Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Violet
I clutched my phone as I left a message. “Hey. It’s Violet Duke again. The hot water heater officially died yesterday, and I’m still cooking with only the stovetop. Can you let me know when the repairs are getting done? Thanks, byeee.”
I hung up and let out a disgruntled huff. Asshat.
My landlord had said he’d get a new water heater installed when I’d called him two weeks ago. Nothing.
I drove away from my work’s parking lot. I had another checkup—as late as I could get on a Friday afternoon—and Evander was meeting me there.
I had left the dinner with my sisters wondering…what if. What if I was wrong? What if Evander had real feelings for me? What if… But our texts since that night had been about the upcoming doctor appointment and the cats. He sent me pictures of them snuggled on the porch by the door. Another of them perched on two wide wooden fenc e posts, side by side. And he’d asked how I was feeling.
Nothing that indicated I consumed his thoughts like he dominated mine.
Still, I’d get to see him today. A small surge of excitement trickled into my veins. I needed to settle down. It’d been bad enough that the week had gone by so slowly. For one, the pelvic pain was getting uncomfortable. The high stools at the lab benches were not pregnant-woman friendly, but I’d gotten hired into the best environment. I wouldn’t complain about a seat I needed a running jump to get into.
I tapped my fingers against the steering wheel and hummed along to the radio. My gaze darted over the landscape. Old, dried corn lined a few of the fields. The pastures were full of round bales. And the surrounding hills and low buttes were already more brown than green.
When I reached the clinic, I spotted Evander pacing out front, his phone to his ear. My heartbeat kicked up. Watching him move was like admiring a caged panther. Nothing but contained power. He held so much inside.
He saw me and lowered his chin to speak into the phone as if he was afraid I could read lips. I kept sight of him from the corner of my eye. He tucked his phone into one of his cargo pockets and continued pacing.
Was he talking to another girl?
Would I get a picture of them in a couple of months?
I peeled my fingers off the steering wheel. I was being too paranoid. He wasn’t talking to some other woman.
But he could be. There was nothing stopping him. I told him there couldn’t be anything between us.
By the time I gathered my purse and phone and got out of the car, tears were stinging the backs of my eyes. I blinked any hint of moisture away. By the time I reached Evander, he’d quit pacing.
Lord, help me. I had noticed he wore a snug, long-sleeved shirt, but this close, I noticed . Pecs. Biceps. Shoulders. I couldn’t pick my favorite body part. “Hey.” I sounded breathless and not despondent.
“Hey. How you been feeling?”
His concern for me warmed at the same time it depressed me. I was selfish and wanted his focus on me and not just me in the role of being the mom of his baby. “Things are getting uncomfortable.”
Thankfully, with no water heater, I didn’t have to test how hard it was to get out of the bathtub.
Concern filled his eyes. “Anything you can do about it?”
“Other than go into labor and it’s way too early, so no.” Get a foot rub each night from him? Use his bathroom and take an actual hot shower?
I might have to phone in an SOS to Lily and swear her to secrecy. She might send Eliot to my place, but it’d be better than my parents. Mom and Dad would rush to Coal Haven, purchase a new water heater, chew out my landlord, then insist I find a new place. All valid. But they’d want to know why Evander was no longer helping me.
How did I say, Well, guys, I thought I should quit having sex with him before he decides I’m not the one he wants and breaks my heart. I didn’t want to find out if he moved on when I got too pregnant for intercourse, if that happened, or afterward when I’ve got a baby attached to the outside of me instead of the inside.
No. I did not want to have that talk.
He opened the door for me, and I went to the desk .
The receptionist greeted us. “I’ll let them know you’re here. Have a seat.”
When I turned to see where Evander had chosen to sit, he was in the corner, tapping away at his phone. As I approached, he tucked it away again.
My stomach started filling with dread. I had to be imagining it. The guy had a lot of family. Old army buddies even. Why wouldn’t he be on the phone?
Because he hadn’t fielded calls or texts when I’d been with him before. Nor had he acted like he was hiding the correspondence.
His brow furrowed as I sat next to him. The waiting room was empty, I could’ve sat one seat over or an entire row away, but then I wouldn’t be by his warmth. I wouldn’t be able to catch a whiff of his fresh linen scent. I wouldn’t be able to torture myself by being so close to those muscles, yet too far away to touch.
“Something wrong?” he asked, giving me a once-over. No heat entered his gaze.
My stomach sank lower. This sucked.
