30. Kate
Kate lay in bed, turning over the previous night with Elias in her mind.
It had been… phenomenal.
She’d almost forgotten why she’d pushed him away. He was the father of her child. Shouldn’t she be doing everything in her power to build a close relationship with him?
But then she remembered Robbie, the guy she’d dated before Elias. They’d been going out for three months, and to Kate, it had felt quite serious. Until she’d been at work stitching up a female patient who had cut herself while working as a chef, and the person who came to pick her up had been Robbie. He’d pretended he was just the woman’s friend, but before he’d shown up, the woman had been gushing about her sweet boyfriend, Robert.
And then there was Kyle. That cheating revelation had felt so much like a movie, Kate had actually laughed at the scene. She’d shown up at his house one morning to surprise him with breakfast in bed, and another woman had been sleeping alongside him. Naked. Rather than wake them up, Kate had walked out and never seen him again.
And of course there was Trent. He was her first serious boyfriend, and she discovered his infidelity at the worst possible moment—while they’d been in bed together and he’d called out the other woman’s name. Like Robbie, he tried to get out of the situation by lying, but eventually, Kate forced him to admit the truth.
She wasn’t sure she could cope with another incident like that.
But Elias was amazing. And so far, he hadn’t revealed a single red flag. Of course, his family was messed up, which meant he probably had some sort of childhood trauma, but she hadn’t seen any sign of it yet.
And her heart was becoming harder and harder to ignore.
She was glad he was at his workshop today. It would give her a chance to think about how she might be able to embark on a relationship with the guy and avoid any potential messiness later.
She’d organised to go see her sister, but she wasn’t sure if she was in the mood. Georgia was very opinionated, and Kate already knew she was on Elias’ side.
Maybe she’d just go for a half hour and then make an excuse to leave.
She rolled out of bed and headed to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. It was a miserable day, and the sky was grey. The rain was a murky drizzle.
At least she didn’t have to go into work. She’d negotiated a schedule that involved no day work and just two full night shifts each week. This meant she’d be paid almost the same as if she worked three or four day shifts. It wasn’t ideal, but interestingly, her morning sickness was at its least invasive during the night—which meant Kate could work in the emergency room relatively nausea free.
And it left the rest of the week open to rest and take care of herself.
She ate some toast and downed a cup of tea before getting in the car to drive to Georgia’s. The rain was really starting to come down.
She pulled out onto the main road, her wipers on full-speed.
It wasn’t a long drive to her sister’s, but the weather seemed to slow down the traffic. Kate also managed to catch every red light on the way. And then she noticed steam rising from her car’s bonnet. A quick check of the engine temperature gauge showed the needle hovering near its maximum.
She quickly pulled over to the curb and put on her hazard lights. What just happened?
She rummaged around in the glovebox and located a small umbrella before getting out to see what was going on.
The car was definitely overheating. Wow. She’d only had the thing for two years. How had it blown up?
She didn’t know much about cars and relied on her mechanic to inform her of any potential issues. The last service had been a regular one with no sign of trouble.
She didn’t know if staying in a car with an overheated engine was sensible, so she retrieved her handbag, locked up the vehicle, and headed to the nearest shelter.
Thankfully, she was near a small set of shops and found a café on the corner where she could stand under the eaves to get out of the rain.
She had roadside assistance, so she located her member card and called them.
After relaying her details to the operator, she waited for them to look up her file.
‘I’m sorry, but your membership has lapsed. If I call someone out to you, you’ll need to pay a fee in addition to the cost of the new cover you choose.’
‘Oh.’ Kate was normally good with paying bills, but she’d obviously been distracted lately. It was possible she had missed the reminder. ‘Let me call back in a minute.’
She hung up. Money wasn’t a problem, but if the car issue was an easy fix, she didn’t want to pay a penalty fee. She called her mechanic and explained the issue.
‘It could be any number of things. The cooling system… something wrong with the radiator fan… the water pump, or low engine oil—although we checked the oil last service. We’re a bit busy now, but if you’re nearby, I can send one of my guys to look at it in a couple of hours. Is it safe off the road?’
‘Uh…’ She quickly ran back to where the car was parked. ‘It’s in a loading zone.’
‘Turn on your car’s air-con to full heat. That will help pull excess warmth away from the engine. Then move the car to a safe location. Text me the details when you’re done.’
‘Okay. Thanks.’
She followed the mechanic’s instructions and slowly drove the car around the corner to a free parking space.
Now what?
She didn’t want to ask her sister to pack four kids into the car just so she could pick her up. Maybe Elias was home. He didn’t live too far from here.
She dialled his number. It went straight to messages.
Kate was annoyed. She sent him a text asking him to contact her ASAP and went back to wait at the café.
She opened Uber and requested a ride, but the app wouldn’t allocate her a car. Was it because of the rain? Damn. It was too far for her to walk anywhere from here.
She tried Elias’ phone again. It still went to messages.
What if this had been a real emergency? Why couldn’t the guy have his phone on when she needed him? What if there had been something wrong with the baby?
At that moment, a familiar figure walked toward her.
‘Hugo?’
‘Fancy seeing you here,’ he said, smiling. ‘You on your own?’
Kate frowned. ‘I was on my way to my sister’s, but my car broke down.’
‘Have you called roadside assistance? Do you need a lift anywhere?’
Kate momentarily forgot his recent behaviour and her sister’s warnings and remembered one of the reasons she’d chosen Hugo as her potential IVF partner. The guy had always been very practical and level-headed. She knew it would be easy to convince him of the benefits of helping her without emotions getting involved. Although, that had maybe not carried through into reality.
‘My mechanic is going to send someone to look at the car soon. And…’ She didn’t want to accept a lift from him, but with Elias not answering his phone, it seemed silly to refuse an offer. ‘…I could probably use a lift home. I was going to visit Georgia, but I might postpone and wait to hear what’s going on with the car.’
‘Perfect.’ He ushered her over to his vehicle, which was a pretentious Mercedes Maybach. Kate had been in it a few times, but she’d always teased Hugo about how he must have a James Bond complex, because it looked like something from the franchise. Was it actually another red flag she’d missed?
But she couldn’t hassle him today. He was doing her a favour when she needed it.
She climbed into the passenger seat and breathed in the expensive interior. It started to make her nauseous.
It was only a short drive to her house. Hopefully she could refrain from throwing up until then.