Skipping a Beat by Sarah Pekkanen

Author:Sarah Pekkanen [Pekkanen, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Romance, Contemporary, Adult
ISBN: 9781451609820
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 2010-12-31T13:00:00+00:00

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Part Two

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Twenty-two

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I ONCE READ A newspaper story about what happens to the human body just before a big accident. Say you’re driving through an intersection, absently dangling your hand out the window to catch the breeze and doing your best Alicia Keys impression while she backs you up on the radio. Then, out of the corner of your eye, you glimpse a guy in a truck barreling through the red light, and in that fleeting, frozen moment, your brain calculates the trajectory and speed of your car and his truck and screams a warning: You’re going to be hit. That’s when your body snaps to attention and scrambles to protect you. Blood rushes toward your internal organs, to give them added cushioning at the moment of impact. Instinct pulls your arms up, to cover your vulnerable head and face. Let’s focus on the priorities, the things it would hurt most to lose, your body is basically instructing itself—and that’s exactly what the doctors do, too, when you’re rushed to the ER. Sometimes a minor injury like a sprained shoulder or broken toe won’t even be noticed until long after the internal bleeding is stopped and surgeons ensure that your pupils can still contract in a bright light and that you know the correct day of the week.

When Michael announced he wanted to give everything away, that’s exactly what I did: I focused only on the big hemorrhage, the potential loss of the company and our houses. I didn’t think about the smaller pieces. Then one day I went into my dressing room to change my shirt and it hit me with the force of a thunderclap.

How could I have forgotten?

I spun around and peeked into the bedroom to make sure Michael wasn’t around before locking myself inside my dressing room. My eyes swept past the glass-door closets where my clothes and shoes and purses were artfully displayed as I hurried toward a back corner. I moved a shelfful of sweaters onto a chaise lounge, then stared at the section of bare wall I’d uncovered. I pressed a spot I’d long ago memorized, and part of the wall silently slid aside to reveal a secret panel. I dialed the combination of the safe and waited until I heard a click and the heavy metal door swung open.

I reached in and took out the velvet boxes containing the sapphire-and-platinum teardrop earrings and matching necklace Michael had given me for my last birthday. I laid them on the shelf, and then reached in again. My solid gold bangles were here, too, I thought as my hand closed around their reassuring heft, and my ropes of onyx and white pearls. I reached in again and pulled out the cases containing my diamond tennis bracelet, two Rolexes, and chunky emerald ring. Next came my diamond hoop earrings, my Tiffany tourmaline cuff bracelet, my grossularite and platinum brooch—one by one, almost reverently, I opened the lids and laid the jewelry boxes on the shelf.

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