Alisha sat on the couch as she thought about what she had been through over the week. Anna and Alfonso had decided to relocate to Georgia, and Sophia who was gradually regaining her memory had decided to move away from California as well, she said she could not bear to see Adams with another woman, especially with the knowledge that she was the one that had pushed him away.
Alisha secured a house for her in Florida, while Alfonso promised to place her on a monthly allowance.
Leonardo had given Alisha some space, he decided he needed some time to think of what he wanted.
Grandpa Alexandra and Nana were to return with Ina that weekend, and Alisha had decided that she would pick Ina from the airport herself, while Leonardo could take his grandparents home.
The day they were to arrive, Alisha was notified by Nana that their flight was about to leave, so she had noted the time they were to arrive.
She went to the airport and sat a café close by so she could take Ina home. She had missed her daughter so much, and for now that was the only person she had in her life.
She was writing out some recipes on her journal when a voice cleared in front of her. She looked up to find Leonardo in front of her.
"May I sit?" he asked politely and she nodded and focused her attention back to her journal. "It's been a long while" Leonardo tried to start a conversation.
Alisha was uninterested, but she didn't want to appear rude. "Yeah, what have you been up to?" she asked
"I've been thinking about you, I can't seem to get you out of my head Alisha, I want you so much."
"It's just the sex you have missed, you could pay a visit to one of those your regulars, and maybe you would get the satisfaction you crave." She said and returned her gaze to her journal, she didn't want to see his reaction, because if she did, she knew she would feel guilty.
Leonardo was about to say something, when his phone rang. He answered a call which seemed to be a business call, after which he dropped the call.
"Hmm, Alisha would you mind helping me pick up Grandpa and nana? I have to rush to a meeting right now, I would have called the driver but he took an off from work today."
"It's fine" she said and looked at the time, she had five minutes more. He thanked her and left, he wanted to kiss her, or hold her, but she was not even smiling at him.
When Alisha arrived at the waiting section, she thought about what she was going to do first, she would drop off grandpa and nana, and then she would take Ina out for ice cream. In a month from now, Ina was to start school, she had not decided if she would take her to a good school or home school her, she would have asked Leonardo's opinion but she didn't want him to feel as if he had so much right to be a part of their lives.
She looked at the time, it was over 30 minutes, and she went in to find out what must have caused the delay, they had told her to be patient for a while, but when it was about an hour and there was nothing yet, her anger from the delay became worry.
She was tensed and was sweating profusely, her dad had called her to ask if she had picked Ina up, she told him she was yet to hear any news and that she was so worried.
He asked if he could come to wait with her, but she told him it was not necessary. However, thirty minutes later, he called her to find out where she sat, that he was already here.
Leonardo was feeling tense and suffocated in the meeting, so much that he could not concentrate. In spite of the air conditioner, he was sweating, and even when he took off his necktie, he was still uncomfortable.
He dismissed the meeting, and told his assistant to reschedule, there was no point having a meeting where his mental concentration was needed but absent. As he entered the elevator to leave the office building, he called Alisha, but she was not picking her call. He wanted to know if she had left the airport and if grandpa and Nana were home now.
He drove to the house, but there was no one there, he thought of waiting, perhaps they were close or they had gone through Alisha's bakery for some freshly made small chops.
He called his grandparents but none of their lines were going through, he called the bakery, but they had not seen Alisha today. He drove to Alisha's house but she was not home. Then it occurred to him to call Mr. Adams.
The only thing Adams told him was that they were still at the airport and there was no news yet. Leonardo drove to the airport and held Alisha's hand as he stormed the flight monitoring department.
As soon as he entered, he heard the news coming in, there had been a crash. The plane had crashed on a rock, and had exploded, there were no survivors.
Leonardo confirmed the flight number just too be sure, and when Alisha saw that it was the plane Ina was on, she fainted.
Leonardo was shivering, and couldn't even hold Alisha, the standby doctor from the medical department attended to her while an ambulance was called. Leonardo watched as they tried to revive Alisha, and also looked at the screen showing the explosion.
His mind was blank, he didn't know what to do or think.
It's been two days since the crash, Leonardo had been drowning himself in alcohol. He didn't step out of the house, he had lost his grandparents and his daughter in one day.
