Page 63 of The Marriage Agreement (Agreement)

“Mrs. Blythe? You and I are talking tomorrow,” he shouts.

“Good night, Kai. And thanks for the ride. And nothing to talk about.”

“We’ll see about that,” he yells back.

“Good evening, Mr. Lance,” I say to the doorman as he opens the door for me, nodding my thanks to him. I go straight up, shower, and eat the food Paula had in the oven for me. I send up my thanks to her. I eat alone and head to bed.

Me: ER was draining today. I’m heading to bed. I’m tired.com.

Attach a tired GIF

Luke: Okay, good night.

I want to say I miss him. Instead, I set my alarm and head to bed. I sleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.

Like clockwork, I’m in the garage at 6:45 am, only to realize I left my car at the hospital. Damn!

I turn to see Martin next to me. Where did he come from? I don’t care right now.

“Can you please give me a ride to work?”

“Yes, Mrs. B.”

“Thank you.” I race into the front seat; he looks at me like I’m sitting in the wrong spot.

“Please, drive, Martin. I don’t want to be late,” is my response to his look.

“Okay.” We drive in silence to the hospital. I checked my phone, and there are no missed calls from Luke. I’m a little disappointed, but I tuck it away and realize I don’t have class today, so I will visit Baba and return for my car to join my study group in the evening. Kai will be coming in about that time. I know he’ll call me once he gets here.

When we pull up at the ER, Martin asks, “Would you like a ride back after work, Mrs. B?”

“No, my car is over there. The perfect spot is why I didn’t drive yesterday. You can have the rest of the day off. I’m good.”

“I’ll be on standby should you change your mind.”

“Okay, Martin. Bye.”

I race inside to clock in, ready to face a few more hours of work.

Chapter 42

LUKE

I return four days sooner, hoping to find her at home, but she isn’t here, and it irks me that I practically jumped on the next flight as soon as I could because I’ve missed my wife. Only to be greeted by an empty house. I’d called Dad as soon as I landed, as I always do, telling him I’ll see him later because I wanted to see Dele first, but she’s not here.

We talked a few times, though we didn’t get much in with the time difference and priorities higher than me taking up her time. I called her phone, and it went straight to voicemail. I checked the time and her schedule, and her phone shouldn’t be going to voicemail; it should be on. I tell myself maybe she’s driving in a dead zone. After about fifteen minutes, I call again. It still goes straight to voicemail. I decided to call Bruce. I’d asked him to keep an eye on her for safety reasons, plus it’s my way of making sure she’s not working too many hours.

“Hello.”

“Hey, I’m back. Do you know where Dele is?”

“Hold on a sec.” I hear a click and some sounds.

“I don’t know where she is. We only track her phone and car GPS, but the records show her phone is off, and her car is stationed at the hospital. Hold on.” I mute my phone and let out a frustrated sigh. She certainly knows how to push my buttons.

“Luke, the report shows that a few times last week and this week, her phone is turned off at the same time and on the same days of the week.”Fuck!

“Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

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