Free Acquiring Hearts by S. Donahue Page A

was pulling up to Gia’s house. He retrieved her bags and brought them to the front door. He went back to the car and waited there to give Gia and Brad some privacy.
     
    Brad was upset with the turn of events. He wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but he was getting a bad feeling. Brad told Gia that he’d call her later and they could discuss their future plans. Brad said, “I hope this isn’t the end. I care about you so much. I was hoping this would lead to something more.”
     
    “Brad, I care about you too. I just think we need to take it slower. I’m worried about you being away for so long and how that is going to affect us. We’re not breaking up just slowing down.”
     
    “I’ll just call you, we can discuss it later. Goodbye, Gia.”
     
    “You make it sound so permanent.”
     
    “Well, I will be gone for two months. I hope I can maybe come back once or twice but I can’t guarantee it.”
     
    They hugged and kissed once again and Gia went inside her front door and cried her eyes out. Brad got back in the car and drove away to his home by himself. He was worried they wouldn’t survive the two months apart. They didn’t even survive his departure.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Nine
     
    Brad called her last night to say good night and that he would call when he arrived in Miami. There was a bit of tension between them and she knew he was upset. She thought she was helping him out, not trying to hurt him.
     
    She hadn’t heard from him as of yet today and wondered if she should just go on without him. She missed him but she knew she wasn’t going to see him for two months.
     
    Hmmm… maybe I’ll nonchalantly call Rachel. She’ll know what’s going on.
     
    She called but got voicemail .
     
    “Hey Rach. it’s Gia. I was calling to see what you were up to. Maybe we can go grab lunch. Call me when you get back into the office.”
     
    Gia was having such a hard time concentrating on her work. She locked her office door, so no one would bother her. She told the office secretary, Melissa, to hold all calls except for Brad or Rachel.
     
    After an hour, she was going crazy in her office, she had to go out. Maybe she would go to the donut shop to get a coffee or maybe the bookstore. That’s probably not a good idea since that’s where she and Brad met.
     
    On her way to the donut shop her phone buzzed. It was her secretary calling her probably to forward a call. “Hey Mel, what’s going on?” She was hoping it was Brad, but for some reason she knew it wasn’t him. “I have Rachel on the line. Do you want to talk to her?”
     
    Maybe she could give me some information.
     
    “Sure put her through.”
     
    “Hey, you called me.”
     
    “Yes. How’s it going? I mean the first day on the new job and all.”
     
    “It’s going ok. I have so much work to do with Bradley not here.”
     
    “I bet. I’m assuming you’ve heard from him today.”
     
    “Yeah, he called earlier to give me some instructions about a few things.”
     
     
    “ Oh, that’s good that he landed safely.” She was upset that he didn’t even care to call her. She now knew she needed to go on, as hard as it was going to be.
     
    “Didn’t he call you? I thought he would have.”
     
    “No. He may call later. He’s probably busy.”
     
    “Are you ok? You don’t sound ok. What’s going on?”
     
    Gia explained the entire situation to her sister, more to get it off of her chest, but because she trusted her with everything.
     
    “I mean he’s with the project manager. What could he possibly be doing?”
     
    “You obviously are clueless. Plus didn’t you learn from my situation.”
     
    “What are you talking about?”
     
    “The project manager is Holly Thornton. Her dad runs the company that is handling the building of the new division. She wants Brad, bad, so I’ve heard from office buzz. I’m not telling you this to upset you, I’m telling you this