Page 108 of Fall to Me
He glances up at me, “I would recommend a new phone. Given everything going on with this one, I would be willing to bet you have some form of spyware on this device. I don’t have the proper equipment here to check, but I used to work in the IT division before I moved over to sales, and this is a classic case.”
Carter crosses his arms across his chest. “What exactly does spyware do?”
“Well, it’s used to collect financial data for one,” Toby says. “It can also be used to track locations even when the location services are turned off. Intercept emails, text messages, and phone calls . . . Now the random phone calls itself aren’t caused by spyware, that’s usually caused by your cloud being linked to other devices. You will need to log out of those devices or change your cloud password.”
“Go pick out a phone, River.” Carter’s tone leaves no room for argument.
“Here let me show you around,” Toby says, turning away. “Are you going to want any accessories? We have watches, tablets, iPads.”
“No,” I say.
“Yes, to all,” Carter counters. “And add an extra charger for each . . . and protective cases.”
I turn on him and grab his hand. “Excuse us for a second,” I say to Toby as I pull Carter off to the side. “Listen, I know you have a nice little cushion in your bank account, but us real life people don’t. I’m only buying a phone.”
“You’re so cute. You know that, Kitten? There’s no ‘I’ in this marriage.Wehave a nice little cushion inourbank account. We’re replacing everything. If there’s spyware on your phone, it’s probably on your iPad too, so just replace it all, and stop arguing with me.”
I gaze up at him, our hands locked together, as he rubs circles on top of my knuckles. His posture and his expression tell mehe’s not budging on this. I’m not getting into it with him right now, but married or not, I don’t like taking his money. Ugh!
“Fine.” I roll my eyes and turn back to Toby. Huffing a breath, I tell him, “Whatever he says . . . I guess.”
An hour later, we walk out of the store with several bags in hand.
“I’m putting you on my phone plan, and we’re changing your cell number when we get home,” he says as he places the bags in the trunk.
“What? Why? I’ve had that number forever.”
“Can you please just give me this without a fight?”
The pleading look in his expression makes me cave again.
“And while we’re out, let’s go find you a dress for the Gala.”
“You’re really pushing it,” I say as he sports the biggest grin. “I can’t today. You heard Aspen, she needs me.”
“One hour. Give me one hour. I’ll have you back by three, I promise.”
“Okay. One hour.”
I do need a dress for the gala, and I know I won’t be able to afford a designer gown like the other women will be wearing. I’ve never been spoiled before, but something tells me I need to get used to it.
One hour of shopping for a dress turned into two, but I still make it to work by three with the promise of Carter returning around six to pick me up.
Aspen walks in with her laptop, pulling my attention away from my emails to focus on her. She sits down in the seat across from my desk, and says, “I’m sorry again for being so bitchy earlier.”
“Don’t worry about it.” I wave her off. “The next few months are going to be fun for us both.”
Opening her laptop, she scoots her chair closer to my desk. I watch, waiting for her to catch on to what I just said. Her eyeslift to mine, then I pull out my bottom desk drawer and pluck the ultrasound pictures from my purse.
“Did you know that twins come from the mother’s side?” I ask, holding the paper up and watching her expression as the stream of pictures unravel. “I didn’t and blamed Carter for this, but he was oh so glad to educate me.”
Aspen’s hand flies up to her mouth, and tears well in her eyes as they flick from me to the black and white photos. Before I even know what’s happening, she has me wrapped in a hug.
“I’m so freaking happy we’re doing this together this time,” she says, then leans back, taking the pictures from my hand.
“Me too.”
She looks at each one, even though you can't see a thing except for two dark circles. “Wow. This is crazy. By the way, I took your advice and told Cal last night.”
