The-Spanish-Love-Deception-www.indianpdf

snapped up. As he sat in that rigid plastic chair, his back straightened, and his
neck turned around. I could see the disbelief in his profile, as if he thought he
must have imagined me calling his name.
But I hadn’t. I was right here. And if he let me, I could take care of him. I
would caress his back while he sat in the dull and impersonal waiting room,
brush his hair with soothing fingers, and make sure he ate and slept. I’d
comfort him with hugs and be the shoulder he leaned his forehead on as he
grieved the dad he might lose soon. The one who had missed so much, the
one I knew Aaron felt like was already gone.
His gaze scanned the space that separated us with the sheer determination
I knew only he was capable of. And I’d never know why, but I waited. I held
very still as he swiped around. And then, after what felt like an eternity and at
the same time not enough time to prepare myself, blue eyes locked with
mine. My heart toppled over itself, and I felt the commotion inside my chest.
I watched his legs straighten, bringing him up.
Then, his lips parted with my name. “Lina.”
It wasn’t the Lina instead of Catalina. It was the anguish in his voice—the
need, the way his hair was ruffled, the bags resting under his eyes, the
wrinkles in his clothes that screamed they hadn’t been changed in a couple of
days—that propelled me forward. My legs sprinted across that hallway that
separated us like they had never run before. Toward him, right into his arms.
Just how he had asked me to. And when I reached him, I launched myself at
him. I locked my body around his.
It wasn’t appropriate. It wasn’t the time or the place, and he was carrying
so much on his shoulders already. There was so much we needed to talk
about, but it was right. I knew it in my bones as his arms closed around me.
He lifted me off the floor, squeezed me into his chest, held me in his
arms.
I buried my face in his neck as I kept murmuring into him, “I’m here. I’m
here. I’m running toward you. I trust you. I love you,” hoping it wasn’t too
late.
And he kept repeating my name. “Lina, baby. Lina, are you really here?”
Hushed and broken, sounding like he still didn’t believe it was me in his
arms. That it was me who had finally come to him like I should have done
days ago.
No. Like I should have done an eternity ago.
Aaron walked backward, sitting back down as he held me in his arms. As