Chapter 15: Counting Days

Lorena put the photograph on Renata's hospital tray and did not say hello.

Renata sat up against two pillows, with a walking frame parked beside the bed.

She looked at the picture for a long time.

"Who took this?" she asked.

"Octavio Rangel handed it to me. Is it what it looks like?"

"It looks like someone kissing his fiancée's forehead."

"Renata."

"Mari, sit."

Renata pushed the tray away.

"I'll tell you what it is. That was the day after I woke up."

Lorena sat on the edge of the chair.

"He came alone and stood at the foot of this bed with his hands behind his back."

"What did he say?"

"That he should have told your mother in the morning, not let me take the car. He said it was his fault."

"It wasn't."

"I told him so."

Renata's mouth twisted.

"I said, I never loved you, Nacho, and you never loved me. We were two people being pushed down an aisle by our mothers."

"And he?"

"He looked so relieved he nearly cried. I told him to stop apologizing, and he kissed my forehead and said thank you. That's the whole picture."

"Thank you for what?"

"For being the reason he got you."

Lorena's hands went still in her lap.

"He said that?"

"Not in those words. He said, I will spend the rest of my life earning Lorena, if she lets me."

The window beyond Renata's head was bright and hard.

"He has never said a word like that to me," Lorena said.

"Has he had the chance?" Renata asked. "You left."

"I left because I thought he was waiting for you."

"I know. I'm saying it wasn't his best plan."

Renata picked up the picture and turned it over.

There was nothing on the back.

Keep reading free with an account. Start From Substitute Wife to the CEO's Obsession from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.