Hearing that, I sit up straighter. “You did? What’d she say?”
“How sorry she is for everything that happened, that she never intended for my career to be impacted. That she’d like another chance with me. Yada, yada.”
“That’s such bullshit! What did she think would happen when she set you up to be caught naked with her by her husband, who was also your biggest boss?”
“Easy, tiger.” He flashes that sexy grin that makes me feel powerful and powerless at the same time, and yes, I know that’s as crazy as it sounds. But there you have it.
“I’m sorry, but I hope you aren’t feeling forgiving toward her.”
“Not at all. I deleted the email and blocked her so I never have to hear from her again.”
“Good.”
“It felt good.”
“She never intended to mess up your career. Whatever. She knew exactly what she was doing, and she didn’t give your promising career the first thought when she launched her insane scheme to get rid of her husband.”
“You’re very sexy when you’re pissed. Remind me to rile you up more often.”
“Jason! Stop. I’m dead serious.”
“I know you are, and it means so much to me to have your support and your friendship and your professional expertise. You have no idea how much.”
“My professional expertise, such as it is.”
“You’re doing great, Carmen. Your ideas feel right to me, and even if it doesn’t work to sway the board, it’ll all have been worth it to have met you and to have spent this time with you.”
I’m so bowled over by him that I respond with humor rather than the emotion that’s coursing through my veins like an out-of-control freight train that can’t be pushed back into the station no matter how hard I try. Not that I’m trying all that hard. “Especially that time we went to jail.”
He smiles. “Especially that. We’ll always have jail. In other good news, some of the residents who’ve been working with me on the research have reached out to the board in New York to let them know they’re crazy to let me go, especially when we’re so close to a real breakthrough.”
“That’s amazing. Someday in the not-too-distant future, all of this will be a bad dream that you finally woke up from.”
“Not all of it has been bad,” he says in a meaningful tone that leaves no doubt he’s referring to me.
I run my fingers through my hair, trying to bring order to it. “We have something in common, you and me.”
“What’s that?”
“We both thought we had it all figured out until it went to shit.”
“True. Although your thing was a thousand times worse than mine.”
“Heartbreak is heartbreak, no matter how it happens.”
“We’ll have to agree to disagree on that. Losing your young husband the way you did is far worse than what’s happening to me.”
“I still hate that she did that to you when you’ve worked so hard for the career that’s now hanging in the balance.”
“I have to believe it’s going to work out. Even if I can’t practice at Miami-Dade, I’m still a well-qualified physician. It’s not like I’m going to suddenly be unable to make a living anywhere.”
“I’m glad you’re feeling more positive about it.”
“I’m trying. You’ve been a huge help to me, Carmen. Seriously.”
“It’s been fun. My first week on the new job has been far more interesting than expected.”
“Especially the time in jail.”
“The beach was pretty nice, too.”
“Way better than jail.”
“Stop talking about jail!”
“Never,” he says, laughing.
I’m tired, but I don’t want this conversation to end. I could talk to him all night and never get enough of the sound of his voice or the amusing things he says.
“Hey, Carmen?”
“Yes?”
“I want to take you on a real date. Can we do that soon?”
I ought to say no. I ought to try harder to keep the boundaries in place between personal and professional, but in light of what’s already happened between us, it’s too late for such concerns. “Sure, that’d be fun.”
“You had to think about it for a long moment there.”
“It’s not because I don’t want to go out with you. I’m just concerned about the personal versus professional thing.”
“I get that. I should be far more concerned about it after Ginger, but this is nothing like that was even before it went bad.”
“How is it different?”
“Because you’re you, and that makes everything about this special and unique.”
“You know how to make a girl all fluttery inside.”
“Yeah?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Are you tired?” he asks.
“A little. You?”
“I could sleep, but talking to you is more fun.”
My phone chimes with a new text from Abuela that I quickly read. Loved meeting your friend Jason today. He seems like a special young man. You don’t like when I interfere, so I’ll only say that you light up around him. Sweet dreams, mi amor. Xoxo
“What’re you smiling about?”
“A text from Abuela. She liked meeting you.”
“I liked meeting her and the others. You have a great family.”
“Wait until you meet the rest of them. You may not think so.”
“I’m sure I will.”
“Do you come from a big family?”
“I have a few cousins, but they’re mostly older than me. I don’t know them very well. It’s pretty much been me, my brother and my mom since my dad left.”
“You don’t see him at all?”
“Maybe once or twice a year when he gets to New York. I’d prefer not to see him, but my mom encourages me to do it. She doesn’t want me to have regrets.”
“She sounds like an amazing person if she can think that way after he was unfaithful to her.”
“She’s all about forgiveness, even if we don’t necessarily forget. But it took her a long time to get there after everything happened.”
“I understand that. I decided to forgive the man who killed Tony because it hurt me more to hate him than it did to forgive him. I won’t forget what he did, but I forgive him.”
“That’s really admirable. I’m not sure I could do that. I’ve barely been able to consider forgiving my father for what he did.”
“I found out the man’s family was evicted from their apartment. He was robbing the store because they were out of formula for his infant daughter, and he was desperate. He’d had issues with police in the past. When he saw Tony in uniform, he panicked. I honestly don’t believe he intended to shoot or kill him.”
“Wow.”
“Two lives were ruined in the span of a second. When I heard the whole story, I asked the prosecutor to request life in prison for the shooter rather than the death penalty. I didn’t think Tony would approve of me seeking a life for a life in this case.”