At least he didn’t have to worry about his own predicament with Nora. He hadn’t lied to her once.
You also hadn’t worn a rubber.
Yeah, that was a tiny little detail he hadn’t thought much about until she had woken up that very morning, vomiting.
Women who were pregnant vomited in the morning, right?
Now he had his own problems. He didn’t know how to tell her that there might be a risk that she was pregnant. A quick search of her apartment this morning while she had gone back to sleep hadn’t shown any pill, or any form of contraception.
From the first moment he claimed her he’d not wanted there to be anything between them.
Running fingers through his hair, the searches he’d done online were not much help either. Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!
Someone cleared their throat and he looked up to see Frank in his doorway.
“Hey, Frank,” he said.
The past two weeks had been easy for him in the office. He’d stopped upsetting Nora, and had actually began to make a real go of it, and he knew Frank was happy. He really cared about Nora a lot.
“Hey, I heard Nora had phoned in sick.”
“Yeah. She couldn’t stop vomiting this morning.” He shut down the pregnancy site and realized what he’d said. “At least that was what she told me this morning when she called me.” Not when I was there rubbing her stomach and she was convinced it was something she ate. I’m not. I think I’ve knocked up your golden girl.
“That’s strange. She should call PR.”
“Well, I had to rearrange some of my meetings because she needed to be here, including the Richmond case. She knew how important it was to you, and I want her to be here as a female presence. I don’t know how vicious Mrs. Richmond is.”
Frank nodded, moving in to take a seat. “I’ve not had any call back from any other agency wanting a reference. Do you know if she has gone to some interviews?”
“She’s gone, but she hasn’t said if she likes them or not.” She had been to three that he was aware of. Each time she had gone, he had watched the clock waiting for her return. He hated it. Hated not knowing if she would be leaving, and he didn’t want to leave. It was the last thing he wanted her to do.
“I appreciate everything you’re doing. I’ve been told that you don’t yell at her anymore, that you help her with research. I appreciate that.”
“I’ve been an asshole, and I guess I just didn’t like being told what to do or who to hire. I made a mistake, and with Nora looking for a new job, yeah, I don’t want her to leave.”
“Neither do I. I think we would all go into sugar withdrawal without her here.”
Again it was another thing he loved to watch about her. The past couple of Sundays without fail she made a huge batch of cupcakes. They were never the same flavor, and during the week, he had also seen her making other baked goods as well. She never baked at his place, and she would argue with him to go back home.
He loved watching her in the kitchen. She seemed so happy there, and the scents were amazing. Also, he got to taste something of everything she baked. Just another element that he had been asshole about when it came to her.
“I hope I don’t give her cause to leave.”
“I hope so as well.” Frank stood. “I’ll leave you to get along with it.
Frank as at the door before Rex fired off his question. “Why do you care about her so much?” Rex had been curious about this for so long. He’d never asked because it seemed inappropriate. It still didn’t feel right, but he needed to know.
“I’ve often wondered this myself. This line of business, we’re full of cutthroats and we’re not exactly the nicest bunch of people. I mean, look at Carl. Losing has had to give him some humility, but I don’t buy it. I truly believe he’d still be an asshole the moment he got on a winning streak again.” Frank put his hands in his pockets. “Nora’s nice. That’s as good as I can say. She was different, and I knew I wanted to protect her, and for her to stay here. She’s hardworking, but she’s everything that reminds me of my wife when we were younger.”
“Do you love her?” Rex asked.