Her Last Wish Read Online Free PDF

my comfort.
    “It’s okay. I
understand,” she said quietly. “You don't have to talk about it if it’s a
touchy subject. I was just making conversation.”
    I nodded, shocked she
even cared to notice my mood shift. Desperate to change the subject, I asked,
“So what about your boyfriend? I’m surprised he didn’t offer you a ride home.”
    “He did, in a way. We
just … Well, sometimes it’s better to walk away for a bit. For both of us.”
    Just by the way she’d
said it, I knew they’d had a fight of some kind. It couldn’t have been too
serious, though. She didn’t seem too upset. I’d have been lying if I said I didn’t
feel some jealousy toward him. I’d have killed to have someone as beautiful as
Charlie to argue with. Not to mention, there was always that making up bit, too
…
    I tried to pull myself
away from the route my thoughts were trying to take. Nothing good could come of
thoughts like that. She was my student. I had to try to think of her as such,
despite my obvious and puzzling struggle with it. “I hope everything is okay.”
    “Yeah. It’s fine. Thank
you for the ride, though. It’s very nice of you.”
    “It’s my pleasure. You
rescued me from horrifying coffee, after all.”
    She giggled. “Then my
work is done.”
    I heard my telltale
ringtone, startling me out of my good mood. Keeping my eyes on the road, I dug
my phone out of my pocket. I held the wheel as steadily as I could and stole a
quick glance at the caller ID. Loving Stork Surrogacy. “Do you mind if I answer
this?” I asked.
    “Not at all.”
    “Thank you. This
shouldn’t take long.”
    She smiled at me and
turned her head to stare out the window. It wasn’t quite privacy, but I didn’t
care what she heard.
    I slowly inhaled what I
could of the calming atmosphere that had developed over the course of the
drive, knowing I’d need it. There it was. My last chance at making my wife’s
dream of children come true. I prayed to anyone who would listen that they
would give me good news. I needed this to work out.
     
     
    Chapter Five
     
    Charlie
     
    I didn’t know what
happened on the other end of that phone call. I had no idea what upset him. All
I heard was something about him being a widower, something involving a doctor,
and that was it. After that, he hung up, slung a huge string of obscenities at nobody ,
and immediately pulled over.
    As I watched
helplessly, he punched the steering wheel, over and over. He looked near tears,
but I could tell he fought them with all he had. It hurt to watch him go from
mostly sane to fully breaking down in just the span of a phone call. What was
it that upset him so bad?
    Unsure of what else to
do, I held out a trembling hand and gently placed it on his shoulder. I didn’t
even care about getting home at that point. I just wanted his pain to stop. I
wanted him to stop hurting himself. And truth be told, I wanted him to stop
scaring the hell out of me.
    He froze on contact.
Under my fingers, I could feel his muscles tense up in his back and shoulder. I
hadn’t meant to startle him. I just wanted him to stop punching things. At
least I’d been successful in that much.
    “Professor?” I asked
cautiously, somewhat afraid he’d turn that barely restrained rage and despair
on me. He didn’t seem the type, but what did I know? I didn’t know him outside
a classroom. I only knew what coffee he preferred and what car he drove. That
was hardly enough to qualify as knowing him at all.
    He stared blankly
ahead, his hands gripped tightly around the steering wheel.
    “Professor?” I
repeated. “Are you okay?”
    “It’s over,” came his
emotionally exhausted voice from the other side of the car. “She’s gone.”
    I tilted my head in
confusion. “I don’t understand. What’s over? Who’s gone?”
    When he looked over at
me, I found his beautiful blue eyes had turned stormy. The sad, aged man that I
saw in class nearly every day had returned, though this time, he