Page 67 of Samuel

Silence bled down the line, until the idiot chuckled.“Enjoy my sloppy leftovers, asshole.”

Evie gasped, shaking her head with a furious blaze in her eye. This asshole was about to eat his words, and then Sam’s fist. Even if he had to find a flight that day to Wisconsin. “I know for a fact that you never got a taste of Evie. So she’s your nothing. If you ever try to contact her again, I’ll reach through this phone and castrate you so fast your voice will be three octaves higher before you can finish saying ‘sloppy seconds’. This reeks of desperation. Leave her alone.”

Sam pulled the phone away from his ear, tapping the red icon to end the call.

He ran his hands down her arms. “You okay?”

“I think so. You didn’t need to do that for me.”

“Fuck yes, I did. He had no right to say that about you. Fuck, he has no right to be calling you, or send you threatening messages.”

“It’s okay. I need to just figure out how to change my number. Maybe I’ll just shut it off for a few days and leave it in my apartment.”

“No. I don’t like the idea of you being without a way to call someone if there is an emergency.”

“Sam. I’m not going anywhere. If I need help, I’ll find Sylvie, or Zeke. Even Derrick.”

He pressed his hip into the edge of her desk, crossing his arms over his chest before leaning into her space.

“You’ll find me, Bluebell. You’ll find me if you need help.”

“You’re on the list,” she whispered.

“I better be at the top.” He pressed a kiss into her hair. “I have to run into town for some things. Will you be okay here by yourself?”

“I’m fine.” She must have realized how unconvinced he was by her words, because she playfully shoved him back. “I’m serious, Sam. I have a ton of paperwork to get through. Go.”

Hours of going through more accounts and numbers than her brain could handle, and still, there was no new information about those mysterious accounts.

She’d need to stop soon if she wanted to have enough time to get ready for girls’ night, but there was something itching just under her skin. She couldn’t stop until the last avenue checked out.

Evie hadn’t seen the papers she needed in anything she’d recently filed, and that meant that they could only be in one other place: Sam’s desk.

She worried her lip between her teeth. He’d been particularly possessive of his desk when she first started working, but after the first day’s filing fiasco, she hadn’t dared venture back over into his space when he wasn’t around.

But this was important, and he was counting on her to get these numbers done so that they could see where all the discrepancies lived. They needed to find who was taking from the business so they could stop hemorrhaging funds.

Evie plopped down in Sam’s chair. Her fingers skimmed over the small stack of papers next to his laptop. They weren’t what she was looking for. Another moment spent opening thetop two drawers on the desk revealed the same dismal results. One drawer left, Evie opened it, surprise rushing through her veins at what she was seeing.

A somewhat tattered and well-read version ofWhat to Expect While You’re Expectingsat staring back at her. It must have been the book Sam mentioned reading. Too curious for her own good, Evie picked it up, letting the spine fall open to a dog-eared page.

Her heart fluttered erratically in her chest. The page she was looking at went blurry as she swiped at the tears filling her eyes. He’d marked off the page in Chapter Eleven that talked about the baby moving for the first time. There, written off to the side of the page was a date. Evie thought back to the night she nearly fainted in his arms.The first night he felt Jellybean roll.That was the date he’d written down.

Fresh tears filled her eyes as she looked further down the page. Sam had clearly scribbled some thoughts down. It felt wrong to read them, but Evie couldn’t help herself.

Evie can’t stomach ground beef. Other good sources of protein: eggs, salmon, tofu (would she be open to trying that?), lentils. Find some good recipes to bring in for lunch.

She flipped through the pages.

More notes.

Her heart skipped a beat.

The baby needs more calcium this week.

Is it safe for Evie to still be climbing the stairs to her apartment?

Research more about round ligament pain, ask Evie if she’s still feeling it.

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