A Baby Between Them

After he’d switched off the engine, he turned to face her again. “Do you agree it’s pointless to try to find Carl in this city?”

“Yes. But Tampoo is in Washington and I need a rental.”

“Okay, okay, just hear me out. Your eyes look spacey and you have a gash on your hand and Tampoo is easily reached in twenty-four hours. In fact, it will take a lot less than half of that, more like seven or eight. So I’m going to go into this store and buy what it takes to clean and dress your hand and you’re going to go into the bathroom and strip off your clothes and wash up whatever got scraped and dirty and make sure you aren’t cut and bleeding, um, anywhere important.”

“Simon, really.”

“It’s this or the hospital.”

“That’s pretty heavy-handed,” she said.

“I’m the cautious type. Does your stomach hurt?”

“No. Why would my stomach hurt?”

“You had a concussion,” he said. “Nausea and, oh, cramps, maybe, can be a side effect.” He looked decidedly uncomfortable as he added, “I just thought the fall might have exacerbated any…conditions.”

“I feel queasy every morning. I think it’s the medicine I take at night. Anyway, I’ll do as you ask.”

“You will?”

“It makes sense to me. You act surprised.”

He shrugged. “The last woman I was close to wasn’t quite as agreeable as you are.”

“Is this the one you were telling me about last night?”

“Yes.”

“I guess I’m just the easygoing type.”

His smile seemed wistful to her and she wondered how long ago he’d broken up with this woman. Maybe the wound was still raw. That thought seemed to rekindle the throbbing in her left hand and she glanced down. What caught her eye was the slender band of gold on her ring finger, a band tying her to Carl.

Had he left her to die on the cliff or had his motive for leaving been to lead the man with the knife away from her? If so, that posed the question—what kind of loyalty did she owe Carl? Should she believe him when he claimed they had a good marriage? Were her current misgivings out of place? When she saw him again—and there wasn’t a doubt in her mind he would show up in Tampoo unless the guy with the knife stopped him—should she give him the benefit of the doubt? He was her husband, after all….

She remembered the chill that raced through her blood when he touched her….

And the lies. He’d known about that meeting at the restaurant and now he knew about the one in Tampoo. What if Carl represented the threat to her father? She might not remember him to speak of, but she’d had one searing moment of clarity and this she knew—she loved her father. She would do anything for him.

“You okay?” Simon said.

“What? Oh, sure.”

“You look upset.”

“I guess I am.”

“It’ll all work out,” he said softly, then shook his head and added, “I sound like a greeting card.”