Chapter 17
Seventeen
S hit. There was another account he didn’t recognize, drafting money out of the ranch account. So far, they’d identified four different accounts that were taking small amounts of money out at varying times. Small enough, and infrequent enough, that it was easily missed by him. But not by Evie.
Her phone rang, and he looked up from the pile of paperwork to see why she hadn’t answered it.
One look and he knew.
“It’s that asshole again, isn’t it?”
She shrugged. “Unknown number.”
“Answer it.”
“Sam…”
“Answer it. On speakerphone.”
She shook her head, but her hands were moving towards her phone.
“Hello?”
“About fucking time you answered my calls. You fucking think you can destroy my life and then just block me? I’m going to bury you, Evelyn. I’ve had this practice for almost fifteen years. This is my reputation. My livelihood. I hope you’re having fun on your little ranch. You fucking bitch ? —”
Sam stood, blood raging hot through his body as he stalked over to her desk. Picking up the phone, he took it off speaker.
“Listen here, asshole. This will be the last time you ever dial this number. I am filing a report with the police today for continued harassment. It’s over. She’s no longer a thought in that walnut sized brain of yours, got it?”
Silence bled down the line, until the idiot chuckled. “Enjoy my sloppy leftovers, asshole.”
Evie gasped, shaking her head with a furious blaze in her eye. This asshole was about to eat his words, and then Sam’s fist. Even if he had to find a flight that day to Wisconsin. “I know for a fact that you never got a taste of Evie. So she’s your nothing. If you ever try to contact her again, I’ll reach through this phone and castrate you so fast your voice will be three octaves higher before you can finish saying ‘sloppy seconds’. This reeks of desperation. Leave her alone.”
Sam pulled the phone away from his ear, tapping the red icon to end the call.
He ran his hands down her arms. “You okay?”
“I think so. You didn’t need to do that for me.”
“Fuck yes, I did. He had no right to say that about you. Fuck, he has no right to be calling you, or send you threatening messages.”
“It’s okay. I need to just figure out how to change my number. Maybe I’ll just shut it off for a few days and leave it in my apartment.”
“No. I don’t like the idea of you being without a way to call someone if there is an emergency.”
“Sam. I’m not going anywhere. If I need help, I’ll find Sylvie, or Zeke. Even Derrick. ”
He pressed his hip into the edge of her desk, crossing his arms over his chest before leaning into her space.
“You’ll find me, Bluebell. You’ll find me if you need help.”
“You’re on the list,” she whispered.
“I better be at the top.” He pressed a kiss into her hair. “I have to run into town for some things. Will you be okay here by yourself?”
“I’m fine.” She must have realized how unconvinced he was by her words, because she playfully shoved him back. “I’m serious, Sam. I have a ton of paperwork to get through. Go.”
Hours of going through more accounts and numbers than her brain could handle, and still, there was no new information about those mysterious accounts.
She’d need to stop soon if she wanted to have enough time to get ready for girls’ night, but there was something itching just under her skin. She couldn’t stop until the last avenue checked out.
Evie hadn’t seen the papers she needed in anything she’d recently filed, and that meant that they could only be in one other place: Sam’s desk.
She worried her lip between her teeth. He’d been particularly possessive of his desk when she first started working, but after the first day’s filing fiasco, she hadn’t dared venture back over into his space when he wasn’t around.
But this was important, and he was counting on her to get these numbers done so that they could see where all the discrepancies lived. They needed to find who was taking from the business so they could stop hemorrhaging funds.
Evie plopped down in Sam’s chair. Her fingers skimmed over the small stack of papers next to his laptop. They weren’t what she was looking for. Another moment spent opening the top two drawers on the desk revealed the same dismal results. One drawer left, Evie opened it, surprise rushing through her veins at what she was seeing.
A somewhat tattered and well-read version of What to Expect While You’re Expecting sat staring back at her. It must have been the book Sam mentioned reading. Too curious for her own good, Evie picked it up, letting the spine fall open to a dog-eared page.
