Her Last Love Affair: The Final Journey (6 page)

Her bottom lip pouting in thought, her eyes drifted to the
carpet, as she began to nod her agreement. “Yeah, it might,” she echoed. “What
have you got in mind?”

“Nothing too crazy,” he assured her with a grin. “Just some
dinner or something. A movie?” he suggested, hopefully.

Still wearing her thoughtful expression, Allie pushed
herself up, drawing her legs away from Reece until only her feet rested on his
lap. “Dinner sounds good,” she smiled, resting her arm on the back of the
couch. “Do you know anywhere good?” she asked.

Reece picked up on the hint of challenge in her voice, and
smiled. “A few places spring to mind,” he hummed. “You still like Italian?”

“Love it,” she responded.

“All right,” he suddenly said, carefully lifting her feet,
before jumping to his own. Tugging his cell phone from the pocket of his jeans,
his eyes focused on the screen as his thumb flew quickly over it. “I’ll book
somewhere,” he told her.

***

Later that night, Allie found herself wined and dined at a
romantic spot on Jefferson Street.  Throughout the meal, it was almost like old
times; they both managed to talk animatedly, even arguing over which of them
won a game of cards nine years previously.

“You think you won,” Reece told her, “because you were
fiddling the scores.”

“Are you accusing me of cheating?” she asked with faux
indignity.

Beaming broadly, he nodded defiantly. “Yes, that’s exactly
what I’m accusing you of.”

“I do not cheat,” she insisted, unable to keep a straight
face. “You, my friend, are a sore loser.”

“Ha,” he blurted. “Me a sore loser?”

For a short time, it seemed that all was well. Both of them
were able to exist in the present, with no thought for what the future might
hold. After dinner, Reece coaxed Allie into a walk along the short stretch of
beach and then up to Hyde Street Pier.

“You know,” she hummed, as she shuffled closer to his side
in an attempt to use him as a human radiator. “I’ve lived in this city for
nearly six years and I’ve never been down here.”

“Are you serious?” he asked, instinctively wrapping an arm
around her shoulder.

“Ah, no,” she quickly corrected herself. “That’s not quite
true, there was this time I followed a drug dealer down here.”

“Oh,” he replied, with a laugh. “Well, nobody could accuse
you of not having a sense of the romantic.”

She quietly laughed, as she leaned closer to him and rested
her head on his shoulder. “It was one in the morning,” she mumbled,
reminiscing. “And it was freezing,” she added. “The place was pretty much
deserted.

“And you came down here on your own?” he asked, alarmed.

“Yup,” she confirmed with the slightest of nods. “It was my
first year on the paper and I was trying to make a good impression.”

“I don’t know about a good impression,” he countered. “But
you could have got your head blown off.”

“I know it doesn’t make much sense,” she uttered, lifting
her head from his shoulder, so that she can turn and look at his face. “But I
wasn’t scared at all. I just wanted the story and wanted to nail the asshole
that was selling drugs to high school kids.”

“And did you?” he wondered, looking deep into her eyes and
already knowing the answer.

Smiling, she straightened her posture. “What do you think?”
she countered, tossing him a glance that said, ‘was there ever any question?’

“I think you’re one of a kind, Allie Mclaren,” Reece
whispered, as he slipped out of his jacket, when he realized her lower arms
were covered in goose bumps. Easing it around her shoulders, he wrapped her up
in it. “I’ve never met anyone else quite like you.”

“Well, I’ve never met anyone quite like you either,” she
echoed, smiling gratefully, as he slowly withdrew his fingers from the soft
fabric of the jacket. A moment of silence passed between them. It was content,
it was sweet; it was one of the most pleasant experiences of Allie’s life. But
it, like so much else that had been good recently, didn’t last anywhere near
long enough.

Allie sucked in a sharp breath, as she felt a stab of pain
in her lower abdomen. Reece heard her intake of air and felt her tense.
Instantly, his arm was around her waist and his free hand was pushing the hair
away from her pale cheek.

“Are you all right?” he asked, concern knitting his brow
with dozens of tiny wrinkles.

“Ahh,” she breathed. “Yeah,” she replied, her own features
taut with discomfort. “I’ve just got a bit of stomach ache.”

“You sure?” he probed.

