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“Elsie. I was scared. Scared to death when you stopped responding to me.” He says with a slight shake of his head. “If there’s something I can do to make sure this doesn’t happen again, I’ll do it. Just tell me what you need.”

“I...” I hesitate.

“Name it, Elsie.” He says, his jaw tight with conviction.

“I want you to quit.” I blurt out.

Marshall goes so still that I think the video feed froze, but then he shakes his head, and I realize he was literally frozen by shock.

“What?” He asks, completely caught off-guard.

“I want you to quit your job,” I say more slowly but no less passionate.

“Elsie. What does that have to do with any of this? I can’t just...”

“No.” I cut him off. “You absolutely can quit. I make more than enough to take care of us for the rest of our lives.”

“Our lives?” He says, a light sparking in his eyes, which makes me cringe at my word choice.

“You know what I mean.” I huff. “Just that you wouldn’t have to worry about money if you wanted to take a break and find another career.”

“Elsie…” He says, his voice is soft.

“Hear me out. You could do whatever you want. Take up woodworking or go back to school and get another degree. Literally anything. I’ll support you.”

“Are you bribing me?” He asks with a smirk.

“No,” I reply, shrinking back a little. “More like begging you.”

Marshall goes quiet for a moment, and I hold my breath while he thinks.

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why is this so important to you?” He insists.

“Because. Your job is dangerous. I don’t want you getting hurt.” I reason.

“But you’ve known that this whole time.” He says, cocking his head to the side. “What changed? Why now?”

“Nothing’s changed.” I snap, suddenly feeling like a cornered animal.

“Something’s changed. Something happened.” He says surely. “If I’m going to consider this? If this is a deal breaker, then I deserve to know why it’s so important to you.”

“Because...” I try.

“Elsie.” He warns.

“Because I don’t want my baby sitting on the porch steps wondering when their dad is going to decide they’re important enough to show up finally!” I throw the words at him like daggers.

Only I’m not expecting them to hurt me so much when they land dead center in his chest.

His expression falls instantly.

The only sound coming from my computer speaker is the background noise from the rig Marshall’s on that filters through the thick walls of the room.

“Is that...” He tries again. “Is that what you think is going to happen?”

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