#Chapter 203: The Man She Needs

Karl   Abby stands after her interaction with the woman and her children, and her eyes meet mine beneath the colored lights.   “What?” she asks with a slight chuckle, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. She looks beautiful, her pinkish pale skin and her pearlescent white dress illuminated by the dark purple lighting.   I shake my head. “Oh, nothing. Nothing at all.”   But that’s a lie.   Watching Abby interact with those kids, her smile radiant as ever and her laughter so infectious, I’m instantly reminded of a time before everything fell apart.   It takes me back to a moment from the past, a time when Abby approached me with a bashful expression on her face, her eyes filled with hope and uncertainty…   I was sitting at my desk, neck-deep in paperwork and exhausted after a long day. My hair was a mess, my eyes were bleary, and I had a pain in my neck that just wouldn’t go away thanks to hours of hunching over my desk.   That was why, when I heard a knock on the doo