You did it to yourself.
Was this self-preservation? Should I have taken whatever semblance of a relationship he wanted to give me until the baby was born and he realized there was no appeal?
“No, I’m fine. Heartburn.” I did get bouts of heartburn more often these days, but not now. “You seem to be a busy guy.” Subtle, Violet. Subtle.
He cocked his head like he was trying to figure out what I meant. “No more than usual, but harvest is always a busy time.”
His phone buzzed, but he didn’t take his attention off me.
I waited. He lifted his brows like he wondered if I had more questions.
I had to put this behind me. I had to move on, just like he might be doing. “How’s harvest been going?”
The corner of his mouth tipped up. “Dad hasn’t yelled at me once. I accidentally started driving away before he shut off the auger. A bunch of corn dumped on the ground, and he only laughed. When I was a kid, he would’ve chewed my ass and threatened to take it out of my paycheck.”
“He’s mellowed out.”
“To put it lightly. Then when the grain truck busted an axle, he shrugged it off. Said it was looking like rain anyway, and if it was going to break, now was a good time.” He shook his head. “I was ready to rage, and he just asked if I wanted to help him haul the new smoker he brought home. Next week, we’re working cattle, and it’s turned into a big family event, and he’s now the meat guy.”
Another big Barron family event. I wasn’t invited this time. I would’ve heard by now. “I’m sure it is weird but nice.”
“Hey, uh, Mom wants to sew a quilt for Bud. She wants to know if you’re partial to a color scheme. I told her she could wait until after the birth, but I think she’s bored. All her grandnieces and nephews have quilts, and Dad’s gone all day this time of year.”
His family was sweet. If I had Willis’s baby, I would’ve been told what the color scheme was and that I had to buy only certain brands. “Anything she wants to sew will be amazing. I’m not picky, and Bud won’t be either.”
“Bud won’t be demanding Gucci? ”
I grinned. “Maybe, but I won’t be buying Gucci on a chemist’s wages.”
He chuckled, then fell serious. “I hope it’s okay that I have to run right after the appointment.”
“Oh. Yeah. No problem.” I crushed my disappointment. It wasn’t like we’d go out to eat together again. “I’m sure your parents need you.”
“No. I have an errand to run. That’s why I had to meet you today instead of picking you up.”
I had wondered if he didn’t want to be with me any longer than he had to, and I didn’t blame him. But the mysterious errand didn’t make me feel better. Was it an excuse to get away from me as fast as possible? “Sure. No problem.”
My throat grew thick. I’d been missing him and second-guessing myself. When I was in college, I thrived on getting questions right. I had that ego that Willis had preyed on. I wasn’t sure I’d been right about Evander and how he felt about me, but the evidence was weighing in. It was the one time I wished I was wrong.
Evander
I had my pickup backed into the alley by the furniture store. The owner, Hattie, opened the loading dock door. “I have it all right here. I got it wrapped up too. Can’t have these flurries seeping into the cracks and damaging anything.” She blinked up at the sky, and snowflakes hit us both in the face. “Go on through the side door. Shouldn’t take you but a minute to load everything. The smallest item is the heaviest.”
“Sorry I’m a little late,” I said after I entered the storage area. I had a stop to make first, and my hands were still freezing. My breath puffed in front of my face. An early winter storm had blanketed the region in a few inches of snow. “You got dug out all right?”
“Oh, yes. The city does a good job at keeping the roads open. And ever since your aunt retired, this is no longer the last block plowed.”
I chuckled. Hattie told it like it was, and it was no secret my aunt Naomi had a vindictive streak. She probably still did but was more judicious about when she used it.
“I could’ve had this all delivered,” Hattie said. “Still can. It’s on the house. You aren’t that far out of town.”
“Nah. I got it.” I was at a stopping point in the house. It was either sit around and wait for the delivery truck or do it myself. “I was in town anyway.”
Hattie directed me, and I loaded everything into the box of the pickup, arranging the various pieces of furniture like a living Tetris game. Hattie’s meticulous wrapping had saved the items from more than a few bumps and nicks.
After everything was loaded, I tossed straps over the load and tightened them. The snow was coming down heavier by the time I was done.
“Thanks, Hattie,” I said as I climbed into the pickup. The snow was sticky. I rolled down my window and flipped the windshield wipers on.
“No, thank you. Anytime. I mean it.” She peered down into the window, snow dotting her dark hair. “Pleasure doing business with you.”
