All Chapters of The Accidental Almost Kiss with my Ex's Uncle: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

CHARLOTTE’S P.O.V. The hospital cafeteria had been busier than the mall food court while I was explaining to my dad what had happened, but by the time I was done, it seemed everyone was done with lunch and back to work, since it was mostly empty and very, very quiet now. Either that or Paul had scared them off with his glare as he stood protectively to the side of the table. My dad sat directly across from me, his full, now-cold coffee resting between his hands. He hadn’t said much since we left my mom’s room. Lydia had pointed out that if my mom could hear us, it might not be the right place to discuss this. Despite her lack of a filter and wildly inappropriate behavior most of the time, she was right. So we bought some food to make it look like we were there for a reason and sat down in the corner to talk. Derek sat beside me, close enough that his knee brushed mine beneath the table, and after a while, I found us both gently pressing our knees together instead of just lett

CHARLOTTE’S P.O.V.As we stepped out into the hallway, no one mentioned what had just happened. Not Lydia’s outburst or the fact that none of us had been paying enough attention that we had just been standing in an elevator for several minutes. Halfway down the hall, a nurse approached us, a tablet in hand and a smile on her face. She looked exhausted, with dark circles under her eyes, and she was clearly overworked, jogging from room to room, but she still plastered on a smile, which I appreciated. “There you are! You are just in time.” She said, glancing down at her tablet for only a second. “We’re ready to take Mrs. Valente for her scans now, and we will be back shortly.”I nodded as my dad spoke to her for a moment, glancing to Lydia to see if she was okay. But my normally sarcastic and bubbly best friend looked defeated. She was staring at the ground with lifeless eyes, her face pale, and I didn’t miss that she had moved to the other side of us to stay far away from Paul. He

CHARLOTTE’S P.O.V.I spent the rest of the weekend either in my mother’s hospital room or moping on the couch as I accepted that the doctor confirmed no significant sign of improvement. They said there wasn’t enough there to make them think she could be on the verge of waking. It crushed me. By the time Monday rolled around, I was so tired and distracted that I almost walked right into a sneering Vanessa. “You have your presentation this afternoon, right? You better be ready.” She hissed, but I didn’t have the energy for her today. “Do not embarrass me in front of the client.” “Oh, Vanessa. I don’t need to. You seem to have no problem embarrassing yourself in front of the client without my help.” I said, then turned and walked to my desk. Paul was trailing behind me and stopped at the vacant desk that Rebecca had decided he could use. At first, she was violently opposed to him being here around privileged information, but after one NDA and some very subtle but effective flirting

CHARLOTTE’S P.O.V. I was getting dangerously used to waking up with a smile. It wasn’t the first time, and I prayed it wouldn’t be the last because I knew exactly who had caused it. My eyes stayed closed as I stretched beneath the blankets, enjoying the rare feeling of waking up without having had a nightmare. Instead, I’d had a very pleasant dream, one that made heat rush to my cheeks before I even opened my eyes. Rolling over with a groan, I reached for my phone to see what time it was, but was ambushed by a swarm of butterflies in my stomach when I saw a notification for one unread text message from Derek. ‘Good morning, Trouble. I have meetings most of today, but if you’re free, I’d really like to call you tonight.’ I read it over and over. A laugh escaped me before I could stop it, and I buried my face into my pillow. I was a twenty-eight-year-old woman, and I was getting giddy over a phone call. It was absurd… and I loved every second of it. Opening a new message, I

DEREK’S P.O.V. “Today’s meetings could have been an email.” I admitted, hating that most of my day was either dealing with nonsense that never should have reached me, or putting out wildfires. I hadn’t realized how badly I needed to hear her laugh until I heard it. The sound washed over me like a rush of warm water, and I sat back in my chair to relax. “In one, two of my executive were yelling at each other because one wanted charcoal grey and the other wanted black for the logo change.” I said, closing my eyes as she laughed louder. When she stopped, I was disappointed and wanted to hear her again, talking or laughing, I would have accepted anything. “Well, there is a distinct difference between the two. It all depends on what kind of message you want the customers to get from it!” She argued, and even though it had irritated me this morning when I heard one of my executives make the same argument, this time I found it cute. Her passion was exciting, and I enjoyed hearing he