Free Hidden Heart by Camelia Miron Skiba

feeling threatened to drive her
insane. For two days straight she cried, drank tea and
slept.
    She made no effort to
contact the outside world and thought she could live like this
forever. But her body insisted differently. She needed food and had
some delivered the evening of the third night. Not tasting the
food, she ate listlessly, enough to stop the growls of her stomach,
and put the leftovers in the fridge. She remembered her luggage for
the business trip in her car and brought it into the house. She
feared to turn on her laptop or check her voice messages, so she
chose not to.
    Mama, why aren’t you here?
I’m so desperate. I need you. She went through her mama’s closet and her jewelry
box. She looked at some photo albums and cried more. Her days
turned into nights and her nights turned into days. Nothing made
any sense.
    She lived like this until
Thursday night, no contact with anybody but the delivery guy who
brought food once a day.
    She jerked when the house
phone rang. The ringing ripped through the silence like a car crash
on a still night. She couldn’t think of who would be calling; after
all, everyone knew her mama had passed away. At first, she refused
to answer the phone, but then it rang again. And again. Finally,
she gave in, if for nothing else than to stop the incessant
ringing.
    “ Hello?”
    “ Oh, honey, thank God I
found you,” Octavia’s voice sounded relieved. “We were so worried.
I called your house a zillion times, your cell, and your office.
Even Daniel’s phone until he finally answered. He told me you two
had a fight…you okay?”
    “ Hi, sis. Sorry I didn’t
call you or Chiara…I just didn’t want to talk to anybody and I
didn’t realize how long I had been hiding. Sorry, I didn’t mean to
worry you.”
    “ Worry us? Honey, if
something happens, we’re the first to find out. You can’t put us
through this again; we were beside ourselves with worry. I was
calling one more time and then I would’ve bought a ticket to come
to Bucharest and start searching for you.”
    Tessa felt horrible for
putting her sisters through so much anxiety. “I’m really sorry. I
didn’t mean to cause any trouble for anybody…” She sighed and felt
the need to cry again. “I…my life fell apart a couple of days ago
when I was asked to step aside from all my work. And then I go home
and find Daniel in my bed with another woman. Can you believe it?
That was too much for just one day, so I just felt the need to get
away and not see or hear from anybody. Mama’s house seemed like the
right place.” She paused, inhaled and let a big whoosh out and then
continued, “I asked Daniel to remove all his stuff from my
apartment, but didn’t want to stay there until he does it, so I
came here. I just had a meltdown.”
    “ Honey, you don’t have to
go through this alone; you could’ve called and we would’ve helped
you…he is a bastard and never really deserved you. If I ever see
that bastard again, I’ll cut his balls off, I swear!”
    Tessa laughed. Octavia
always managed to cheer her up. It helped release some of the
tension she had felt for so many days.
    “ And I can’t believe you
were asked to leave the office, that is absurd; after all these
years?”
    “ As it looks, I’ve been
accused of fraud and until the investigation concludes, I should
just sit at home and wait for them. I’m furious…I’m hurt. So I told
Victor screw it and I left. I quit. I mean, all I’ve done for the
past ten years, all the nights I slept with my head on the desk to
finish damn reports and worked like a maniac, nothing matters. I
don’t deserve, out of courtesy, to be asked what I think about the
whole situation…nothing…just told I’m no longer needed. Period. End
of story.”
    Tessa paced the room,
furious again. She talked for a while with Octavia, venting and
feeling so much better when she hung up. Octavia promised she’d
call Chiara to update her on what happened. Tessa promised