Alisha on the other hand stayed in bed, all day, she didn't eat or bath. Her father and Mary had tried to make her eat but she didn't want to see anybody. She wanted to be alone. She had lost her daughter, the only person she really had.
A week later, Adams had organized the burial, the burial had been done together, Leonardo had managed to take his bath that day, he was looking so skinny, but had managed to shave. Immediately after the burial, Dr. Snow, his therapist for over the years met up with him, she had encouraged him to come for therapy along with Alisha.
Days after he had decided to go for therapy, he had tried to speak with Alisha about it. She had bluntly refused, "I don't need therapy, I am not depressed, neither am I going insane, I just need some time to heal." She had said and gone back to lock herself in her room.
Three months after the burial, Alisha had decided she was done sulking, she was depressed and needed help, so she had gone to Leonardo's office, this would be the first time she was seeing him since the last time she saw him, a week after the burial.
She was so absent minded that when she got out of the elevator that led to his office and didn't see his secretary, she entered his office without knocking.
"Alisha" he said surprised to see her, she had told him she was ready to heal, and wanted to do it alone, but she needed him to recommend a therapist to her. He had suggested Dr. Snow and had helped set up an appointment for her.
Three weeks later, Alisha was doing better, and she had even started going to the bakery regularly, Leonardo had stopped by to see her on few occasions, and had even sent her flowers and chocolates.
She missed Ina, but she was gradually feeling better. Leonardo was sweet and available and she was slowly seeing the possibility of them coming back together.
Leonardo had thought about proposing to her again, but he didn't want to rush her, he knew she needed time and he had decided to be patient.
Alisha had learnt to forgive Anna, as well as Sophia, and she was glad things were turning out for her. She had given out Ina's belongings to charity, and even though the house felt empty, she had decided to occupy her mind with other things instead of drowning in depression.
"I am ready to move on again." She had smiled to the therapist as she lay on the couch during their session
"That is a good thing, I am so happy for you, how about Leonardo, have you decided his place in your life?" Dr. Snow asked
"Well, I know I do love him, and I think I want to be with him, but I want to be sure it's not because I am lonely sometimes, I want to be sure that is what I really want, but I think I am ready to give him a chance, to give us a chance." She said, the therapist received an urgent call and excused herself.
Alisha got curious after waiting for a while and decided to look around the office, a beep came from the doctor's phone and she turned to look at it, she knew it was wrong to invade her privacy, but the open chat caught her attention, the doctor was chatting wit Leonardo, it was not strange, he was also her client, but Alisha noticed that she had just sent him a recording few minutes ago.
She played the record and heard her own voice, she went through the chats and discovered that for each session she had with the therapist, the therapist recorded and sent to Leonardo.
That was a crime and Alisha could send her to jail for that, in annoyance, she picked her bag and left, she bumped into the doctor on her way put and instead of confronting her, she had pushed her aside and went out of the building in anger.
She got into her car, and screamed to release some tension. When she was done, she drove straight to Leonardo's office, she was going to confront him, how could he claim he loved and respected her, yet pay the doctor and invade her privacy, so he was being sweet and close lately because the doctor had informed him that she was falling in love with him again.
She angrily went to his office, not even giving a glance to the receptionist or his secretary a she walked by, she pushed the door open without any knock and found a shocking sight before her.
She saw Leonardo having sex with a skinny blond on his office desk, "I should have known, I should have known that you never really loved me, it was all sex, and nothing more, I should have known the skinny blonds would always have a place in your heart. I should have known that loving you and hoping we would make a cute couple was just a stupid dream. And with the conversations I saw between you and Dr. Snow I know you are just and obsessed son of a bitch." She said and walked out of the office.
Alisha drove home with tears almost blinding her eyes, she tried to concentrate on the road, but she couldn't, so she parked by the road and cried her eyes out.
When she was done crying, and had decided what she was going to do, she started the car engine, and drove towards home.
Alisha's phone kept ringing as she drove, home didn't seem to be so far until today, she looked at the phone briefly and saw that it was Leonardo that was calling her, "what else does this son of a bitch want from me?" she asked herself and then picked up the call.
When she looked back at the road she saw that the light had turned red and she was about to knock down a little girl crossing the road alone.