courage and went for it with wobbly confidence. Unless she tried, she’d never know.
“So, um, listen. I’ve been thinking about stuff, and I believe turning my phone on is a good idea.”
She had an alternate request if the first fell on deaf ears.
“I want a message sent. His number is in my contacts.”
All of a sudden, her speech was interrupted when Cy clicked in to the call.
“Slow down, missy.”
“Slow didn’t get results. I’ve run out of time,” she muttered. “I know using the number might set off alarms, but I need to know.”
He grumbled something she didn’t catch.
“Please, Cy. I need to know if he’s the man I hope he is or if he just doesn’t care.”
“Summer.” Cy cleared his throat a few times, and when he finally spoke, she felt the bottom fall out of her heart.
“After you left, I called his number every day for two weeks. None of the calls went through. The mailbox must have been full.”
Her mouth went dry. She felt dizzy and grabbed the cushion underneath her butt. Fear and anxiety clawed at her emotions, but in the shower of shreds, she found one a little different from the rest and clung to it with all her might.
“We’re missing something, Cy. I don’t know why the number he gave me suddenly went dead any more than I understand why a woman I personally witnessed get into a verbal bitch slapping match with Arnie came out of nowhere and tried to buy me. Or scare me. One of those things is true. But you don’t know what it means, and neither do I. I have a feeling,” she exclaimed. “And no, it’s not wishful thinking.”
“Survival is ninety percent instinct and feelings, missy. What is it you feel?”
One of her favorite romance authors wrote a brilliant story about fate and how shitty timing made a happy outcome a lot harder to achieve. Summer’s takeaway? If you believe with all your heart, true love finds a way.
“We both grew up without our mothers. We know what agony the other carries. There is no way the man I knew, the man I love, would walk away from his child. Trust me, Cy. There are pieces missing to this puzzle.”
“I can’t activate the phone. It’s a mistake. I hear what you’re saying, Summer, but you have to be extra careful. Think of the baby. Now is not the time to get sloppy.”
He hadn’t called her missy. She sighed and changed the subject. “How’s Jo? I miss her.”
“I’ll let her know you were asking. She’s out of it by the time she comes home at night, so I’m not sure how much gets through. Her mom’s a tough old bird. The hospice people say we’re in for a long haul.”
At a loss for words, she murmured the usual about taking care and extracted a promise they’d call if she could help in any way.
She hung up after a hastily muttered, “Bye-bye.”
Her stomach was rumbling again. Was it hunger or another bathroom blowout on the way?
A quick assessing body diagnostic was inconclusive.
Suddenly, more tired than she realized, Summer decided she might as well nap since there was nothing pressing on her schedule.
Messing up the pillows she fluffed earlier, she pulled a throw blanket over her legs and fell promptly to sleep.
A few hours later, she awoke drenched in sweat. When she sat up, her entire being ached from the inside out.
Nausea made her woozy.
Summer needed to use the arm of the sofa to get up. When she straightened, the low ache in her belly turned to pain sharp enough to steal her breath.
Moving on shaking legs, she slowly made it to the chair by the front door. Her overnight bag sat at her feet.
Seized by terror, she looked at the wall clock and noted the time. “Five-seventeen.”
For the next thirty-seven minutes, she sat perfectly still while nothing else happened. At six o’clock, she was sure there was no need to overreact.
Rising from the chair, she took four steps toward the refrigerator when without warning, a warm liquid drenched her inner thighs. Her reaction was shock mixed with panic.
All the clinic doctors, nurses, and the birthing class instructor made it very clear what she should do if her water broke. To avoid infection, she was to get medical help immediately.
Medical help. Not a thoughtful, uneventful trip to the birthing center.
Paralyzed by confusion and unsure what her next move should be, Summer lost her cool when the constant, dull ache in her back