gonna show,” she said, walking over to where I stood.
“Yeah, well, I stupidly forgot to set my alarm last night.”
Alex raised her eyebrows. “I didn’t take you to be so irresponsible.”
“I’m generally not. Distracted is a better word.”
“What has you distracted?”
“A certain woman who’s wrong about being too old for me, but probably not wrong about being too good for me.” I exhaled. “Anyway, I’m pissed at myself for missing half the morning.”
She looked around to make sure no one had heard me. “I got news for you…” She chuckled.
“What?”
“I forgot to set my alarm, too.”
“You were late?”
She shook her head. “I just got lucky because I couldn’t sleep and was up by five AM anyway.”
“Sounds like we’re both pretty distracted.”
“Hey, Ashton Kutcher!” Holden shouted. “Don’t mean to interrupt, but we need to get going.”
I’m gonna kill him.
“You’d better go.” Alex blushed as she turned toward the wall she was painting.
“I’ll see you when I get back.”
“Yeah, okay,” she said without turning around again.
After Holden and I went to the home improvement store, I’d never moved so fast as we loaded and unloaded those appliances. But one catastrophe after another ensued once we tried to hook everything up. All I wanted was to convince Alex to get coffee with me before we both had to leave. But it was late afternoon before I had a chance to go talk to her again.
When I returned to the room she’d been working on, though, I realized any luck I might’ve had left with Alex this weekend had officially run out.
She was gone—without saying goodbye.
CHAPTER 6
Alex
“You have no idea how many faces are going to light up when they see these, Mrs. Jones.”
“Please, call me Alex.”
After I left the renovation site on Sunday, rather than heading straight home, I’d stopped over at Memorial Cancer Center, the hospital the latest Ryan’s House would support, to drop off a few of the newest electronic gaming consoles and some games. I’d read an article in the Seneca Falls paper that said donations were down due to the economy. It had mentioned that the pediatric wards had outdated gaming systems, so I’d decided to do something about it.
“If you have time,” Liz, the social worker, said, “you’re welcome to come with me up to the floor to deliver these. The kids are usually gathered in the rec room before dinner. Donors should get to see the impact they make when they can.”
“I’d love that.”
“You’ll just have to wear a mask and not touch anything. Many of our patients have weakened immune systems from treatment.”
“Oh, of course.”
I followed Liz up to the fourth-floor pediatric oncology unit. We stopped at the nurses’ station to let them know we’d come bearing gifts, and then headed down to the patient recreation room.
After my husband was diagnosed, I’d spent a lot of time around cancer patients, but nothing could’ve prepared me for the heartache I felt walking into a room full of sick children. Many had bald heads and sallow skin, and the majority were hooked up to IV poles with multiple bags hanging. The room started to sway back and forth, and my chest felt like an elephant had parked his ass on it. “God,” I mumbled.
“I know.” Liz patted me on the back as we stood just inside the doorway. “But hang in there. I promise you’re going to feel better in a few minutes. These kids aren’t just what we see. They’re resilient and inspiring. Watch.” Liz walked to the center of the room and smiled. “Hello, everyone! Who remembers my name?”
A boy who was probably about eight raised a hand. “You’re Lizzle the Schizzle.”
Liz chuckled. “That’s Little Ray. He gives everyone a rapper name.”
The kid looked over at me. “What’s your name?”
“Alex.”
He gave me a thumbs up. “A-dog.”
I smiled. “I like it.”
“He calls Dr. Artemis, our chief who never smiles, MC Remission. I crack up every time.”