Destiny Gift (The Everlast Trilogy) - By Juliana Haygert Page 0,39

better than the café and it would look much nicer on my resume. And I’d be able to help people.

With a satisfied smile, I left the room and was heading out when I heard two nurses talking.

“She just died?” one of them asked as they walked past me.

“An hour ago,” the other one said. “Her grandson is in shock, poor young man.”

My heart squeezed. Oh no.

I was barely thinking when I ran to the elevator and went straight to the eighth floor. I didn’t know for sure who the nurses were talking about, but I had a pretty good guess. I didn’t stop to consider Victor wouldn’t be in his grandma’s room anymore and kept running until I was at the door. I stopped, panting, and leaned against the doorframe.

As he stared at the empty bed, he looked like a statue in a crumpled T-shirt and jeans, hair messier than usual, and eyes bright with unshed tears.

I wasn’t sure if he had seen me and I wasn’t sure what to do. One thing I was sure of though: I wasn’t going to leave even if he was utterly rude.

“She told me to say goodbye to you,” he whispered, and my heart stopped for a second. He glanced at me. “Can you believe it? She barely knew you but she said she had this intense feeling you’re a great young woman.” I couldn’t identify the tone of his voice. Jealousy? Rage? Sadness?

“That was kind of her.” I took a few steps into the room. His eyes stayed on mine. “I’m so sorry.”

He nodded, dropping his head. A loud sob escaped his tightly clamped lips.

I couldn’t take Victor—mine or not—like this. Acting on pure instinct, I closed the gap between us and pulled him into my arms. For a second he was resistant, and I thought he would push me away. He didn’t. Slowly, he turned into me, passed his arms around my back, and quietly wept, his head buried in my neck, his whole body trembling against mine.

I could smile, I really could. My hands held him firmly, like they had done so many times. And he felt the same under my touch. His body felt the same against mine. He was Victor. Oh, I was so confused.

But I didn’t smile. I had met Bianca Gianni only once, but I had heard so much about her in the last ten months that I considered her a close friend, or the loved one of my loved one.

To calm him, I did what I always had done in my visions. I sang his favorite song—at least it was my dream Victor’s favorite song. Carefully maintaining my low soprano, I sang Walk On by U2, while slightly swaying and rubbing small circles on his back. His sobs slowed, and his chest stopped quivering.

“I’m alone,” he whispered in my ear.

“I know this might sound rather senseless, but you’re not alone,” I assured him. Risking him running from me, I continued, “You’ve got me.”

He didn’t run. It might have been my imagination or longing, but I thought his arms tightened slightly around me. I resumed singing.

Near the end of the song, a nurse entered and cleared her throat. At once, he jumped back and gave his full attention to her, practically ignoring me, but I could easily see he wasn’t absorbing a word she said, that he was too affected to think things through.

So, I stepped in and talked to her. Before I knew it, I was planning Bianca’s funeral and cremation, earning nods from Victor. It had been Bianca’s wish to be cremated and because she had no friends or family besides Victor, there would be no reception or gathering. Her funeral would be quick and simple.

In silence, we left the hospital. I walked next to him to the parking garage.

At his car, he stopped. “I don’t want to be alone.”

“I can stay with you, if you’d like.”

He nodded without looking at me. I got in the car and did my best to disguise my anxiety about being inside his car where his spicy scent hung, intense and intoxicating.

I was also anxious about going to his house. He lived in a nice two-bedroom apartment in an elegant and well-protected building a few blocks north of Langone. When we arrived, I realized it was exactly what I expected of him: an open floor plan, clean but cozy, everything beige or brown or white, essential furniture, a huge flat-screen TV, and not many decorations, only a few