It's Urgent

ADRIENNE

My heart stirred long after Marcus disappeared behind the door. There was a longing in my chest I didn’t understand and honestly, I wasn’t sure I wanted to. Still, it pulled me in. What was this? I recognized the feeling, the beginning of it, but did I want to acknowledge it?

I hardly knew this man for God’s sake!

“Okay, seriously,” Arlene sighed, slipping into the couch beside my bed. Her eyes looked from me to the closed door then back to me. “What was he doing here?”

“Long story,” I shrugged, trying to look nonchalant when inside I was a bag of jellies. “Eddie happened. After his father left, he wanted to tear down the building and somehow, Marcus stepped in. Again.”

Arlene’s brow jumped, a smile snaking go her lips. “I missed all of this drama? Fuck! Still, that Eddie… isn’t he tired of causing trouble? I thought you already ended things with him.”

I shrugged again, pushing back against my pillow. “I’m tired, Arly and Eddie is the last person I want to talk about now.”

I shivered as the thought of his hands closing around my throat flashed in my head. What – I asked myself again – did I see in that man to make me fall head over heels for him?

Arlene sighed, but thankfully didn’t being up Eddie again – or Marcus. Instead, she reaches into her bag and pulled out a folder. “If you don’t want to talk about Eddie, at least you can talk about work with me?”

I frowned. “Work?”

“Yes. Apparently, that was why the director wanted to see me. One of the hospital’s biggest investors – maybe the biggest – is putting together a private medical initiative. Something cutting-edge form what the director described. It’s still hush-hush, but he wants the best people in the country on it. He asked the director to handpick m a team personally,” she paused, watching my face carefully. “Your name came up, Adrienne.”

I blinked. “My name? How – why?”

“Because you graduated top of our class before you ran off to make soufflés for a living,” Arlene deadpanned. “The director is very eager to bring you back into the medical field and even the investor mentioned your name personally. This isn’t something small.”

I sat back against the pillows, hating the weight that settled in my chest. Three years ago, I’d have given anything to hear those words. Now, I wasn’t s sure. I wasn’t the woman I was three years ago who was too eager to please her family.

The family that didn’t care enough to check up on me for the past three years. The only time my father picked up the phone to call me was to know when the wedding was being set and why it was taking so long.

I didn’t want a family like that.

“I don’t know,” I said slowly. “You know I walked away from medicine for a reason.”

“I know,” Arlene’s voice – even her expression softened. “And I’m not telling you to do this for them or for anyone at all. I’m telling you to think of yourself first. The offer is on the table, and it’s not the kind that stays open for long. Just… think about it.”

“I will,” I nodded. “After the competition.” Probably. It was the only honest answer I had to give her. “Just let me focus on one thing at a time.”

Arlene smiled gratefully, then nodded. I was surprised at how easy she let it go. “Faur enough. Speaking of focusing on one thing – the doctor cleared you. You’ve been discharged.”

The relief I felt soaked through my bones. “Thank God.”

Arlene laughed. “Yeah, I guess you can say that. Because guess what? My shift is over and I’m not letting you go home and sulk in that empty house. I’ve planned something fun for us today, and you’re coming whether I have to drag you there myself.”

I smiled, because I didn’t have the energy to. And because I missed my best friend. I missed the life I used to live. I missed how carefree I used to feel whenever I was around her.

She’d been my pillar the day my mother died, she’d been my pillar three years ago, and now, I could still count on her to support me. Plus I needed something active to keep my mind from coming back to Eddie.

Going to the spa was the first thing on Arlene’s list and I enjoyed every minute of it. We visited the saloon next and that was where I made the decision.

“I want to go back to my natural color,” I told the stylist, running my fingers through the hair I dyed brown on the day I got engaged – Eddie’s mother had suggested it and if been very eager to please Eddie. To become the woman he loved and adored. “And I think I also want to grow it out. Short hair is never my sstyle.”

Arlene, sprawled on the chair beside me wearing a facemask drying on her cheeks, lifted one brow. “Oh? Look who’s trying to get pretty. Who are you trying to impress?”

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t make this weird.”

Arlene stood to her feet. “I’m not making anything weird, I’m just saying – new hair, new spine. I love it.” She smiles at me in the mirror. “Its so good you’re beginning to look like you again.”

I almost laughed at that because of how true it was. I’d spent so long trying to fit into Eddie’s life that I forgot myself along the way.

By the time the stylist finished, my natural color had almost emerged and it was beautiful – a lazy auburn that looked almost like the real thing.

“Give it a few weeks,” the stylist had said. “Once the dye washes off completely, your original color should be back.”

I couldn’t wait for that time to come.

We ended the day with groceries shopping, of all things, playing through the aisle of the upscale store near my apartment with the kind of aimless contentment of a child. I laughed more in that hour than I did in the entire three days before it.

I’d totally forgotten the feeling. The euphoria that freedom brought.

But that feeling does as soon as my phone notification alerted me to an incoming call from Mr. Hubert of all people. My smile faded and I glanced at Arlene who had no idea what was going on.

“We need to meet,” was the first thing he said when I answered the call. “As soon as you can, Adrienne. It’s urgent.”