Share
Chapter Sixteen
Bab terkait
That Night Chapter Seventeen
Early MayIt was becoming a thing. An indecent, attention-seeking whore of a thing. As needy as a drug addict searching for their next hit.And when it struck it destroyed all the happiness in my heart, especially when Richard was already a day late. I’d expected him on Friday night, like usual, but work had its hooks in him, unrelenting.I no longer felt comfortable telling him everything that was going on because he stopped being as open in conversation.“Shit blew up, and I’m sitting here volleying emails with my bag sitting next to me trying not to break my laptop,” Richard said. The edge in his voice told me how pissed he was without the matching words.“Well, crap.” I rubbed at the space between my eyes in an attempt to ward off the headache that was coming on, mostly due to the agitation of work taking over again.Work was the one thing that demanded his attention, that snapped its non-existent fingers and made him jump. I couldn’t even get him to come with
That Night Chapter Eighteen
“Shit,” I hissed as I looked at the clock.When I last glanced to the lower right of the screen, the morning sun was bouncing off the window from the other tower, but now the sun was streaming in the window. My blood went cold. I was supposed to put out the fires, then head to Natasha’s, but at almost five in the afternoon, I began to wonder if I would still be welcome.After a half second of thought, I picked up my phone and my heart dropped at the two text messages I’d missed.Are you on your way?—NatashaPlease call me. I just want to know you’re okay.—NatashaThe second one was an hour old.Work had once again taken me from Natasha, and I knew someday she wouldn’t be as understanding. In fact, I was pretty certain if I wanted her to open the door, because calling or texting was not an option at that point, groveling would be involved.Immediately I shut down my laptop, but left it where it was. If I showed up with it, I knew I’d be a dead man. As I gathered my bag an
That Night Chapter Nineteen
The previous weekend was a shit show. He slept on the couch that night while I cried myself to sleep. All I wanted was him. All I needed was him. To be present, to be mentally with me, to support me, but he’d checked out. The once-doting boyfriend was gone and in his stead was the VP.In the morning he ordered breakfast and I was moved when he handed me a hot chocolate. It was a nice gesture, and I tried to find an even ground. Still, it was hard to let go of how emotional I’d become about it all.I made him turn his phone off, and for a few hours it was just the two of us again.However, as the days rolled on, that bitch had her claws in him again. He arrived the night before near ten, having not left until five local time. I wasn’t feeling well, so we opted for a stay-in day, and I curled up on the couch while we binged a show on Annex.I could accept the occasional bleed of work into our weekends, but the bleed was nearly all the damn time. Half of the time he was still
That Night Chapter Twenty
June 5thTwo weeks. That was how long it had been since I’d seen Richard. Two horribly long and gut-wrenching weeks.Two weeks of thinking about where I stood. I had my answer, but I didn’t want to admit it. We were in two different places, literally, and he was never going to let work go.I stared at the clock on the wall of the doctor’s office watching as the seconds ticked by. They turned into minutes, and still no Richard.He promised.He promised me that he would be here. This, of all appointments, this was the one for him to make an effort to attend, to show me that he was in this with me. With each second that ticked by, the more I realized that he wasn’t coming.I’d barely heard from him in days, and it had been two weeks since I’d seen him, as work had kept him busy the prior weekend.After a few minutes, my phone buzzed. My stomach sank, and I knew my fears were true without even looking. Tears filled my eyes, and I blinked them away just in time to hea
That Night Chapter Twenty-One
I took a deep breath. “Fuck, what a week.” Every day I’d been in endless meetings.Despite being the VP, I had been burning the midnight oil with Michael every night. It was easier to sleep on my couch than to go home. Thankfully I kept a change of clothes and a bag of toiletries in my office.The week had been hell, somehow worse than the prior fiscal year ends. I rubbed at my forehead as I finished up an email, my mind focused on the task.The phone rang four times, almost switching to voicemail when I got to it. Seeing Natasha’s name reminded me what day it was.Shit!I’d texted her nearly an hour ago and I still wasn’t out.“I’m on my way,” I said as I began logging off my computer.“Don’t bother.”I paused, trying to figure out if I’d heard her correctly. “What?”“Do you remember what today was?”“A doctor’s appointment. And I’m so sorry. I promise I won’t miss the next one,” I said, cursing myself out.“You promised you wouldn’t miss this one. This was the one
That Night Chapter Twenty-Two
It had been two days since I hung up on Richard, and I had yet to leave my bed. I was so upset I blocked his number. Dr. Danvers said to watch my stress, and it was stressing me out more. He was the father of my child, but I needed space.I regretted doing it almost immediately, but I needed to be strong. If he wanted to fix things, he would come to me.When I heard voices coming down the hall, I started, but relaxed back into my blanket fort when I recognized my mother.“You know,” I whined from under the covers. “I didn’t give you that key so you could just walk in whenever.”“All right, young lady, get up,” Mom said from the doorway to my bedroom.“No,” I whined from under the covers. I didn’t want to do anything but wallow in my misery…and pizza. And ice cream, pickles, fried rice, and bacon cheeseburgers.My stomach rumbled at all the food thoughts, the baby demanding everything.Just like when I was a teenager, my mom pulled the covers from me. I cracked an eye and
That Night Chapter Twenty-Three
Work kept me busy over the weekend and all of Monday, but even having all my focus on work could not stop the weight from settling on my chest or the pit that grew in my stomach every day. They weren’t feelings I was familiar with, but I knew they had to do with Natasha.Calling and texting had been futile exercises—she wasn’t answering.We were both angry, and the distance didn’t help.Though I wasn’t sure if it was her I was angry with. It was me. After she hung up on me, I realized why she was so upset. I’d missed a pivotal moment I could never get back in the life of my child. A moment when I should have been holding her hand and kissing her in excitement, and instead I was sitting at a conference table, firmly planting another wall between us.Why I kept doing it, I had no idea. My self-destructive moves were hurting more than just me. The walls were meant to protect me, but they were doing the opposite.I wanted to let her in. I wanted to drown in the feelings that w
That Night Chapter Twenty-Four
When I was released the next morning, it was Richard who was there to drive me home.I hated it. I hated the way it made my chest clench to see him there, so attentive to my needs. It was a side of him I’d seen glimpses of in the past, but it had been many weeks since this side of him had been allowed out.The buzzing of his phone in his pocket went unnoticed, and the ringing through the car’s speakers went unanswered.“You aren’t going to get that? It could be important.” The air continued to be filled with static, and it was suffocating.He reached across the center console and covered my hand with his, giving it a squeeze. “Not as important as you.”“Had some epiphany, huh?” I cringed against the light, my eyes overly sensitive thanks to the migraine slamming my head into a table had caused.“I want to talk about this.”“Why?” Give me a reason.“Because this isn’t over, despite what you seem to think. One fight does not end a relationship.”“It is over, and if you t
Bab terbaru