“Yeah,” she mumbled, her face relaxing as the sharp pain
faded to a dull niggling. “Must have been something I ate,” she dismissed.

Reece’s concern was still apparent in his voice, face and
whole body. “Maybe,” he reluctantly muttered. “But we should probably get you
home anyway,” he insisted, the arm at her middle, guiding her in a 180 degree
turn, so that they could begin retracing their steps.

Under other circumstances, Allie would have argued; told him
that once again he was behaving like an old mother hen and that she was quite
capable of monitoring her own well-being. However, on top of the pain, she was
beginning to feel extremely tired and the thought of getting back home and
curling up on the couch was incredibly appealing.

When the pair got to the end of the pier, and back onto
Jefferson, Reece immediately began looking for a cab. There didn’t seem to be
one nearby, so he fished out his phone and called for one.

“We could walk some of the way,” Allie suggested, knowing as
the words came out of her mouth, that they weren’t true. She didn’t think she’d
be able to walk more than a few paces.

The taxi ordered, Reece slid the phone into his back pocket,
and shook his head. “You look really pale,” he told her. “Are you sure you’re
okay?”

“I’m sick of being asked if I’m okay,” she quipped,
tempering what could have been seen as a slight by smiling good-naturedly at
him.

Apparently, Reece wasn’t in the mood for humor. “You know
what,” he said. “I worry about you, all right? And I’m sick of apologizing for
it.”

“You don’t have to apologize,” she stated, her eyes widening
as she was wrong footed by the suddenness of his mood swing.

“You don’t want to let me know how you’re feeling?” he asked
rhetorically. “Fine. If you don’t want to tell me about this Patrick guy,
that’s fine too.” he stated. “If you don’t want to let me in though, I don’t
understand what we’re doing.”

Allie felt another wave of pain, this time accompanied by a
strong sense of nausea. However, she refused to let it show. “What’s that
supposed to mean?”

“It means,” he blurted. “Apart from the sex, what exactly do
you want me in your life for?”

“If we’re talking about letting someone in, let’s talk about
you,” she shouted, unaware and uncaring that they were starting to draw the
attention of passersby. “You don’t even want me to come to your home.”

“That’s totally different,” he yelled.

“Is it?” she countered. “Because from where I’m standing, it
isn’t that different at all.”

“There are things that aren’t easy for me to talk about,” he
insisted, his eyes darting to the concrete and his hand running anxiously
through his hair. “It’s not that I don’t want to tell you, I’m just afraid that
it will change things.”

Allie wasn’t prepared for that small confession and her
anger drained almost instantly. “If there’s someone else,” she sighed, a
teardrop spilling onto her cheek. “Just tell me,” she pleaded, swiping the back
of her hand across her face.

With something that looked like horror, he turned to face
her. “What?” he asked breathlessly. “You think that I’m seeing someone else?”

“What am I supposed to think?” she reasoned.

“I-” Reece began, but he was cut off sharply, by the blare
of a car horn. His eyes moved in the direction of the sound and he noticed the
car parked ten feet away. “I...” he blustered, his head moving frantically
between the taxi and Allie. “Come on,” he eventually muttered, when the cab
driver honked his horn a second time.

Accepting his hand, Allie allowed herself to be led a little
way down the sidewalk. Reece opened the rear door of the cab and gestured for
her to get in first. He followed quickly behind her, giving the address of her
apartment to the driver while he slammed the door closed.

Reece sighed, resting his elbow on the inside of the door,
he rubbed nervously at his forehead. Allie watched him, examining the way his
eyes were fixed on the floor. She didn’t know what to make of his silence. Did
that mean she’d been right or wrong? He was giving nothing away.

“Reece,” she mumbled, placing her hand on his knee. “I’ll
understand,” she mumbled. “I mean-” she paused, biting her lower lip, as she
felt the stabbing sensation once more.

His eyes darted up and this time she could not disguise the
pain on her face. “Your stomach again?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she replied through gritted teeth. “I’ll be okay,
though,” she assured him.

Twisting in his seat, Reece reached forward sliding his hand
inside his jacket and pressing lightly on the dress that covered her belly. He
didn’t know why that was the instinctive go-to in matters of pain, but it was
something his mother had always done, so he didn’t question it. Slowly, he
rubbed his palm from left to right, doing the only thing he felt was in his
power to soothe her discomfort.

