Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 87913 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87913 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Me: I’ll see you there.
Getting up, I put my cell in my pocket, and grab my keys, shutting off the light before I leave my office and walk past Jamie’s desk.
She’s not here today, and she wasn’t here yesterday, or the day before that. I haven’t seen her since she left Monday morning, after our staff meeting. A meeting in which Billy brought up the news story that had gone out Sunday night.
The story wasn’t as damaging as it could have been and mostly focused on the elections coming up. Still, Billy decided to share that the rumors about him and Jamie—who was not named in the story—were lies. Then he laughed and said I would kick his ass if they were true since she and I have been dating. A few of the men in the room laughed along with him, like it was all a big fucking joke, but most of the people shared looks of doubt and disgust knowing he was lying.
While Jamie, who had been sitting across from me during the meeting, looked more hurt than embarrassed and asked if she could go home not long after that.
For my part I was pissed, the topic wasn’t something that he needed to address at a staff meeting, even if he was attempting to get in front of the rumors swirling around the office.
Not wanting to get pissed all over again, I shove all thoughts of Billy out of my head and walk out of the building to my SUV, pulling up the address Franny sent me earlier today.
When I arrive at the large medical complex twenty minutes later, I find a place to park and stare at the building in front of me for a long fucking time before I build up the courage to get out and go inside.
It takes me a few minutes to find her doctor’s office on the fourth floor, and when I step into the waiting room, the two women sitting at the desk smile in my direction.
After offering them a quiet “hello,” I scan the room for Franny.
I find her sitting alone in the corner, dressed in a pair of jean shorts and a flowy top, with a magazine open on her lap and her eyes on me. I haven’t seen her since she left my place Saturday night, seeming in a hurry to get away from me after agreeing to let me come with her today.
She looks nervous as I close the distance between us. She also looks beautiful, with her hair down and a touch of pink across the bridge of her nose and cheeks, like she’s spent some time in the sun the last few days.
“Hey.” I take the seat next to her, and she closes the magazine on her lap.
“Hey.”
“Sorry, I’m late.”
“You’re not. I just got here a few minutes ago.” Her smile is small.
“Francisca Caputo?” a woman in a set of pink scrubs calls, holding open a door that leads deeper into the clinic.
“Caputo?”
“What?” Franny looks over at me as she gets up.
“You still have your ex-husband’s last name?”
“Yeah, I haven’t had a chance to get it changed yet.” She tips her head to the side. “Are you going to come back with me?”
“Yeah.” I get up and follow behind her toward the nurse, who is waiting for us with a smile on her face and a clipboard in her hand.
“How are you feeling today?” she asks Franny as we step through the door she’s holding open. I glance at her badge; it says her name is Harlow and that she’s an RN.
“All right. A little nausea, and I’ve had this headache I can’t get rid of,” Franny tells her as we stop at a scale in the hall. She takes off her sandals and steps up onto it.
Her answer is more information than she’s given me. Every day, I send her a text just checking on her to see how she’s feeling, and every day, she messages back that she’s okay, with a single heart emoji and nothing more. It shouldn’t bother me that she’s put up a wall between us, especially when I’ve had my own walls in place, but it does.
“We’ll talk about that with Dr. Bride today.” She jots down Franny’s weight. “You two are going to be in room four.” She starts leading us toward the room but steps to the side when a door opens, and a woman—so far along in her pregnancy, she looks uncomfortable—steps into the hall with a man at her back who looks terrified.
“Is everything okay?” Harlow asks, and the woman shakes her head.
“Dr. Bride is sending me to be induced. We’re gonna go home and get the dogs sorted before we head to the hospital.”
“It will be okay,” Harlow assures her. “I can’t wait to meet the babies.”