18. Nina
CHAPTER 18
NINA
T he phone trilled, a bright, happy sound that cut through Nina’s concentration. She reached for it, her heart beginning to race as it always did when her phone went off, but she was increasingly certain that the call wasn’t from Rashad. Sure enough, when Nina answered, the voice on the other end belonged to one of her freelance employees. They briefly discussed tasks for the next week, then she thanked him, hung up, and leaned back in her chair.
Two months had passed — two months with no word from Rashad. For the first few weeks after she’d left the message with Hameed, Nina had practically jumped out of her skin each time the phone rang, scrambling to answer no matter the time or place. It was never Rashad calling, though. Eventually, Nina began to suspect that he didn’t care about her enough to call her back, despite the message she’d left with Hameed about having urgent news. Maybe she should have just told Rashad’s assistant that she was pregnant — although even then, there was a good chance Rashad wouldn’t have returned her call.
Meanwhile, she hadn’t heard from Rashad in any other way, either. He hadn’t offered to buy her company, nor had Health Trackr been rolled out in the United States yet. Nina wasn’t sure what Rashad was thinking, only that he would come for her company eventually, and she needed to be ready.
So, Nina had thrown herself back into work. She put in long hours, often sleeping little, to ensure that Heartbeat was as ready as it could be to withstand whatever Rashad threw at her. At the same time, Nina attended her first prenatal appointment, began buying baby clothes, and spent as much time as she could with Miles and Kate. The twins talked about Rashad less as time went on, though they still thought of him or asked Nina where he was from time to time.
Even with Amanda’s help, and Nina’s mother coming to visit at least once a month, everything was incredibly hectic, and Nina was overwhelmed. She had no idea how she was going to add a newborn to her busy schedule. Slowly, she began to hand over a few tasks to trusted employees with the hope that she could take at least a short maternity leave when the baby arrived in six months.
Today was the first day of Nina’s second trimester. She was sitting in her desk chair at work, sipping ginger ale to calm her stomach (hopefully, she’d begin to feel better in the second trimester, as she had with her twins). It was March now, and San Diego was moving from pleasantly warm to undeniably hot.
Opening her email, Nina spotted an invitation to a networking event in a few days’ time. Networking was one task that had fallen by the wayside in the last few months, but it was time for that to change. Nina would need allies and funders when Rashad came after her. Sighing, she RSVP’d yes to the invitation. She’d have to find something to wear that would still fit over her growing bump — she’d dug out maternity clothes from the twins’ pregnancy, but she didn’t have anything particularly formal or flattering.
The next few days were spent in Nina’s usual whirlwind of activity. She had her twelve-week appointment and heard the baby’s heartbeat, which nearly brought her to tears. She attended a family day at the twins’ preschool and applauded the small play their class put on, in which Kate played a singing tree and Miles was a caterpillar that made truck noises. She spent a few long hours fixing a bug in the app and working on a new feature that made blood-pressure tracking more accurate. Nina was so busy, in fact, that on the night of the event she threw on a purple dress that wasn’t formal enough and twisted her hair into a half-up, half-down style just to keep it off her face. A little makeup later, she was as ready as she’d ever be.
Nina slipped into the twins’ bedroom, where they were already sleeping. She’d arrived home in time to feed them dinner and get them into bed, but it always reassured her to see them sleeping so peacefully.
Downstairs, Amanda was sitting at the kitchen table with her books spread out in front of her.
“You look nice,” she said, glancing up at Nina. Her gaze fell to Nina’s stomach, but Amanda didn’t say anything. Until now, Nina hadn’t looked very pregnant, but it seemed that her bump was noticeable now, especially in the slightly-too-small purple dress. Hopefully, she wouldn’t be fielding pregnancy questions all night.
“Thanks. Have a nice evening, and please help yourself to anything in the kitchen, as always.”
“You have fun, too.” Amanda smiled.
“I doubt it — these events aren’t particularly enjoyable.”
“You’re going to an event?” Amanda blushed. “Oh, you look so nice that I thought you were going on a date.”
“Not even close.” Nina lifted her hand in a wave. “See you later — and do call me if the twins need anything.”
“Will do.”
Nina made it all the way out to the car before dropping her head in her hands. She was pregnant, further from a partner than she’d been in years, tired, and completely uninterested in attending this event. How had everything gone so differently from what she’d planned?
Out of habit, Nina’s hand fell to her stomach. As tired as she was and as angry as she felt with Rashad for everything he’d done, she couldn’t regret any of it. The one night she’d spent with Rashad had led to her pregnancy and a baby she’d treasure forever. It didn’t matter if she was struggling right now, because in a few months, she’d have her baby in her arms.
It shouldn’t matter that Rashad wouldn’t be around.
With a sigh, Nina opened the door and slid into the driver’s seat. She leaned her head against the steering wheel with another wave of tiredness. Maybe it wouldn’t be the worst thing to beg off tonight’s event, go back inside, eat some ice cream, and go to sleep. After all, Nina felt like she’d been through a breakup, although she and Rashad had never actually been in a relationship. Wasn’t eating ice cream and watching silly movies the thing to do when your heart was broken?
