When Love Breaks by Jack

The arrow hit the bullseye, though it wasn’t exactly planned that way.

By the time the meeting wrapped up at the office, dusk was already creeping in. I had hitched a ride with Christine earlier in the day.

I was just about to call an Uber back to the hospital.

Christine offered to drop me off, and I shot her a sidelong glance, teasing, “I saw you texting Dailey during the meeting. Don’t let me hold you back from… whatever’s brewing there.”

Christine’s laughter was bright and beautiful. “Oh, what now? You’ve become a screen peeker?”

“Just happened to catch a glimpse.”

I chuckled awkwardly, feeling a bit embarrassed.

During the meeting, she was seated diagonally to my left, leaning over the table to text. It was impossible not to see.

Just then, my phone rang. It was Gregory.

“All done with the meeting?”

His voice, relaxed and casual, flowed from the other end of the line, making me smile.

“Yeah, just finished. I’m heading back to the hospital to check on Ramona, then home.”

vigil at the hospital, she’d start suspecting she had some

“Then come on down. I’m

“You’re here?”

cheerful, “Picking up Ms. Webster from work is all in

“I’ll be right there.”

Christine, I saw her gesturing hurriedly, “Go on, go

it in our faces every

“You…”

touched my nose, “You go get him,

I grabbed my bag from my office and made

the parking garage still held the warmth

against his car,

giving off a cool detachment. He had the

utterly carefree about the

a word, he suddenly stretched out an arm without even looking up, pulling me into his embrace with a chuckle,

even look. Weren’t you afraid of grabbing the wrong

“Not afraid.”

of my back, “A one-of-a-kind person can’t

countered, “Isn’t everyone

looking deep into

and I wriggled free to slip