Chapter 2

A flicker of panic crossed Zach's eyes before he smoothed it over. "I had a meeting with a client today, a woman. Her car was in the workshop, so I gave her a ride back to her office after we signed."

Rose didn't think anything more of it and got in the car.

Zach buckled her seatbelt for her, then circled around and got in himself, driving them toward Libre.

Partway through dinner, his phone rang on the table.

Rose watched him pull on a pair of gloves to shell shrimp for her. She reached over to answer it on speaker for him.

"Don't." Zach stopped her.

When she glanced at him, puzzled, he kept his expression easy. "It's an unknown number. Probably a telemarketer. Just hang up."

She nodded and declined the call.

A few seconds later, the same number called again.

A telemarketer wouldn't call right back after getting hung up on.

"Might be a client." Zach had already pulled his gloves off by then. He picked up the phone and answered.

Rose couldn't hear what the other person was saying, only watched Zach's expression turn tense.

She held her worry in check and waited until he hung up before asking, "What's wrong?"

"Something came up at the office. I need to head over."

"Right now?"

Zach glanced at her plate, which she'd barely touched. "Finish eating first. I'll take you home, then I'll go."

Rose didn't want to be the reason he got held up. "Go ahead, I'll call Todd to come pick me up."

"No, I'll wait."

Rose took his hand and pressed it to her belly. "Our baby's waiting on you to go earn that formula money. Go on."

Zach ran his palm gently over her stomach, his expression softening completely. "All right. If that's what you want."

He finished shelling her shrimp, called Todd, and left.

By the time Rose finished eating, Todd had arrived. On the drive home, she kept replaying the tense look on Zach's face when he'd taken that call, and couldn't quite shake her unease.

She sent him a text. [How's everything at the office?]

He replied almost immediately: [Handling it now. Don't worry, it's nothing serious.]

Reassured, she called Kimberly. "Hey, workaholic. Have you eaten yet?"

"This is the last bag of my IV drip. Once it's done, I'm free," came a faint, distant voice from the other end.

Rose's chest tightened. "You're at the hospital? What happened?"

"Just a little fender bender..."

"An accident? Is it serious? Which hospital?"

"Don't panic, it's nothing major. I'll be discharged in a couple of days."

"You're in the hospital, and you call that nothing major? Tell me right now, which hospital, which room?"

Kimberly gave her the address.

Rose hung up and had Todd drive her straight to Calizzy General Hospital.

About twenty minutes later, she made her way to the inpatient ward and, to her surprise, ran into Zach by the elevators.

He had a shopping bag in one hand and his phone in the other, scrolling through something.

"Zach? What are you doing here?"

Recognizing her voice, he tightened his grip on the phone. A beat passed before he looked up. "Rose? What brings you to the hospital?"

"Kimberly got into a car accident. I came to see her."

"I'm here visiting a client."

As they talked, the elevator doors opened. Zach guided her in with a hand at her back. "Which floor is Kimberly on?"

"Twelfth."

He pressed the button for twelve, then nine.

Rose glanced at the floor directory and saw that nine was neonatal care. Curious, she asked, "Why are you going to neonatal?"

Zach lifted the bag in his hand. "A client's wife just gave birth. I offered to grab some baby supplies for them."

Rose recognized the logo on the bag, a well-known maternity brand. She'd done her research on that sort of thing lately, being this far along herself.

"Want to come with me and take a look?" Zach offered, considerate as ever.

She was tempted. She had zero resistance to newborns these days. But she said, "No, I don't want to leave Kimberly waiting, and it wouldn't really be appropriate for me to tag along to see your client anyway."

The elevator reached the ninth floor. Instead of stepping out right away, Zach held the door open button and looked at her. "I'll come get you and take you home later?"

"Did you get everything sorted at the office?"

"I'll take you home first, then go back to work."

"Don't run back and forth on my account. Go see your client, then get back to your work. I'll be fine; Todd's with me."

"All right. I'll listen to you." Zach stepped out.

Rose watched the doors slide shut, and the elevator carried her upward while he turned and walked off.

She found Kimberly's room and, after talking with her for a while, learned that the accident had happened right while they'd been on the phone earlier.

Kimberly had gotten distracted and hit the guardrail.

"No wonder you hung up on me so suddenly. I thought you were just busy." Rose was full of guilt. "If I'd known you were driving, I would have..."

"Don't even start. This has nothing to do with you. I called you because I knew you'd react exactly like this, so I didn't tell you."

Thankfully, it was only a hairline fracture in her left forearm. Not the worst outcome, all things considered.

Rose wanted to stay and take care of her.

Kimberly wouldn't hear of it. "Absolutely not. You're the size of a house; I should be the one looking after you."

"Why don't I get you transferred to Concord? I can have my colleagues keep an eye on you."

Concord Hospital was where Rose worked.

"It's not like I've got some terminal illness. I don't need special treatment."

Rose didn't push any further. She sat with Kimberly a while longer, and they agreed she'd come back tomorrow evening after work to have dinner together, before she finally left.

While waiting for the elevator, she sent Zach a text.

Rose: [Heading home now.]

Normally he replied within seconds.

This time she waited a good while with no response. It wasn't until nine that night that he finally wrote back.

Zach: [Sorry, been slammed. You and the baby get some rest; don't wait up for me. I'll be late tonight.]

Rose: [Okay.]

Rose set the phone down, read a little from a parenting book, and went to sleep.

The next morning, she woke to find the space beside her empty.

She was a sound sleeper, and being heavily pregnant made her move even less in her sleep, so the pillow, sheets, and blanket on his side were all completely undisturbed.

Zach clearly hadn't come home at all last night.

In all the time they'd been married, this was the first night he hadn't come home.

Had something big gone wrong at the company, something he was keeping from her?

Rose picked up her phone and dialed his number.