Page 39 of Love Me Forever

Angie fluttered her hand. She was twenty years my senior, and she'd been a great mentor for me. "You can always go back out in the field once your baby's here."

"I can," I said, even though I thought it was unlikely. At least, I couldn't imagine traveling the way I had before and uprooting my baby. He or she would need stability and a solid home. It was bad enough that I wasn’t in a stable relationship—that couldn’t be helped. But I was determined to give my baby everything else that was in my power.

Angie led me into her small office, where she handed me a white coat. I quickly pulled my hair into a ponytail. I hadn't bothered with makeup this morning or styling my hair, precisely for this reason. I'd simply detangled it, and that was that.

"Okay, I know you already know everything, but just in case, I'm going to give you a tour around here and point out some things that changed after you left."

"Sure," I replied.

Just before we left her office, I grabbed my phone, refreshing my emails again. No answer.

I couldn't lose hope already. It would likely take a few days before I got a reply.

But one week later, I still didn't have one. I knew I simply had to resign myself to the fact that I was on my own.










Chapter Eleven

Travis

“Sam, I can’t believeyou’re not staying longer.”

My brother was visiting for a week. Lately, he came over a lot from Honduras, but only for a couple days at a time. He was seeing someone in Chicago but hadn’t introduced her to us yet.

“Man, we have this conversation every time. Why don’t we enjoy that I’m here?”

As usual, he’d dropped by the office. He’d corrupted me into going up for a drink, even though it was only early afternoon.

“I only spoke with Mom and Dad. The rest don’t know yet. Wait, I’m hearing Luke’s voice.” He stood up and went to the door, opening it wide.

My laptop was wide open on the desk. I’d pulled up the email address I’d set up for the hotel. It was a place for general inquiries. Both Marjorie and I had access, and neither of us looked at it very often.

Luke came in with his fiancée, Megan, and he and Sam instantly started giving each other shit. I’d missed the reason for it, but truth be told, we didn’t always need one in the Maxwell family. After listening for a while, I finally figured it out—Sam was giving it to Luke for not agreeing to join us for drinks.

Twenty-five unread emails popped up at me.

“Well, at least I corrupted Travis. Ready to go?” Sam asked me.