Page 89 of Sweet Heart

I can’t keep the shiver out of my voice. If they called a special meeting for Cat, doesn’t that mean that they—

“No. They wanted to get this out of the way quickly. Can’t have your head of trauma walking around like a ball of nerves for a month now, can you?”

She chuckles softly and grabs my hand, gently putting it into her lap.

“This will sting a little,” she warns before she presses a wet cotton ball against my nail.

The pain is sharp but brief. I hiss only once, through clenched teeth, but that is more because it shocks me, even though Carmen warned me it would come. It hurts because I knew that Cat was a doctor and wanted to make the right ethical choice.

“Hey,” Carmen says tentatively now, her eyes back on me. “Whatever the outcome is today, she will be fine.”

“You don’t know that, Car. This is her life.”

“Yes, it is. She fought long and hard to get to that position, and when she was appointed, she was the youngest one to date. That doesn’t happen to people who are not completely in.”

My stomach clenches at her words, and I let out an involuntary moan. I ruined her life. Fucking selfish idiot.

“But I’ve known Cat since long before she got there. I’ve seen her battle hardships that would have broken any other person. Her ex, Alex…”

She pauses and stares at me. I feel the air in my chest constrict as I stare back.

“Alex?”

“Sí, that was a bad situation. But Cat knows what to do with those. She just used them as fuel to propel herself in another, even better, direction. She is resilient, guapa.”

Tears sting behind my eyes, pricking my nose, but I nod. Carmen means well, but she just doesn’t get it. This can break Cat. Break us. And I can’t…

I push myself up from the chair for the third time in the past seventeen minutes and fifty-three seconds. I walk four steps to the right before turning on my heel. Four steps back. Never going too far, just in case. I repeat the motion, trying to find something soothing in the rhythm, but the iron band around my chest won’t lift.

“Mary,” Carmen commands softly, and I look up at her.

She opens her mouth to say something when the door swings open. We both whip our heads toward it, and my stomach twists when Cat steps out. She looks pale, with dark circles under her haunted eyes. Her eyes immediately search for mine. She nearly crumples when they find me, and I instinctively reach for her. She doesn’t hesitate and grabs my hand. I see it is all she can do not to sink into my arms. Not here, not now.

“How did it go?” I ask in a shaky voice, and she raises her shoulders defeatedly.

“They are discussing it now. It wasn’t pretty, Mary. My reputation—”

“Will be fine, hermana,” Carmen interjects.

The two exchange glances that I can’t quite follow, but I assume it’s Cat saying quietly that she can’t possibly know that, and her friend explaining all the reasons why she can.

“Abbott is in there,” Cat finally says with a sigh.

Carmen raises her eyebrows in confusion.

“Daniel Abbott?”

“Yes.”

“Rich boy, a little too slick, Daniel Abbott?”

“Yes.”

“Chair member Daniel Abbott?”

“Jesus Christ. Yes, Carmen, that one.”

Carmen blinks, the same question still flashing on her face as if she can’t quite believe it. And if she does, she doesn’t quite understand it.