That was somewhat good news but Alex still looked worried. “Are you leaving?”

“Yeah, I gotta go check on Valerie.”

Suddenly feeling yet another troublesome concern Isabel asked, “What’s wrong with Valerie?”

“I don’t know. She was fine last night, but I just called her right now and she’s not feeling well at all. She sounded terrible.”

Come to think of it, Isabel had noticed something in Valerie’s voice when she’d spoken to her earlier. The shock of hearing about Max had overshadowed it. She also thought Valerie was just upset about Max. Alex started to walk away. “Romero is right inside.”

“Alex, have Valerie call me, or I’ll worry. Okay?”

He nodded and rushed off. The dark sky was beginning to take on a bluish hue with soft rays of pink and orange as the sun began to crest. Isabel stared at it, taking a very deep breath before stepping inside. The first thing she saw was Manny in a corner seat, eyes closed, leaning against Aida who had her arms around him. Romero sat two seats away in the near empty waiting room. He was hunched over, his elbows on his knees and his hands in his hair.

She gulped, trying to be strong. Even though Manny’s eyes were closed, she could see the area around them was red and swollen. She remembered Romero telling her how Manny was not ashamed to cry and she could only imagine all the crying he’d done tonight.

She walked over and took the seat next to Romero. He didn’t move at all and she brought her hand up, stopping just before it touched his back, afraid of what his reaction would be. Did he hate her now? Was he still angry at her? Finally, she let her hand touch his strong back and he lifted his head. His eyes widened when he turned and saw her.

“Izzy?” he said it as if questioning if it was really her.

She smiled trying to hold it together. “How’s Max?”

His eyes began to flood, but he was without expression. He hugged her. At first softly but every breath he took, he hugged her even harder. He didn’t say a word and she didn’t ask anything else, just ran her fingers through his hair until his breathing began to calm. Without letting go of her or even pulling away to face her he finally whispered against her ear, “Please don’t leave me. I promise I’ll try harder.” Slowly he pulled away and their eyes met. “I’m nothing without you, Izzy.”

She stared at his wet, worried eyes, not sure how to respond to that. Then she remembered Cici. Now wasn’t the time to discuss that. “We can talk about this later. Right now I just wanna be here for you.”

The worry never left his eyes but he took her hand and sat back. She sat back with him. “Do they know anything yet?”

Just as he was about to respond a door to the admitting room opened and a doctor walked out. They all sat up at once. Manny stood. The doctor walked up to them. He explained Max had been very lucky. The bullet had only nicked the top of his lung and had missed any vital arteries. “However, we’ll need to monitor him very closely for the next few days because anytime a lung is punctured in any way the patient runs the risk of developing fluid in the lungs very quickly which can then develop into pneumonia.”

Isabel saw the alarm in Romero’s eyes at the mention of the word and he stood. She stood with him.

“I don’t foresee that happening, everything looks good right now, but it’s always best to be cautious, so he will remain in the ICU for the next couple of days. The pain medication he’s on will keep him out for most of the day. I’d suggest you all go home and get some rest. Come back later tonight. That’s probably the earliest he’ll wake.” Seeing the apprehension on both Manny and Romero’s faces, the doctor added. “We’ll call you if there is any change. But I can assure you the worst is over.”

“Thank, God. Thank God! ” Manny said.

Aida hugged Manny and Isabel squeezed Romero’s hand.

Once outside a very drained looking Manny turned to Romero. “We’re going to grab some breakfast before heading home. You two wanna come with?”

Romero and Isabel exchanged glances then Romero shook his head. “Nah, you go ahead. I’m not feeling real hungry right now.”

Romero and Isabel walked silently through the parking lot. Finally, Romero spoke up. “The charges were dropped.”

Isabel turned to him wide eyed. “They were?”

The corner of his lip lifted, though he didn’t seem very happy, but then under the circumstances that was understandable. “Yeah. We have no idea why. Nick, my attorney, was getting ready to file my paperwork when he was notified the charges had been cancelled.”

Isabel couldn’t believe her plan had actually worked. It was the first good thing that had happened that week. They stopped at her car.

“Izzy, I’ll do anything to make this better. I’ll change. I promise. Just please tell me it’s not over.” He kissed her hand.

“I don’t want it to be over either, Romero.”

His face brightened a bit but there was still apprehension. “So we’ll work on it? I’ll work on it. I’ll do whatever you ask.”

Isabel stared at him. Her heart full of hope but two things still nagged at her terribly. Cici and Michael. She was going to have to tell him eventually. She wouldn’t run the risk of him finding out some other way. All that mattered now was that the charges had been dropped and Michael could never file them again. “We have to talk.”

CHAPTER 24