Chapter 33 #2
“That depends on how many stops I have to make to find something strong enough to adjust your fucking attitude,” I tell her.
Carter’s shoulders shake as he laughs. “Oh, this is gonna be so much fun.”
I shoot him a glare.
“Damnit. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be bitchy. I’m trying to get things ready for the Gala next week, and I’m so stressed out. This means so much to Cal, and I don’t want it to flop.”
“It’s not gonna flop. Where’s Hannah?” I ask.
“She’s out sick.”
“Okay. Here’s what we’re gonna do: While I’m out, make a list of what needs to be done, and I’ll help you tackle it when I get back. We can sort out the performers tomorrow and set up a date for auditions. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Thank you. I’m sorry again. I love you.”
“I love you back.”
I hang up the phone and lean my head back against the seat, closing my eyes. I’m so freaking tired. As I contemplate this huge change in our plan, this double-the-fun change, I feel myself drifting off as the low volume of Carter’s rock music playing in the background lulls me to sleep.
“Baby, we’re here,” Carter’s voice pulls me out of sleep.
My eyes flutter open as he pulls into a parking lot. He helps me out of the car, then hand-in-hand, we walk into the store together.
“Hi, how can I help you today?” A slender man with glasses greets us.
“My phone is making random phone calls,” I say, handing him my phone. “I don’t understand why. I was hoping maybe you could take a look and see if maybe it’s one of my settings? I would rather not replace it if I don’t have to. Oh, and I think it needs a new battery too.”
“Just get a new phone, Kitten.”
“I don’t want to spend a thousand dollars, Carter.”
“It’s only a thousand dollars.” He shrugs.
I scoff. Only a thousand. Ha! I know he has all the money in the world, and he can throw down a thousand dollars at the drop of a hat, but I can’t. Ignoring him, I turn back to the man helping us.
“I don’t need a new phone. There’s nothing wrong with this phone, other than those two things. Can you take a look? Maybe I need to turn off Siri.”
“Sure. I can help you with that. I’m Toby, by the way. You said your battery has been draining quickly?” he asks as he leads us to a table nearby.
“Yes.”
“Any random reboots or pop ups?”
“Reboots? Sometimes.”
Toby sets the phone on the table. Tapping the screen, he slides the phone over to me, and I enter my password. He pulls the phone back to him, scrolls through all my settings, checking them, then begins scrolling through my apps. “Any apps you don’t recognize? Man, you have a lot on here.”
“I haven’t paid much attention. I’ve had that phone forever so there’s no telling what’s been downloaded over the years.”
He glances up at me, “I would recommend a new phone. Given everything going on with this one, I would be willing to bet you have some form of spyware on this device. I don’t have the proper equipment here to check, but I used to work in the IT division before I moved over to sales, and this is a classic case. ”
Carter crosses his arms across his chest. “What exactly does spyware do?”
“Well, it’s used to collect financial data for one,” Toby says.
“It can also be used to track locations even when the location services are turned off. Intercept emails, text messages, and phone calls . . . Now the random phone calls itself aren’t caused by spyware, that’s usually caused by your cloud being linked to other devices.
You will need to log out of those devices or change your cloud password. ”
“Go pick out a phone, River.” Carter’s tone leaves no room for argument.
“Here let me show you around,” Toby says, turning away. “Are you going to want any accessories? We have watches, tablets, iPads.”
“No,” I say.
“Yes, to all,” Carter counters. “And add an extra charger for each . . . and protective cases.”
I turn on him and grab his hand. “Excuse us for a second,” I say to Toby as I pull Carter off to the side. “Listen, I know you have a nice little cushion in your bank account, but us real life people don’t. I’m only buying a phone.”
“You’re so cute. You know that, Kitten? There’s no ‘I’ in this marriage. We have a nice little cushion in our bank account. We’re replacing everything. If there’s spyware on your phone, it’s probably on your iPad too, so just replace it all, and stop arguing with me.”
I gaze up at him, our hands locked together, as he rubs circles on top of my knuckles. His posture and his expression tell me he’s not budging on this. I’m not getting into it with him right now, but married or not, I don’t like taking his money. Ugh!
“Fine.” I roll my eyes and turn back to Toby. Huffing a breath, I tell him, “Whatever he says . . . I guess.”
An hour later, we walk out of the store with several bags in hand.
