Ana:The producer is so in love with the story that the station is going to stream the interview on their website and social media.
Ana:And they’re going to replay it during the afternoon and evening segments!
I droppedmy head onto my arm, which was resting on the table, and squeezed my eyes shut. After everything my nephew had gone through, the possibility of missing his birthday party tomorrow afternoon was killing me. Between my student loans kicking in soon and waiting to hear if I got the job I’d been interviewing for over the past three months, I couldn’t do much else to fix this except give the airline another call and see if talking to a different agent got me a better flight option. Since I didn’t think my sister’s harebrained scheme had any chance ofsucceeding, I dialed the toll-free number again and sat on hold for almost an hour before I was finally connected to a customer service representative. She wasn’t able to help me any more than the first person I had talked to, and I was about ready to cry when I hung up.
After taking a quick shower and guzzling another cup of coffee, I checked the ridiculous auction listing again and shook my head when I saw there weren’t any bids. Then I checked a national bus company to see if they could get me there faster than a train. The only available route they had required three transfers and took almost sixty hours, so it wasn’t going to work either.
“Crap,” I muttered. My stomach rumbled, reminding me that I’d been up for more than five hours without eating anything. After I microwaved some strawberry cream oatmeal, I plopped back down at the kitchen table and pulled up an employment website. Although I’d made it to the third and final round of interviews for a job that paid well and had benefits, I was still filling out applications in case it fell through. Since I’d last looked, a few positions had been added that seemed they could be a good fit, so I submitted my resume to each of them. Once that was done, I spent a few hours cleaning my apartment before making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Just as I took a bite, my sister called. “Hello,” I mumbled around the food in my mouth.
“We went viral!” she screamed in my ear.
I almost choked getting the sandwich down before asking, “What do you mean?”
“The news station’s post has been shared a bazillion times, and people are talking about it all over social media.” My cell phone beeped with a text notification, so I switched to speaker mode and saw that it was from her. “I just sent you the link. Check out all the comments. People are eating this story up.”
I clicked on the link, and my eyes widened when I saw all the reactions and comments. “Whoa.”
“Right?” Ana giggled, making me smile. “If we’d had more time, we totally could’ve done an online fundraiser instead, but I don’t think it would’ve been shared nearly as often. The possibility of a real-life romance between you and your knight in shining armor is what’s got everyone so excited.”
My smile wiped off my face as my surprise turned to outright shock. “How did we jump from strangers bidding on me on the internet to me falling for one of them? Do these people not realize that a serial killer could place the winning bid?”
“Nah, that’s the beauty of the news coverage. Nothing bad can happen to you because you’re too big of a story now,” she swore.
I hoped she was right because someone had already bid a thousand bucks for the chance to be the person who got me to Portland by tomorrow afternoon. There was no way I’d be able to talk my sister out of this now, no matter how much I argued. And I wasn’t even going to try. Not when I had hope again.
2
DEVON
“Do you think Brecken would let me borrow Devon or Whit and one of the planes?”
My attention shifted away from the report I was working on when I heard Hadley, my boss’s wife, mention my name. I’d hung out with her and their toddler, Quinten, and baby girl, Ashley, in the reception area when I came back from lunch. But then Sera had come in and distracted Hadley with her hugely rounded belly. We didn’t see the female operative around here much after her football star hubby had knocked her up with twins. It had been an adjustment since we’d worked together for so long, but I was thrilled she was building the family she craved with a husband who was crazy about her.
The group must’ve wandered into Sera’s office, which was next door to mine, because I didn’t have to strain to hear her reply. “We both know that your husband would give you anything you ask for, but why do you need a pilot and a plane?”
That was an excellent question. There was no way in hell Brecken would let his adored wife—who’d just given birth to Ashley three months ago—jet off somewhere without him. In the years since he’d come to Hadley’s rescue in a SouthAmerican rainforest, Brecken had kept her close. With his security company growing by leaps and bounds, he took on more administrative shit while the rest of us handled the cases that involved travel.
“Here, let me borrow your computer so you can see it better.” There was about a minute of silence before the sound of a news segment began to play. I only half listened as the woman talked about an aunt who was desperate to make it to her nephew’s birthday party after the airline cancelled her flight. I shook my head and grinned because it was too easy to picture soft-hearted Hadley falling for a sob story and wanting to rush to the rescue, especially when a child was involved.
Then the newsperson started to interview another woman, and my smile wiped from my face. Jumping out of my chair, I stormed around my desk, through my door, and into Sera’s office. “What in the he”—I stopped before I swore in front of Quinten, who was just old enough to start repeating all the shit he heard—“ck are you watching?”
Hadley clapped her hands together and bounced on her feet. “It’s the sweetest thing ever. This woman put up a post on a bidding website for someone to be her sister’s knight in shining armor. She needs to get to Portland by tomorrow afternoon, but her flight was cancelled. Buying a new ticket is too expensive, and nothing else will get her there in time.”
I glared at the computer screen. “Why is her son’s birthday party so important that she’d risk all the fu—reaks that are bound to set their sights on her sister over a stunt like this?”
“I don’t think I can tell the story without bawling.” Hadley fast-forwarded thirty seconds ahead and pressed play.
“Harry was five when he was diagnosed with severe aplastic anemia.” The woman on the video paused to take a deep breath. Although I was anxious to hear the rest, I didn’t blame her. Talking about her son’s illness had to be hard as fuck. “The onlycure is chemotherapy followed by a stem cell transplant. The best chance for a bone marrow match is from siblings, but Harry is our only child. My husband and I were half-matched, and we had planned to move forward with Jeff as the donor because time was running out. But then my sister insisted on being tested, too.”
Tears filled the woman’s eyes, and the reporter handed her a tissue. She dabbed at her cheeks and continued, “Mel was in her first semester of her senior year of college when Harry was diagnosed. She dropped out and moved into the house to help take care of him. The doctors had already learned how stubborn she could be when it came to making sure he was getting the best care possible. It was obvious they were just humoring her when they agreed to the testing. The chances of an aunt being a sufficiently matched relative are so rare; it just shouldn’t have been possible. But apparently, her being my half sister paid off big time because she somehow had HLA genes in common with both my husband and me. It was something like a one in a million chance, but Mel was a closer match than either of us.”
“The bone marrow transplant was a success?” the reporter asked with a soft smile.
“Yes.” The woman beamed a huge smile at the camera. “We still have to closely monitor Harry’s health, but he came through the process with flying colors.”
The reporter returned her smile. “Why is this birthday extra special for Harry?”
“He was in the hospital undergoing chemo when he turned six, so we’re going all out this year to help make up for it,” the mom explained. “It’s more for us than him, I think. The only thing Harry asked for this year was a visit from his aunt Mel. He’s going to be crushed when he finds out she can’t make it here in time for his party.”