Her heart fluttered erratically in her chest. The page she was looking at went blurry as she swiped at the tears filling her eyes. He’d marked off the page in Chapter Eleven that talked about the baby moving for the first time. There, written off to the side of the page was a date. Evie thought back to the night she nearly fainted in his arms. The first night he felt Jellybean roll. That was the date he’d written down.
Fresh tears filled her eyes as she looked further down the page. Sam had clearly scribbled some thoughts down. It felt wrong to read them, but Evie couldn’t help herself.
Evie can’t stomach ground beef. Other good sources of protein: eggs, salmon, tofu (would she be open to trying that?), lentils. Find some good recipes to bring in for lunch.
She flipped through the pages.
More notes.
Her heart skipped a beat.
The baby needs more calcium this week.
Is it safe for Evie to still be climbing the stairs to her apartment?
Research more about round ligament pain, ask Evie if she’s still feeling it.
Evie’s balance is going to get worse… find the best shoes for support.
Jellybean might be able to hear my voice this week… I hope she’ll be able to recognize my voice when she’s born.
Oh no. Evie’s chest felt warm, completely overwhelmed by the tenderness she’d found in Sam’s scribbles. She quickly tucked the book right back where she found it and walked back over to her desk in a daze.
Those words were something an expectant father would write down. Something a committed, loving partner would care about. She’d been carrying so much worry around that Sam would eventually want to stop whatever was building between them when the baby came. But his words… they felt lasting. They made her think it was safe to allow herself some room to plan for something longer than just until the baby was born.
“Evie?”
She jumped, trying to hide any emotion that would give away what she’d just been doing, or thinking. “Hey, you’re back. How was your trip into town?”
“It was good.” Sam leaned against the door of the office.
“Did you get what you needed?”
“Yep.”
“Alright, what’s with all the clipped answers?”
He pushed off the door, his eyes never leaving her. Did he know she found his book? Oh god, she felt her face burning with embarrassment.
“You doing okay after what happened this morning?”
That morning? Oh! Relief flooded her. “The phone call thing?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m fine. I mean, I don’t love being talked to like that, especially by someone who has the means to ruin me professionally, but I also realize it’s a him problem and not a me problem, you know?”
“I do.” Sam nodded in agreement. “Anything he has to say against you, personally or professionally, I’d be happy to defend you against.”
“Thanks. ”
“So.” He rubbed the back of his neck as he set the smaller of the two bags he was carrying on her desk. “I got you something while I was out.”
“You did?”
“Yeah. Go on.”
She pulled the box out of the bag and set it on her desk.
“A new phone?”
“A new phone. A new phone number. It’s on the ranch’s account.” He held up his hands as soon as she opened her mouth to argue. “Don’t even try to talk me out of it, Bluebell. He won’t be able to bother you again this way. I honestly would have taken your phone this morning so he couldn’t contact you any more, but I figured you’d want to transfer your pictures or apps or whatever onto the new one.”
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“It was no big deal. I had the guy at the store in Rogersville show me how to program in phone numbers. I made sure your doctor’s office was in there, and I’m in there too, if you ever need me. Plus Abby and my mom. Oh, Daisy, Emma, Grace, Jackson, Seb… Yeah I just put everyone’s number in there and added you to the friend’s chat we have. You’ll probably have to ask the girls to put your new number into whatever chats you have with them.”
Her brain felt like it was glitching. “Sam. You remembered what doctor I see?”
“When you told Jake the day you passed out, I committed that to memory in case anything ever happened.”
She shouldn’t have been surprised. Certainly not after reading all he had written down in the baby book he was hiding in his desk.
“Thank you.”
“I just want you to feel safe here.”
“I do.” She pushed off her chair, just enough to bounce up and kiss his cheek. She loved the way his face lit up as she sat back down to slip her shoes on.
“Good. Are you still feeling up to going out with everyone tonight?”
“I actually can’t wait. I was about to head upstairs and start getting ready. We need to leave in what? An hour?”
“An hour would be perfect.”
“Alright, Cowboy. I’ll see you then.”