Free The Contingency Plan (The Lonely Heart Series) by Latrivia Nelson Page B

wasn’t at home, she was always here.
    Charlie stood up and wiped her face clean of any evidence. “Yes,” she called out, hoping that it wasn’t Alex. “Who is it?”
    “Charlene, it’s me, Frank,” her assistant said, tur n ing the knob. “May I come in?”
    “Yes,” she said as his head peeked inside.  He no d ded at Sully and then waved at Charlene. “May I please speak with you in private?”
    “Sure,” Charlie said frowning. “Sully, I will be right back,” she said following Frank out. “What is going on?” she asked as she closed the door.  Her voice was in a high-pitched whisper. “What are you doing here?”
    “I’ve been here for like two hours. I was in the copy room preparing the paperwork for the Withersby gift.  I got a call from one of the board members. But that’s not what I wanted to bother you about. I just got a call from the Fire Department.  They tried to reach you but your cell phone is off.  And your office phone is directed to my line.”
    Charlie cut him off. “What happened?” she asked, suddenly more of a nervous wreck, if that was poss i ble.
    “Alex has been in an accident. He was on a call and fell through a flaming ceiling.  He’s at the hosp i tal.”  He passed her a piece of paper with the dire c tions on it.
    “Oh my God!” Charlie screamed before she could help herself.  Bursting back through her office door, she grabbed her purse and coat.
    “Is everything okay?” Sully asked, standing up.
    Her eyes were awash with new tears.  “No.  Alex has been injured on duty,” she said, running back out of the door.
    Sully followed behind her. “Take my car,” he said, leaning against the door. “It’s waiting out front!”
    “Thanks!” Charlie said, forgetting all about their conversation. 
    He watched her disappear quickly down the hall and then heard her quickly get into the elevator. Taking a deep breath, he looked over and noticed that Frank was staring at him with a clever grin. 
    “What?” Sully asked, running a hand through his hair. 
    “Nothing at all, sir,” Frank said quickly. 
    “Where you eavesdropping?” Sully asked, narro w ing his eyes on the man.
    “There is no need, sir. She’ll tell me everything on Monday,” Frank said, raising his brows and turning on his heels to head back to his office. “I’ll call a cab for you.”
     
     

 
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    The Contingency Plan
    Chapter 4
    It was near seven a.m. two days later by the time that Alex was moved from ICU to a room of his own.  Having regained consciousness, he was ecstatic to find the first person that he laid eyes on to be his one and only Charlie.  She gazed down at him with warmness and stroked the side of his caramel face with her index finger.  A single tear fell from her eyes onto his lips as she tried to speak.
    “Hey you,” she said, smiling.
    “Hey yourself,” he moaned, looking down to rea l ize that his leg was in a cast.
    “Where am I?” he asked, finally feeling pain shoot through his body.  His throat still hurt from the tubes that had been recently removed, but he refused to stay quiet. 
    “You’re at Jacobi Medical Center,” Charlie said, looking over to the station chief, who was finally rustling awake from his short nap.
    “What happened?” Alex asked, trying to reme m ber what had led him there.
    “You went up to the attic to save a little girl in a house fire and the two of you got trapped.  The boards fell on you, and you fell through the attic down into the second story of the house where more debris fell on top of you.”  Charlie tried not to cry at the thought of nearly losing him so abruptly. 
    “And the girl?” Alex asked, completely unco n cerned with himself for the moment.
    The chief stood up and pulled at the belt of his pants.  “Alex, it’s best that you just focus on getting better.  You took a hell of a lick in there.  We almost lost you.”
    “What happened to the girl?” Alex asked again, this time with more