The Last Thing He Gave Me

Synopsis

Emma Reed folded the diagnosis and tucked it into the deepest pocket of her bag. Standing at the end of the hospital corridor, she looked out at the March dust storm swallowing Capital City. The sky was a sickly yellow, the color of old news. The words on the gastroscopy report had already burned into her mind after three reads: [Gastric adenocarcinoma with peritoneal lymph node metastasis (late stage).] The doctor hadn't pulled any punches, though he'd phrased it gently. Surgery was a long shot, chemotherapy might buy her three to six months, and it was time to get her affairs in order. Emma was calm. She even managed a small smile, said, "Thank you, doctor," and stood up to tuck her chair back under the desk. As she stepped out of the hospital, the grit-laden wind stung her face. Waiting for a cab by the curb, her mind drifted back five years, to the afternoon she first met Andrew Lane. She had just arrived in the city, a green administrative assistant at Lane Enterprises. The sun had been brilliant that day. He walked through the revolving doors in a charcoal suit, his expression cold and detached. Three executives trailed him, hanging on his every word, but he didn't spare them a single glance. Emma had stood at the front desk, clutching a coffee she'd prepared for him, her heart beating out of her chest. Looking back, that was probably the peak of her own stupidity.