AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Pearce shot again and then sighed. “What’s the hunch?”
Grayson passed the ball back to his friend. “I think my heart came from a man in Boston who died saving someone from getting hit by a car.”
Pearce froze midshot. The ball faltered and never made it to the basket. Normally, Grayson would razz his friend, but not today. The ball bounced away from them. “Say what? How?”
“When my therapist told me about cellular memory, I started looking things up online—”
“What kind of things?” Pearce interrupted.
“Deaths,” Grayson said. “I started thinking about the people who died close to the day of my surgery. I looked up obituaries in the area, mostly because I didn’t know how far a heart could travel for a transplant. The people who died, though, had cancer, overdosed, or didn’t seem like a viable candidate for donation. Then I searched farther out and came across an article about Warren and Lorraine Bolton. They lost their son-in-law in that accident I mentioned. I wouldn’t have gone any further except I know the Boltons.”
“How?”
“I dated their daughter Nadia in high school, up until we left for college.”
Any color Pearce had in his cheeks left with Grayson’s statement. “That’s a stretch, Grayson.”
He shook his head. “I read his obituary. He was an organ donor. None of the others I’d read up until then said anything of the sort.”
“Not everyone will make their decision public.”
“That’s what I thought, but then I searched different keywords and found numerous obituaries from years past and even weeks ago, all using the same line: ‘gift of life.’ It’s everywhere,” he told his friend.“UNOS, commercials, everywhere I turn, I see or hear it. You’ve even said it today.”
This time it was Pearce who went and retrieved the basketball. He didn’t dribble it or try to shoot. He carried it under his arm and walked toward Grayson.
“Did you tell any of this to Reid?”
Grayson shook his head slowly. “I will, but not yet.”
“What are you waiting for?”
“I want to know if I’m right.”
“About what, exactly?”
“About my heart. If I’m right, then when I see Nadia, my ache should go away.”
“Did you ask UNOS?”
Grayson shook his head. “It’ll take too long. She could say no.”
“So, what are you going to do?”
“Go see her.”
Pearce shook his head. “Your hunch is stupid.”
“Is it, though?” Grayson asked. “What if my heart misses her?”
“Then what? Do you leave Reid for what’s her name?”
“Nadia.”
“My question was rhetorical, Grayson.”
“I’m in love with Reid. That won’t change.”
“You don’t know that. Especially if you have history with this woman.” Pearce threw his hands up in the air. “I swear, you’re like one of those second-chance romance movies my mom is always watching, where a long-lost love returns home and magically falls in love with their first love because the person they have waiting for them back home is some ‘put work first’ type and doesn’t care about the holidays.”
