Page 52 of The Fall Before Flight

“Yes, well, I didn’t hear from her for close to a year. And when I did…” He falls silent, eyelashes dropping to shadow his eyes. “It was her partner, Celia, who made Marianne call me.”

Celia… Marianne…

I shoot straight in my chair. “She had your kid? Vince?”

Leo nods.

“She was pregnant when you broke up and didn’t tell you? That’s…” I pause, considering. As far as I know, Kevin still doesn’t have a clue I was pregnant with his child, however briefly. Before the accident, I was even seriously considering how I could prevent him from ever knowing.

I finally admit, “I guess I can’t throw stones, can I?”

Leo regards me knowingly. “Ask me if I regret having my heart torn out by Marianne. If I regret one moment of that relationship.”

“I get it,” I say sourly. “You don’t regret opening yourself up to love and you scored an awesome kid out of it. Good on you, Doc. You’re emotionally stable. I bet you love after-sex cuddling and giving your lady foot massages, too.”

“Amelia,” he says chidingly. “My point—as you know—is that I healed. Having my heart broken was the worst pain I’d experienced since losing my brother. But I healed. You can heal, too.”

I can’t help but chirp, “Are you offering to heal me?”

I almost miss it. But I don’t. The heated glimmer in his eyes. The sharp rise of his chest. The brief glance at my mouth.

I really don’t know why I keep torturing myself. Or him. Or maybe I do—he’s my distraction. A fantasy rarely entertained and certainly unrealistic. Stability. Family. Love.

Leo glances at his watch.

I speak before he can. “Time’s up.”

Nodding, he stands. I follow, my arm brushing the sleeve of his suit jacket as I pass him. My skin tingles at the intersection of our two worlds.

Worlds that will never fully overlap.

“Amelia.”

I stop with my hand on the doorknob. “Yes?”

“There’s nothing scarier in the world than intimacy. If you really want to conquer fear, show someone all of yourself.”

I leave without answering.

I already have.

20

BASOPHOBIA

DAY 18

Friday afternoon in group, we’re told there’s going to be a special, surprise event that evening. Frank excitedly informs us it’s a tradition held every year on August 18. Why the specific date? Why, it’s Dr. Leo Chastain’s birthday. And what are we doing, you wonder? We’re going camping.

Woo-freaking-hoo!

Kinsey is horrified, Callum is stoked, Declan and Preston are indifferent. Tiffany asks for specifics like she’s plotting a bank robbery. I’m… eh. I actually enjoy camping, and given the money this place generates, I doubt we’ll be sleeping in tumbleweeds.

Maybe if I didn’t think there’d be chaperones up our asses, I’d enjoy the idea a bit more. Roasting marshmallows around a campfire with Charlene the Shark monitoring our every word doesn’t sound anything like a good time, even if Chastain is there sans suit, looking all sexy and outdoorsy.

“There’s a short hike, about three miles, to the campsite,” Frank continues, enthusiasm undimmed by our collective lack of it. “You’ll need to pack necessities for two nights in the wilderness. Prepare for high nineties during the day and potentially mid-fifties at night.”

“Hold up,” snaps Kinsey. “You didn’t say anything about two nights.”

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