I pulled away and crept down the alley, keeping my window open so I could see if the sidewalk was clear.
Violet was about to scurry across the opening of the alleyway when she spotted me. Her black parka covered her belly, which extended farther out than when I’d seen her at last week’s appointment. Her bump was shifting, sloping downward more than out.
I clocked it all. I had missed so much. The distance between us was difficult, but I was trying to accommodate her needs.
A white stocking hat kept her hair out of her face. Those surprised blue eyes were on me.
“Evander. Hi.”
Hearing her say my name would never get old, but I was tempted to speed off and hope she forgot about seeing me. She didn’t need to find out what I was hauling, but her gaze slid to the bulky items.
Too late to hide anything. Hattie’s wrapping was doing double duty. Protection and concealment.
“I was picking up some things from Hattie.”
Her curious expression fell. “Oh. I suppose the lease is up soon.” She shook herself, and hunks of snow cascaded off her hat. “Did you shovel out my place?”
My errand before Hattie’s. “Didn’t think your landlord would get to it in a timely manner.”
She pulled at her coat collar with mittens that matched her hat. “You would be right, but he’s there now fixing the water heater.”
The water heater this time? “Good.”
“Yeah, finally.” Before I could ask more about what she meant, she gave me that fake smile. “I should let you go. You’re busy.”
“Hop in. I’ll give you a ride to your car.” I put my truck into park. My ride was warm, and her cheeks were pink from the wind and cold.
“I’m just down in front of the bank.”
The bank was on the other side of me, and there was a spot open by her car. “Get in. I need to talk to you anyway.” That should get her to acquiesce. I wasn’t lying, but my conversation could wait.
She paused for a moment, holding my gaze, before carefully maneuvering around my hood. I hopped out of the door for her, easily rounding the truck to reach the passenger door before her. She struggled to climb inside. When I got back in, I repressed a groan when the cab filled with her wildflower scent.
I kicked the pickup into gear. “Do you have more errands to run?”
“No. I’m just killing time. I don’t like to be in the house with strangers.” She rested her hands on her belly.
She could’ve asked me to be there. “They must’ve come right after I left.”
She nodded. A droplet of melted snow trickled from her hat to her hair. “Raj let me come to work early so I could leave an hour early and meet them.”
I could’ve done that for her, but she’d never ask. This woman and her stubbornness.
“Everything’s okay? With the house?” I asked as I parked.
“It’ll be better with hot water.” She was looking out her passenger window. “What did you need to talk to me about?” Her voice was light. Professional. Infuriating.
“We need to get together to discuss more things about the baby.” What I had to say could wait. She was on edge, and she’d never admit it, but that damn water heater business had her stressed. “At the house.”
“Why not at my place?”
Her place didn’t have Flo or Poly. I checked on them before I came to town. Two furry bundles on their couches.
I had a plan, and I couldn’t toss it out the window just because a pretty little wildflower was in my truck, refusing to be plucked. “All my appliances work.”
Her lips thinned, then she chuckled. “You got me there.”
There was more wrong in the house, and she wasn’t telling me. “Do you want me to sit with you until the guys are gone?”
“You don’t need to. Lily, Eliot, and the kids are meeting me at Rattler’s soon. I’m taking the kids out for an early Christmas gift. In case, you know”—she pointed the tips of her mittens at her stomach—“Bud wants to arrive a little early. And now that it’s snowing and the roads are slick, I don’t know how much I’ll get to Bismarck or Dickinson to shop.”
“A meal out makes memories.”
“That’s what I’m hoping. Getting some time back with them that I missed.” She gave me a tender smile. The conversation I wanted to have with her ran through my head.
How would it go? Hurting her wasn’t an option, but if we were both hurting, then what was the point?
“Thanks for the ride, Evander,” she said softly.
“Anytime. I’ll be by tomorrow and hit your driveway again. You don’t need to be shoveling. ”
Her smile was tight. “Thanks. Maybe I should just pay you the rent.”
“Nah, go enjoy that hot bath.”
A dry laugh left her. “I’ll enjoy the hot water, but the bathtub is not baby-belly friendly.”
Noted. “How about next weekend?” I had a few more things to piece together and finish up before I told her what I’d been up to.
A deep sadness I couldn’t place dimmed the blue of her eyes. “Yeah. Next weekend. We’ll talk.”
Then she got out. I had no idea if I was on the right path, but I had a mission plan, and I was executing it. Next weekend, I’d know the result.