Chapter 30
CHAPTER THIRTY
As I switch lanes, my phone rings. I glance at the dashboard. Gram. With an elated breath, I press Answer. I can’t wait to tell her my news.
“Hi, Gram,” I say excitedly.
“June,” she cries. “Oh, thank god you picked up. I need you.”
The words send a chill through my entire body, turning it to stone.
“What is it, Gram, what’s wrong?” My heart hammers as I tighten my grip on the wheel.
“It’s happening again. My sugar”—she gasps—“I feel …” There’s a crash and the line cuts out.
“Gram? Gram?” I swerve into the next lane, nearly taking out a motorcycle. The driver flips me off, speeding around me.
“I’m sorry!” I yell through the windshield, rushing toward the exit. I call her senior living facility, but just as the operator answers, my phone dies.
“You see?” I scream into the abyss, flinging my phone into the passenger seat. “This is why I can’t go!”
As soon as I’m on Century Boulevard, I flip a U-turn and speed back onto the freeway going south. Golden Sun Estates is twenty minutes away.
I just hope I make it in time.
I run up the brick steps, bypassing the security guard.
He calls after me, but I don’t stop. My feet pound against the squeaky linoleum floor until I reach her door.
It’s still ajar. I must have missed the paramedics.
Dammit! I should have gone straight to the hospital.
I pant against the doorframe, trying to catch my breath.
“June?” my grandma calls weakly. “Is that you?”
“Gram!” I shout, barging in. Oh, thank god, she’s sitting at the table in her kitchenette and not sprawled on the floor. Someone must have gotten here in time. “Gram, are you okay? What happened?” I frantically search her eyes. “Did they give you a shot of insulin? Did it help?”
“Sit down, dear,” she says, patting my hand.
“What? Sit down?” For some idiotic reason, I press the back of my hand to her forehead, checking for a fever.
She bats me away. “I’m fine, really.”
“What happened? Did the paramedics get here? The on-call nurse?” I chew my thumbnail, and she tilts her head.
“Now sweet pea, don’t be mad.”
“Mad? Why would I be—”
Suddenly, everything clicks. She’s perfectly fine. This was a ruse.
“What’s going on?” I slam my fist on the table. Her water glass shakes, threatening to tip over. “I thought you were dying.”
“I know.” She steadies her drink. “I fibbed.”
“You …” I shake my head, a ting ringing in my ears.
“Fibbed.” She squeezes my hand. “But it was for a good reason, I promise. Do you remember the nice young man I was telling you about?”
No.
No. No. No.
I bring my hands to my temples, trying to stop my head from spinning. This was all so she could play matchmaker? The whole time?
“I am not interested in this guy you keep trying to set me up with,” I snap, pulling on my hair. “I don’t care how wonderful you think he is. I found the love of my life, and he is about to board a plane. I was on my way to the airport to catch him before he leaves.”
“You what?” She rests her face in her hand. “Oh, dear.”
“I have to go. If I leave now, I still might make it in time.” I pick my purse up from the floor. I must have dropped it in a panic when I ran in here. Shit. Where are my keys? I pat my pockets down.
“Your keys fell under the table,” Gram mumbles.
“Thank you,” I say curtly. I get on my hands and knees, crawling beneath it.
Footsteps approach from the living room. “Running to the airport to confess your love? That’s a little cliché, January, don’t you think?”
Alex?
I jerk my head up, bashing it under the table.
A white flash clouds my vision before excruciating pain radiates through every one of my nerves.
“Shit, are you okay?” He slides his hands around my waist, gently tugging me out and helping me to my feet.
“Alex?” I blink in utter disbelief.
With his arm still secured around my waist, he leads me to the freezer and pulls out a bag of frozen peas.
“What are you doing here?” I search his eyes, trying to make sense of it. He presses the cold pack to the back of my head and I wince. “I … I don’t understand,” I stammer. “You know Gram?”
He chuckles, grinning that easy smile that makes my stomach flip. “Enid and I go way back. She’s the reason I started getting gray hairs.”
“Oh, you.” Gram waves her hand. “You always ruin my fun.”
I stare between the two of them, completely dumbfounded. “What are you talking about?”
Alex glances at Gram, and she gestures toward me, as if to say, Tell her.
“I was assigned to investigate an outbreak here in August. Enid was one of my patients.”
My brow furrows. “An outbreak? Like what, Norovirus? E. coli?”
Poor Gram.
A faint blush creeps up Alex’s neck. “Something like that.”
Gram smirks, and then it hits me as her words replay in my head. “Do you need more condoms? I have a whole bunch at my place.”
Oh, god.
It wasn’t Norovirus. It was chlamydia.
“You … uh …” I clear my throat, attempting to change the subject. “You must have recognized Gram at the hospital.”
His mouth pulls into a strained smile. “I did. That was the day I found out you were the granddaughter she was trying to set me up with.”
I laugh shyly. “But you never said anything. You didn’t tell me you knew her.”
He shrugs. “I couldn’t. It would have been a HIPAA violation.”
Wow. I don’t know if I could have kept a secret like that if our roles were reversed. Somehow it makes me fall even harder for him.
But something still doesn’t add up. “I’m confused …” I squint, tilting my head. “You left Sextival to catch your flight. I thought you were at the airport.”
“Oh, I was,” he says, his smile turning unamused.
“I was sitting in the terminal when Enid called me and said she was weak and losing consciousness. That she couldn’t get a hold of her daughter or granddaughter and didn’t know what to do.
Then she stopped talking mid-sentence, and the line went dead. ”
Gram winces. “I fibbed to him, too.”
“So you dropped everything to help her?” He could have easily called the facility or 911 and let them handle it. But he didn’t stop there. He came, too.
He shrugs, a bashful smile tugging at his lips.
“I had a feeling she was full of shit. For months, she’s been telling me what a knockout her granddaughter is and that she knew we’d hit it off if I just gave her a chance.
” He lifts the frozen peas, smoothing his hand over the back of my head.
To my surprise, the pain is gone. “I figured if she was pulling a fast one on me, she might be doing the same to you.”
He came here for me. Because he knew I’d come, too.
“And what can I say?” His eyes darken, and his arm tightens around my waist. “She was right. You really are a knockout.”
With a shy laugh, I press up on my tiptoes to kiss him. But right before my lips touch his, he tilts back.
My mouth falls open, and I search his eyes. “But I thought …”
“You said you were coming to the airport to see me …” He pauses as a swallow works down his throat. “Does that mean you’re willing to try long distance?”
I tighten my lips. “No.”
“Oh.” His face falls, and his fingers dig into the small of my back. Like it’s the last time I’ll be in his arms, and he wants to savor it.
I stroke his cheek. “It means I’m coming with you.”
His body stiffens, and he jerks his head back. “What?” His voice cracks on the word, his eyes darting between mine. “Are you serious?”
My smile spreads instantly and I nod. “I start at Emory on January fourteenth. I’ll be working with Evelyn. They’re even going to fast-track my tenure.”
“Emory? That’s on the same campus as the CDC.” His eyes glisten as he looks me over. “You’re really coming to Atlanta?”
I want to say something witty, but with the way he’s looking at me, all I can do is nod and bury my head against his chest.
I inhale a deep breath and his comforting scent envelops me, weakening my knees.
Home.
Alex is home. No matter where we go—Atlanta, Peru, Siberia—as long as he’s there with me, I’ll always be home.