Page 89 of Zone Protection

I shoot off a text to my agent and ask him to call me when he gets a chance. My phone rings seconds later.

“Archie, my man. What’s going on?”

“Hey, Scott. I need to get home early tomorrow. Do you think that will be an issue?”

“Home to Texas or home to Oklahoma?”

“Oklahoma. I need to see my girlfriend.”

“Is there a problem, Archie?”

“Yeah, um … so my girlfriend is pregnant, and she had an issue today. I really need to get home to be with her.”

He huffs. “You mean to tell me that you haven’t mentioned that you’re going to be a dad, knowing I’m trying to negotiate deals on your behalf, for your future. You didn’t think I should know that?”

“Look, it’s a little complicated, but she’s nearing the end of her pregnancy now, and we can’t really hide it anymore anyway. I’m not asking for your opinion on my personal life or my reasons for not discussing it with you before now. Just figure out a way that I can get home without causing an issue. Can you do that?”

He mumbles something I can’t decipher. “Right. Well, we’ll deal with it. I think we need to sit down and have a meeting, and she should be included in the conversation going forward—because whatever move you make will involve her.”

“Yes, it absolutely will. You and I both know where I want to be, so now more than ever, we need to get there with negotiations.”

“I hear you. I’ll start digging deeper and let you know if anything interesting happens.” He moves his phone away and speaks with someone. “I gotta run, Arch. Talk later.”

Tomorrow can’t come fast enough.

CHAPTER

TWENTY-ONE

ARCHIE

It’s beena few days since we’ve been back, and I’ve been at Emma’s every day. She’s going to classes, but comes back home right after. It’s almost like she’s moving on autopilot, and I can’t figure out why. And I feel like she’s pushing me away.

I’m waiting for her at the doctor’s office now. We decided to meet here because she had class before this and drove to campus; she didn’t want to leave her car there, and we wouldn’t have had time to run it home before coming here. Before the scare in Arizona happened, we would have come together, no matter what.

The door opens, and she walks in, looking a little flustered.

“Hey. Sorry I’m late. There was some traffic when I was trying to leave campus.”

I stand when she walks over to me and wrap her in my arms. “All good. I got you checked in.”

“Thanks,” she says, pulling away.

Just as we’re about to sit, the nurse opens the door to the back and calls Emma’s name.

When we get to the room, Emma is instructed to undress andwait for the technician to come get her. I look over at her in question.

“We’re doing the ultrasound first?”

She nods. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Okay, good. I can’t wait to see the baby.” I reach for her hand and squeeze gently.

She won’t look at me. She just stares at the wall in front of her.

Something has changed with Emma. When we got off the phone yesterday, she seemed fine, but then stopped taking my calls.

“Darlin’, can you look at me for a minute?”

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