Her eyes widened.
“Sebastian.”
I gave her a tired little nod.
“Morning.”
She opened her mouth like she wasn’t sure whether to offer sympathy or not.
Then someone behind me said, “You must be Sebastian.”
I turned.
And there she was.
The woman from the roadside.
Only now she wasn’t gray-faced and folded in pain.
She stood straight, smiling, one hand resting lightly on the back of a lobby chair.
She looked a little tired still, but alive.
Decidedly alive.
For a second I just stared at her.
Then I laughed out loud from pure relief.
“It’s you.”
“It is,” she said warmly. “And I have been waiting for you.”
She stepped closer and took both my hands in hers.
Her grip was soft but steady.
“I owe you my life.”
I shook my head fast.
“No. Don’t say that.”
“Why not? The doctors did.”
I didn’t know what to do with that.
So I asked the first dumb thing that came to mind.
“How are you feeling?”
She smiled.
“Like someone who got a second chance yesterday morning.”
I let out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding since the day before.
“That’s good. That’s really good.”
She glanced around the lobby.
“So you do work here.”
I hesitated.
Then I held up the empty box.
“Actually, I used to.”
Her brow furrowed.
“What do you mean?”
I could have lied.
Could have shrugged it off.
Could have said something vague and polite.
But there was something about her face that made honesty feel easier than pride.
“I got fired yesterday,” I said. “For showing up late.”
The smile faded from her mouth.
“Late because of me.”
I gave a helpless little half-shrug.
“Because of everything, I guess.”
Her eyes sharpened.
“No,” she said quietly. “Because of me.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“Tell me exactly what happened.”
So there in the lobby of the place that had just thrown me away, I told her.
Not every detail.
Just enough.
The presentation.
The missed calls.
The client leaving.
Nick firing me.