“Thanks,” she whispered, managing a half-smile as she slid
her own hand over his. “It’s probably just indigestion,” she shrugged. “I’ll be
fine in a little while.”

“I’m not so sure,” he muttered grimly. “You don’t look
good,” he stated.

“Thanks,” she smiled.

Despite himself, Reece laughed. “You know what I mean,” he
said warmly. “Do you want to go the hospital?”

“No,” she quickly stated. “Really, I’m sure I’ll be fine.
It’s no big deal. Keep doing what you’re doing,” she urged, pressing down on
his hand. “I’m feeling better already.”

Reece wanted to argue with her over the hospital, but
couldn’t bring himself to distress her. “Okay,” he unwillingly accepted.
“Allie,” he added on a whisper. “There’s no one else.”

Turning her face to him, Allie’s eyes found his nothing but
sincere. With a half-smile, she nodded. “I believe you,” she told him quietly.
There were unanswered questions, but they went unasked too. Allie was quiet
throughout the rest of the journey; the only sound coming from her the
occasional wince as she experienced spasmodic bouts of pain.

As the car pulled up and Reece began to reach for the door,
Allie stopped him. “There’s no one else for me either,” she told him, as
earnestly as he’d told her. “You know that, don’t you?”

“I wasn’t totally sure,” he responded honestly, “but I am
now.” Leaning into her, he kissed her lips, before digging into his pocket for
his wallet. He handed the cabbie a couple of bills, before pulling the door
handle. His hand carefully left Allie, as he slipped out of the backseat and
jumped to his feet. He swiveled offering her his hand, and helping her to do
the same thing.

Allie breathed deeply as she did, the pain becoming
increasingly worse. However, she tried to force a brave face, determined not to
worry Reece enough to cause him to insist that she see a doctor. As the car
pulled away from the curb, the pain overwhelmed her and she gripped Reece’s
hand hard.

“Allie?” Reece said, looping his arm around her waist, as
she seemed to have trouble carrying her own weight.

She slumped into him, her legs giving out. “Oh, God. It
hurts,” she gasped. Her eyes clamped shut and she began to lose consciousness.

As she started to black out, Reece struggled to keep her
standing and slowly lowered her to the sidewalk. “Allie?” he called, trying to
rouse her. “Allie!” he yelled, desperately.

Allie was unaware of the panicked look on his face, or the
way he hurriedly glanced over his shoulder and found a middle-aged couple
passing by. They stopped and the man fell to his knees, instantly checking
Allie’s vital signs. Her pulse was rapid, but her breathing was steady. The
man’s wife, dug into her purse and found her cell phone. It was she who called
the ambulance, while Reece continued to cradle Allie in his arms.

Hospital Visit

P
ulling herself from the depths of an
overwhelmingly powerful sleep, Allie struggled to open her eyes.  Almost
instantly, she was blinded by the brightness of a light directly above her
head, which caused her to groan in discomfort. As the sound left her lips, she
felt her hand being squeezed. She felt sure that something was being said, she
could hear a voice coming from somewhere in the darkness, but she could not
distinguish between the words. Instead the sound was little more than white
noise to her.

Gradually, her eyelids flickered and she adjusted to the
light. The vision in front of her was blurred, but she could make out the
outline of a person. Instinctively, without being able to discern any of his
features, she knew who that person was.

“Allie,” he said, his words hitting her ear like the sound
of a video being played in slow motion. “Are you okay?”

She smiled, but was unable to move anything other than her
lips. Blinking, she forced her eyes into focus. He was standing by the side of
the bed, leaning over her and examining her face with worry on his brow.

“Can you hear me?” he asked, his hand lifting to her cheek
and gently stroking it with the backs of his fingers.

Again, Allie’s mouth crinkled in a smile. “Yeah,” she
mumbled. Feeling heavy, her eyes slipped closed, before she wrenched them back
open. She shifted them away from Reece and began to inspect the room. It was
then that she realized where she was; the white sterile walls, cheap art prints
and starched sheets all seemed familiar in a most unwelcome way. “I don’t
know,” she began slowly, “what they’ve given me, but I feel...”