Chapter 70


    Not more than a heartbeatter, Aaron disappeared through the door. Leaving me in his office, staring into empty


    space. Thinking how well he had already fallen into his new role, doubting there was something we had to continue


    talking about, and finding it really hard to believe that he had anything to be patient for.


    Basically because, where we were concerned, neither of us had anything to wait for.


    Chapter Eleven


    Everything went downhill after that day.


    As much as my intention had been to sort out the whole thing with Aaron, our conversation hadn’t relieved me in the


    slightest. Sure, I had made it very clear that he was off the hook, but his words still hung over my head. They had for


    thest two weeks.


    “There is something you are not telling me,” he had said. “But I’m patient.”


    It was like waiting for a bomb to drop.


    And on top of not knowing where we stood after that cryptic statement, I hadn’t brought myself to tell Rosie about it.


    Yet. I would—as soon as I figured a contingency n for my wedding situation. Which was only three days away.


    Three.


    I eyed the analog clock I kept on my desk. It was eight in the evening, and I was not even close to being done with the


    day.


    How could I be when nothing was going ording to n? I hadn’t found anyone to rece Linda and Patricia, so I


    was still covering for them myself. I still hadn’t figured out how I’d be entertaining our guests for the whole sixteen


    hours Open Day was nned tost. And I had found that our hopefully prospective client, Terra-Wind, had been


    getting cozy with one of our biggestpetitors. Not because they were better than us, but because they were one of


    those consultingpanies that offered their services at ridiculously low rates.


    A crisis I had been dealing with for thest three hours.


    “Thank you, Miss Martín,” a man in a dark suit spoke from the screen of myptop. “We will study your offer ande


    to a decision.”


    I nodded. “Thank you for your time,” I said, making myself smile politely. “I look forward to hearing back from you, Mr.


    Cameron. Have a good evening.”


    Hitting End on the conference call I had been on with the representative of the decision board of Terra-Wind, I took off


    my headphones and closed my eyes for a moment. Jesus, I didn’t even know how that had gone. I just hoped I had


    gotten through to him. My team was worth every extra penny, and Terra-Wind was a renewablepany that had the


    resources and the potential to do something for the state of New York. I wanted this project.


    Opening my eyes back up, I watched my phone sh with my sister’s name, causing a twirl of mixed emotions. Any


    other day, I would have automatically picked up. But not today. I had already sent several of her calls to voice mail. If it


    were a real emergency, my whole family would have been sting my phone.


    “Lo siento mucho, Isa,” I said as if she could hear me. “I don’t have time to deal with another bridal apocalypse.”


    I silenced my phone, ced it screen down, and moved onto the stack of résumés that HR had sent over for the


    vacancies I needed to fill. Two—I’d check a couple of them and take the rest home with me.


    Four résuméster, I was dropping my trusty highlighter down. I let my back fall on the backrest of my chair.


    My head was spinning, probably due to the fact that I had been working on mostly an empty stomach. Again. Because


    I had been dieting. Wrongly, most likely. Closing my eyes, I scolded myself for being that dumb.


    But, as much as I hated myself for it, I couldn’t stop thinking of standing in front of Daniel. My ex, the groom’s brother


    and best man. Who, unlike me, was happily engaged. Or in front of everybody. I could already feel every single soul


    attending the ceremony watching me, watching us. Measuring my reaction and assessing me—from the way I looked


    to the way my lips would tug down and pale when I finally faced him. Looking for possible answers that would exin


    why I was still single after all this time while Daniel wasn’t.


    Did she ever get over him? Did she ever get over everything that had happened? Of course not. Poor thing. What


    happened must have really messed her up.


    So, was it that silly of me to want to stand there and look good? Not just fine. Not just getting by. To everyone


    watching, I wanted to lookplete. Beautiful, wless, unaffected. I needed to give the impression that I had my life


    back on track. All figured out. Happy. With a man on my arm.


    Objectively, I knew how dumb all of it sounded, how much I shouldn’t be measuring myself in terms of having a man,


    looking thinner, or having clear skin. But, God, I knew that was what everybody else would be doing.


    I shook my head, trying to vanish those thoughts out of my mind but only aplishing to make it worse with the way


    my head kept spinning. My body was screaming at me for something, anything that would appease the hollowness in


    my stomach.


    Water. That would help.


    Grabbing my phone and slipping my badge on the pocket of my camel cks, I stood on weaker legs than I would


    have liked and made my way out of the office. There was one of those water dispensers down the corridor. Three


    more missed calls from my sister. With the time difference, she’d be asleep by now.


    Lina: Lo siento, bridezi. *crazy face emoji*


    I typed, and the text blurred for a second. I stopped walking, trying to get my eyes to focus back on the screen.


    N?velDrama.Org owns ? this.


    Lina: Hamos ma?ana, vale?


    I continued, but the characters in the screen started dancing. My fingers lost all certainty, vaciting over the keyboard


    of the device. My sight doubled and then blurred, not managing to pinpoint with rity the words I thought I was typing


    as they appeared on the text bubble.


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