Single Mama Drama. Kayla Perrin

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СКАЧАТЬ me, I heard a gasp. Or had it come from my own mouth?

      “Eli Johnson was thirty-nine years old.”

      “Oh, Vanessa. I can’t…I can’t believe it.”

      The news anchor moved on to the next story, and I finally turned to look at who was holding me, and saw my friend Alaina. Her beautiful Cuban-American face was now full of shock and concern. Shock and concern I didn’t know how to deal with. I pulled away from her and numbly walked toward the conference room’s floor-to-ceiling window.

      “He’s really dead?” Alaina asked.

      I didn’t answer. I couldn’t find the energy to speak. Instead, I stared out the window at downtown Miami, but didn’t see a thing.

      Eli was dead. Good God in heaven.

      Someone else entered the room—a few people, I think—but I didn’t turn around. I heard whispers and words like, “Murdered!” and “with some other woman” and “holy shit.”

      The next person to approach was Debbie. She stepped between me and the television and rested a gentle hand on my shoulder. “Sweetie, I am so sorry for your loss. And I can’t believe Eli turned out to be such a pig. Men.” She snorted and shook her head. “Obviously, you’ll want to head home. You can take as much time off as you need.”

      I heard but didn’t entirely comprehend what Debbie was saying. My head was in a fog. I continued to hear the anchorwoman’s words, like some warped drone in my head.

      “But if that weren’t bizarre enough, Eli and his female companion, Alyssa Redgrave, were both shot with the same arrow, their bodies bonded together in death as they had been in passion.”

      “Vanessa, are you hearing me?” Debbie asked.

      “I’ll get her some water,” Alaina offered.

      I didn’t protest as Debbie sat me down on a chair. I could hardly think, much less feel.

      Eli was dead.

      The reality of it hit me as I stared out the window at the cloudless sky. Eli wasn’t only dead, he’d been with another woman. Killed by her jealous husband while in the throes of passion.

      My Mr. Right. The man I was supposed to marry a year and a half from now, next October.

      I’d known when the day started that it would be full of drama, but I hadn’t expected anything like this.

      chapter two

      “I’m fine,” I insisted as my coworkers continued to fuss over me. The initial shock of the devastating news had penetrated my brain, and now I was trying to deal with it.

      “Here.” Alaina put the mouth of a bottle of water against my lips. “Drink this.”

      I forced down a couple sips, then turned my head.

      “You need more than that,” Alaina insisted.

      Not facing her, I waved off her concern.

      LaToya, one of the agency’s administrative assistants, placed her palm on my forehead. “Oh, hell. She’s warm. And look at her eyes…they’re glazing over. I think she’s gonna pass out. Will, go get a damp cloth!”

      I pushed LaToya’s hand away and got to my feet. “I’m not dehydrated, I don’t have a fever and I sure as hell am not about to pass out. I’m perfectly okay.” I glanced around the conference room at my colleagues. “Please stop treating me like I’m an invalid.”

      Alaina shot me a look of grave concern. “Honey, your fiancé is dead. How can you be okay?”

      “You heard the newscast. He was found in bed with another woman,” I said casually, adding a nonchalant shrug. “I guess he got what he deserved.”

      “Got what he deserved?” Alaina repeated, aghast. “And yesterday, you were showing me travel brochures, telling me where you want to go on your dream honeymoon.” She shook her head. “Girl, don’t pretend this news isn’t devastating.”

      “I’m shocked, yes,” I said, again trying to feign a calmness I didn’t feel. “But I’m trying to put things in perspective. Eli was screwing someone else. That makes him a lowdown dirty dawg if ever there was one. And one thing I can’t stand is a cheating man. Trust me, I’m thanking my lucky stars that I didn’t walk down the—”

      I couldn’t get my words out before I burst into tears.

      “Oh, sweetie.” Alaina wrapped me in a hug.

      With her hugging me and stroking my hair, I allowed myself a total meltdown. The love of my life was dead, as were all our dreams for the future.

      And Rayna…my God, how was I going to explain this to my baby?

      “Seriously,” I heard Debbie say behind me. “You need to go home. Be with your daughter.”

      “Home…Oh my God,” I croaked.

      Everyone in the room must have picked up on the alarm in my voice, because there was a chorus of questions.

      Pulling out of Alaina’s arms, I glanced around and studied the crowd. I think every single person from the agency was in the conference room at that moment, and as much as I appreciated the concern of my true friends, I didn’t want to be the day’s gossip for the curious.

      “Alaina,” I began quietly. “Get these people out of here, please. I need to talk to you and Debbie.”

      Debbie must have heard me, because before Alaina could approach her, she immediately turned off the television, then began to speak in her I’m-the-boss tone. “All right, everyone. Show’s over. We have a business to run here. Back to your desks.”

      When Debbie spoke, people listened. She was that kind of boss. My coworkers started for the conference room door, some more slowly than others, all glancing back over their shoulders to shoot looks of pity at me.

      Will appeared holding a wet cloth, and glanced around in confusion as people moved past him.

      “Will, back to work,” Debbie told him. Not saying a word, he raised the cloth, and she continued. “Forget the wet rag. Just get back to work!”

      Will knew better than to piss Debbie off, so he whirled around and disappeared. With him gone, she shut the conference room door to give us some privacy.

      “What is it, honey?” she asked when she reached my side again. Debbie, though she could be a total bitch when necessary, did have a soft side for the people she liked. “You sort of freaked out when I said you should go home.”

      My stomach tightened with the reality that, because Eli was dead, so much in my life would change. “The condo…we’ve got a mortgage. With Eli gone, I can’t afford the payments—not on my own.”

      The thought of having to move had me on the verge of hyperventilating. Only three months earlier, Eli and I had purchased the gorgeous apartment in the heart of Miami Beach. It was a place that both Rayna СКАЧАТЬ