“I’m putting you on my phone plan, and we’re changing your cell number when we get home,” he says as he places the bags in the trunk.
“What? Why? I’ve had that number forever.”
“Can you please just give me this without a fight?”
The pleading look in his expression makes me cave again.
“And while we’re out, let’s go find you a dress for the Gala.”
“You’re really pushing it,” I say as he sports the biggest grin. “I can’t today. You heard Aspen, she needs me.”
“One hour. Give me one hour. I’ll have you back by three, I promise.”
“Okay. One hour.”
I do need a dress for the gala, and I know I won’t be able to afford a designer gown like the other women will be wearing. I’ve never been spoiled before, but something tells me I need to get used to it.
One hour of shopping for a dress turned into two, but I still make it to work by three with the promise of Carter returning around six to pick me up.
Aspen walks in with her laptop, pulling my attention away from my emails to focus on her. She sits down in the seat across from my desk, and says, “I’m sorry again for being so bitchy earlier.”
“Don’t worry about it.” I wave her off. “The next few months are going to be fun for us both.”
Opening her laptop, she scoots her chair closer to my desk. I watch, waiting for her to catch on to what I just said. Her eyes lift to mine, then I pull out my bottom desk drawer and pluck the ultrasound pictures from my purse.
“Did you know that twins come from the mother’s side?” I ask, holding the paper up and watching her expression as the stream of pictures unravel. “I didn’t and blamed Carter for this, but he was oh so glad to educate me.”
Aspen’s hand flies up to her mouth, and tears well in her eyes as they flick from me to the black and white photos. Before I even know what’s happening, she has me wrapped in a hug.
“I’m so freaking happy we’re doing this together this time,” she says, then leans back, taking the pictures from my hand.
“Me too.”
She looks at each one, even though you can't see a thing except for two dark circles. “Wow. This is crazy. By the way, I took your advice and told Cal last night.”
“You did? And how’d he take the news?”
She hands the pictures back to me, and I place them inside my purse and shut the drawer.
“He’s excited and scared. We had a long discussion that I think eased his mind, then we celebrated,” Aspen says, wiggling her eyebrows.
I burst into a giggle. “Ooh-la-la.”
“At first, he was scared to have sex. Like, dude, you’re big, but you ain’t that big.”
“Wait.” I stop her. “He was scared to have sex? Why?”
“It’s a common fear men have. They probably think they’re going to poke the baby in the head or something.”
I throw my head back and laugh. “Oh my gosh, stop it.”
“It’s true. Anyways, all it took was me calling him Daddy, and he just about lost his fucking mind. Best sex of my life,” she says, returning back to her seat.
“Have you told your mom yet?” she asks.
“No,” I say, taking a pen and a notepad out of my drawer. “I think we’ll tell everyone at Christmas. Want to tell them together?”
A huge smile spreads across her face. “Hell, yes. I think we can have some fun with it.”
“I can’t wait!”
“Now about the gala,” she says. “Andrea’s been handling everything. There’s just a lot that needs to be finalized. I want this to be perfect for Cal.”
“It will be,” I assure her, my smile widening. “I promise. We got this.”
We divvy up the tasks, then she returns to her office as I begin to look over the dinner menu options.
I don’t know what she was thinking. I love to eat, I’m hungry, and everything on this menu looks amazing.
I lose track of time as I tick off each item.
Ooh, she left me in charge of the seating arrangements? I raise a brow.
This should be fun.
My co-workers’ footsteps echo throughout the hallway as they trickle out of the building to head home.
It’s not long until Carter strides into my office, showered, with his wet hair falling across his brow and his cologne cutting through the air like an aphrodisiac.
A navy-blue long-sleeved shirt stretches tight across his broad chest, and his jeans fit so perfectly on his nice, round ass, causing my core to throb. He is fine as hell.
I glance at the clock on the wall, seeing it’s a little after six.
“It’s time to go, baby. Everyone’s already left, and the roads aren’t getting any clearer. Are you about done?”
Every time that man calls me baby, I feel my stomach hollow.
“Not even close,” I say, as my eyes eat him up. Closing my laptop, I set it to the other side of my L-shaped desk, then stand and saunter over to him.
Wrapping my arms around his neck, I pull his head down to kiss me. I don’t know what the hell has gotten into me; all I know is I need him.
Right. Now.