Nina shook her head against the steering wheel. She was sad, yes, hurt, yes, but she shouldn’t say that her heart was broken. Those were the words of a melodramatic teenager, when what she and Rashad had shared was completely different from a young infatuation.
Yet Nina’s heart did ache, whether or not she was ready to admit it. She thought often of how angry she was with Rashad for betraying her as he had, but she tried not to give herself much leeway to think of how sad she was. Her time with Rashad had felt like the beginning of something truly special, but he hadn’t even returned her call in months.
Taking a deep breath, Nina sat up and reached for her seatbelt, clicking it into place. It would do her no good to dwell over her heartache. She had two, soon to be three, young children to raise, on her own. That meant that she couldn’t take her foot off the gas pedal, not even for a second. She couldn’t go inside and indulge in ice cream and self-pity. Instead, she needed to go to the event and do all she could to save her business from Rashad’s next betrayal.
Nina turned the key in the ignition and gripped the steering wheel. Before she pulled out of the parking space, though, she sent one last longing look back at her house. Her children were sleeping inside, warm and cozy and unaware of the mess with Rashad. All Nina wanted to do was be with them, or at least near them (and eat a little ice cream and cry a bit). Yet she couldn’t allow herself that.
“I’ll put in half an hour at this event, and then I’ll come home,” Nina said aloud. Then she pulled onto the street and began the drive into downtown San Diego.
Last time she’d come to an event like this, Nina had met Rashad. He’d offered to buy her a drink, which she’d declined, and to meet with her on his yacht, which she’d accepted. No accepting invitations to yachts today, Nina told herself firmly, with a small inward smile. She would have to be at her best all evening.
Nina arrived at the venue about half an hour later. Climbing out of her car, she tossed her keys to the valet with a smile and turned to the hotel. The event would be held in one of the hotel’s ballrooms, with attractions including passed hors d’oeuvres and a speech by the CEO of a company that made dialysis machines. Usually, Nina might have been interested in what she had to say, but today, she just felt tired.
With another deep breath, she climbed the stairs to the hotel entrance. A waiter ushered her inside, where the ballroom was already full of familiar faces and a few newcomers. Nina made a beeline for an old associate who had partnered with Heartbeat previously on a feature that gathered user data from the company’s insulin pumps into the Heartbeat app.
“Tania.” Nina held out a hand. “How have you been?”
“Oh, not so bad.” Tania turned from the table where she’d been picking out a crab puff to Nina and took her hand. “Business is good now — we’re rating ahead of the next leading pump producer, as you might have heard.”
“Congratulations.” Nina shook her hand, though her gaze was drawn to the stack of crab puffs behind the woman. “I was wondering if you’d like to collaborate on?—”
“Nina Kendrick,” Tania cut her off, her voice awed. Nina saw that her associate’s gaze had dropped to her stomach. “Are you pregnant?”
Nina winced internally. She’d hoped to make it through the evening without any comments about her pregnancy — even if people noticed, which was likely given the gentle yet visible curve of her baby bump, she’d hoped they’d be polite enough not to say anything. Apparently, that wasn’t the case.
“Yes, I am. As I was saying, would you be interested in working on a new feature for Heartbeat? We could update the data-gathering from your pumps to be a little quicker — some customers have complained about the slow refresh time.”
“Let’s talk after the baby comes,” Tania said. “It was great talking to you, Nina.” With that, she turned, took another crab puff, and wandered off towards another group. Nina was tempted to stuff her purse full of hors d’oeuvres and make a run for the car. Clearly, it was going to be harder for her to be taken seriously while she was pregnant, as outdated as that felt. Nina needed to convince these people that she was the same dedicated businesswoman she’d always been, pregnancy or no pregnancy — she just wasn’t sure how.
It would be the icing on the cake if Rashad was able to knock her out of the competition more easily because she was pregnant with his child.
Internally cursing Rashad’s name, Nina selected a crab puff from the plate and surveyed the room. Perhaps one of her longer-standing acquaintances would be more willing to work with her. Yet Nina was so caught up in memories of Rashad that she was half convinced she saw him crossing the room towards the bar.
Nina blinked. That actually was Rashad, dressed in a fitted tux and looking as handsome and refreshed as ever. He leaned over the bar to flash a smile at the bartender and, presumably, order a drink.
Nina felt anger sweep through her. The nerve of this man, to show up in her city, on her turf, after refusing to call her back for two months — it was incredible. And there was only one reason Rashad would be here tonight: he’d come to stake Health Trackr’s claim in the sector. He certainly wasn’t here to talk to her .
Rooted to the spot, Nina dithered about what to do. It would feel good to confront Rashad about his betrayals in front of all these people, but that would be a mistake. She couldn’t very well make polite small talk with him though, either.
The best option would be for her to work the room, building support among the med-tech sector as she went, but Nina wasn’t sure she was up for that. Worse, she wasn’t sure anyone would take her seriously now that she was visibly pregnant.
Nina bit her lip. Slipping out now would feel like she was letting Rashad win, but perhaps it was best that she cut her losses and just left. She could be home in half an hour, where she could make a plan for how to combat Rashad’s latest move. Yes, that was the best thing. Nina would leave before Rashad saw her, head home, and reevaluate.
Popping the crab puff into her mouth, Nina sidled towards the door, ready to be out of this room and away from Rashad.