knew that there was no way his father hadn’t heard about his situation.
And there was no way his father wouldn’t have something to say about it.
In fact, he had been calling several times a day, making that fact abundantly clear.
Lucas hadn’t been answering those calls, and he certainly didn’t intend to start now. The last thing he needed was a lecture from his father. And he knew, also, that his father would insist on an explanation for his dismissal from work—an explanation Lucas wasn’t ready to give.
What would his father say, he wondered, if he knew about the failure of his so-called wonder drug?
Would he agree with Lucas that the drug needed to be sent back to the lab for further testing, that it needed to be improved upon before it could be released to the public? Or would he side with the investors and say that the better move was to go ahead and release it, covering up the flaws in the design?
Lucas felt sick every time he thought about the people who had experienced surprise pregnancies while taking his company’s drug. Although they had known that Androcyl was still technically in the testing phase, they had believed the company was ready to stand behind it.
I believed that, Lucas thought. That’s why I was willing to use it myself. I thought it was ready.
It hadn’t been ready. And people’s lives had been irrevocably altered because of that. Those people hadn’t been planning to have babies. They had trusted Quadra-Well, trusted Lucas, and he had failed them.
The one consolation he had was that Elise hadn’t seemed unhappy about her pregnancy. Based on their short conversation, he had gotten the impression she was pleased about the baby she was going to have.
It’s me she’s not happy about.
As much as he wanted to know what his father would have to say about the drug, though, he wasn’t willing to hear the man’s criticisms. He turned off his cell phone and put it back in his pocket.
There. Now at least I won’t be tempted to call Elise.
But, of course, it wasn’t so easy to put away his feelings of guilt over having failed to get in touch with her.
He couldn’t forget the way she had looked in the office that day. She had been so hopeful. She had been eager to see what he would say to her news.
And he had given her no real response at all.
He had insisted that he’d needed time to think—but that wasn’t really true, was it? After all, she hadn’t asked him to promise anything. She hadn’t asked for money, or even for his involvement in the child’s life.
It probably would have been enough for her right then if I had given her some kind of gesture of kindness. If I had asked her how she was feeling.
But he hadn’t even managed to do that.
Suddenly, he was deeply ashamed of himself.
He owed her more, much more than he had given her. Regardless of whether she was asking for anything, he was responsible for her pregnancy. Not only was he the father of the child, but the pregnancy had only occurred because his company’s drug had been defective.
And he had responded by ushering her out of his office as if she didn’t matter.
He sighed. It was going to be difficult, but he would do the right thing. He would get in touch with Elise and discuss what needed to happen next.
But he couldn’t just call her. Not after all these days of silence. It was possible that she would hang up on him, and even if she didn’t, he was sure she would be standoffish. He couldn’t blame her for that, but it would be too difficult to talk that way.
Besides, he owed her more than a phone call.
He thought for a few minutes, then pulled the phone back out of his pocket and powered it on. He pulled up her contact information again, but this time he selected the option to send a text.
After staring at the screen for several moments, pondering what he might say, he began to type.
Hi, Elise. I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to get back to you. I don’t have an excuse for that, and I won’t try to make one. I should have contacted you sooner. I’m sorry.
I would like to talk if you’re still willing. Clearly you and I have a lot to discuss.
Will you please text me back when it’s convenient for you to do so? We can