Page 48 of Miracles and Marriage
“Living together wasn’t part of the bargain. I went along with your condition of marriage, but living together isn’t in the cards. Now I do have to get to work before we cause any more gossip than what Sally Ann is probably spreading at this very moment.”
“Sally Ann?”
“The secretary who just passed. Who knows what she heard?”
“Nothing the entire world couldn’t hear.”
Cal turned and walked beside her to the elevator.
The weekend wasn’t ending as he thought it would. He couldn’t force her to move in with him. And he couldn’t go to her place unless she invited him. What a mess.
He needed time to think of a new strategy.
Zoe closed the door to her office with relief. She couldn’t do this. She had given it her best shot this weekend, but sleeping with the boss was more than she could deal with. Especially when they weren’t even having an affair but were solely bent on having a baby. Too totally weird.
How could he have suggested they move in together? She’d barely made it through the weekend. She could never live day after day with Cal. She’d do something totally foolish like fall for him and come to expect more than he could deliver.
She had to keep the relationship focused on the end goal. Nothing more.
She went to her desk and opened her calendar. It wasn’t her most fertile time. She was due to start her period in a few days. So most likely, no baby this month.
The thought of making love with Cal again and again until she did conceive had her giddy. She thought she could be sophisticated about it, but she couldn’t. Picking up the phone, she quickly dialed her twin’s number.
“Chloe here.”
“Hey, are we still on tonight?” Zoe asked.
“Sure. I tried calling you this weekend. Where were you? Even your cell was off.”
“I went to the beach,” she said.
“With Cal?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
She couldn’t tell her sister everything. Chloe would never have gone for a bargain like theirs. But it felt odd holding anything back from her twin.
“And it was wonderful,” she said truthfully. “Rain and all.”
“Especially the rain, I bet. Nothing like forced confinement to find some other way to spend the day,” Chloe teased. “I expect a full report at dinner. Let’s meet at the rib place.”
“Sounds good. Can you give me a lift home? I don’t have my car. We came straight in to the office from the cottage.”
“Better and better. I bet you didn’t want to leave. Sure. Gabe’s out of town again, so I’m footloose and fancy free. See you at six.”
So which was worse, Zoe wondered, the inquisition by her sister or seeing Cal again? She hoped work could keep her mind from dwelling on either.
Zoe made it through the week without a confrontation with either her sister or husband-in-name-only. Cal had dropped off her small suitcase at her apartment on Monday while she’d been at dinner with Chloe.
By carefully arriving at work each morning after she knew Cal was there, Zoe avoided seeing him unless he called a meeting. She always left promptly at five to head off any chance of an after-work encounter.
Friday morning she wasn’t feeling well. She knew her period was about to start and knowing what to expect, took a handful of pills. Sometimes she could head off the pain if she acted early enough. There was too much to do to take another day off. If thiscould only have waited another twenty-four hours, she could stay in bed all day Saturday.
By midafternoon, Zoe had to leave for home. She could barely stand upright the pain was so intense. Driving wasn’t easy, but knowing the sooner she got home, the sooner she could get some relief made it possible. Almost doubled up by the time she reached her apartment, she headed right for the bathroom and more of the pills she’d taken that morning.
Changing into an old flannel nightie that was loose and soft, she crawled into bed and curled into a ball. No baby on the way. For a moment tears threatened. She fought against them. She knew it would be a long shot to get pregnant at all, much less the first time. Still, she had hoped.
