Chapter 84
In the days after that creepy message, nothing else happened, so Valeria eventually just put it out of her mind.
Life went on as usual. When she dropped off or picked up Selena from school, she’d
occasionally run into Leo.
Sometimes, it was Avery who came for him. Other times it was the family driver. Twice, she even ran into Mallory. But never Sebastian.
From a distance, Leo would spot Valeria, wave excitedly, and run toward her, shouting her
name.
Valeria noticed that in just the past couple of weeks, Leo had slimmed down a little.
She bent slightly, smiled, and gently cupped his cheek.
“Val, let’s go have some ravioli. You promised me last time,” he said eagerly.
That day, Mallory was the one picking Leo up. She had just gotten out of the car when Valeria looked up, and their eyes met briefly. They exchanged a polite smile.
Mallory walked over and ruffled Leo’s hair. “He’s been trying to diet lately-barely eating anything. I’m starting to think he’s got a little crush at school,” she said with a playful glance toward Selena, who was standing next to Valeria.
Selena was beautiful and strangely familiar-looking. With those delicate features and that high nose bridge, Mallory thought if she walked around holding her hand, people might actually believe Selena was her daughter.
Mallory figured Leo had a thing for Selena. Just last night, she caught him lying belly-down on his bed, scribbling what could only be called a love letter. The handwriting was so squirmy and lopsided that it looked like it had been written by a caterpillar crawling across the page.
If she weren’t his mom, she’d have had no clue those were even letters. They looked more like ancient script than actual words.
He wrote something along the lines of, “Sel… I’m totally in love with you at first sight.”
And lately, Leo hadn’t touched fried chicken or macaroni. He said he was trying to lose weight. And when a guy suddenly started to go on a diet, that was when something was up.
Mallory gave Leo a light smack on the back of the head.
“Alright then. Let’s go get some ravioli. Hop in. Ms. Neal, I’ll give you both a ride.”
Valeria smiled and nodded. As Selena climbed into the car, she chirped sweetly, “Thank you,
Ms. Grant.”
Mallory glanced at her through the rearview mirror as she drove. Back when she was pregnant, she really wanted a daughter, but she gave birth to Leo. Now, looking at Selena, her heart softened a little.
There was something about her that just tugged at the heartstrings.
Through Martha, she’d also heard about Selena’s heart condition. Even though she was so young, she was already dealing with something so painful. Martha had undergone heart surgery, so Mallory knew exactly what that struggle was like.
Right then and there, she added Valeria’s number to her contacts list and forwarded Sebastian’s contact to her.
“This is my brother-he’s a cardiothoracic surgeon at Slate City Medical Center. His mentor is Dr. Gordon, the top heart surgeon in the country. You probably saw him at Leo’s birthday party when you brought Selena.”
Mallory remembered seeing Sebastian lightly touch Valeria’s back that day. For a split second, she’d been startled. But all he’d done was lean past Valeria to hand Selena a slice of cake. She’d felt ridiculous for even thinking anything of it.
Valeria was married, for crying out loud. Why was she reading into things? And she knew Sebastian —he avoided blind dates like the plague. Martha had been trying to set him up for
years.
Sure, Valeria was attractive, but she had a six-year-old daughter.
Valeria stared at Sebastian’s WhatsApp contact card and fell silent for a second. Then, she said awkwardly, “Thanks.”
She had added him before. Out of habit, she tapped on the chat. But there were no messages. Nothing. It was completely blank.
“He’s been out of town for training. He should be back tomorrow. You can try to get an appointment with him at the hospital then,” Mallory said, glancing at Valeria again in the mirror. “He might come off cold or distant like he’s hard to talk to. But don’t take it personally. That’s just how he is.”
Valeria smiled faintly and gave a soft hum.
Right then, her finger accidentally brushed the keyboard. The WhatsApp chat window with Sebastian was still open. And just like that, she sent him a question mark and a rose emoji.
Valeria froze, panicked. Then, she immediately deleted the messages for both of them and closed the chat window.
Her heart was pounding. She
see it, right? It was a mistake. She didn’t mean to send anything.
Just then, her phone buzzed in her palm. Sebastian replied with a question mark.
