“Oh, honey. You did?”
“That’s when they told me that I had so much scar tissue from my appendectomy that it was impossible to conceive until I had it fixed. I never had a chance to have the surgery.”
“This is a miracle baby, Anna. I’m not exactly the sentimental type, but think about that. That’s pretty special. Maybe this was meant to be. For whatever reason, the universe decided that you need this baby.”
Tears sprouted in her eyes, just right out of nowhere. A miracle baby. “I don’t know what to think anymore, honestly, but maybe there is a reason this happened.”
“So when are you going to tell Jacob?”
“Can’t I wait until after I go to the doctor? Maybe wait until the end of the first trimester just in case something goes wrong? The doctor had said the scar tissue could make carrying a pregnancy difficult.”
“You have to tell Jacob, honey. No two ways about that. He deserves to know and he deserves to know now. Every bad thing he did in the past doesn’t change the fact that you and he made a child.”
Thirteen
Jacob was drowning in the dead quiet of his apartment, but he didn’t have the energy to go into the office. Life without Anna wasn’t getting any easier. If anything, it was getting harder.
He sat back in his office chair, rubbing at his stiff neck, feeling sore and achy. He’d been working out too much, not sleeping at all, and eating too little. Self-inflicted discomfort seemed only fitting considering the damage he’d done.
It’d been two weeks now, and each day felt as if it stretched on for eternity, a never-ending dirge of meetings and deals and money. He’d once lived on the adrenaline of it. Now it all felt empty. Every night before he went to bed, he looked at the engagement ring he’d bought for Anna. All of his pain, both physical and emotional, served as a reminder of what he was still holding out hope for—that he would stop the LangTel takeover and win her back.
Jacob’s phone vibrated on his desk. Did he even bother to look? Just another person wanting something from him, most likely, but he had to force himself to check. When he did, he stared at his phone in utter astonishment. Anna.
His heart did a double take, jerking into high gear. Why was she calling? Was it because of the Sunny Side deal? He didn’t want to pin his hopes on anything, but he really hoped she was calling for some other, more personal reason. “Hey,” he said, fumbling with the phone. Was that really the best he could come up with? He sounded like a teenaged boy.
“Hey,” she replied. Her voice was sweet, but distressed, echoing in his mind throughout the most awkward silence Jacob had ever endured.
“How are you?” he asked, deciding the course of polite conversation was the only one to take at this time. He wasn’t about to be defensive with her. Everything bad and ugly had already been said.
“I’ve been better. I need to talk to you and we probably shouldn’t do it over the phone. In fact, I know we shouldn’t.”
“Okay. Do you want to give me a hint?” Honestly, even if she wanted to come over and yell at him some more, he would’ve agreed. He would’ve served refreshments. Anything to see her. Even if it would be painful. He was already hurting more than he could’ve ever imagined.
“Jacob, I just need to talk to you, okay? I can’t bring myself to say it over the phone.”
His heart went back to acting as if it didn’t know what sort of speed was advised. Had she decided she could forgive him? Could he really be that lucky? And how long would it last if he was? There was still one indisputable fact—somewhere in the world, a very big shark was circling LangTel, and Jacob had dumped the blood into the water. If she lost her dream job because of him, there would be no coming back from that. “Yes. Of course. I’ll come to you. Are you at the office?”
“Home.”
He frowned. Anna never missed work. Ever. Had she left her job? Another big blow-up with Adam? Neither of those things made sense. She’d made it clear this was between them. Maybe she really was ready to reconcile. Maybe she felt as he did, that the other things between them, although messy, didn’t usurp feelings. “I’m leaving right now.”
The entire car ride was a lesson in patience, his curiosity killing him and his hopes refusing to be tempered, however much he wanted them to go away. He couldn’t help it. He hoped she’d reconsidered.
Anna had left word with the doorman and Jacob took the elevator up to her floor, walking double-time down the hall to her apartment.
“Hi,” she said when she opened the door.
The vision of Anna hit him the way an avalanche throws a mountain of snow down to the foothills. Her cheeks were blanched and her eyes pink and puffy. She’d been crying. Whatever this was, it was bad. He filed in to her kitchen, immediately plunged back into the familiar comfort of being with Anna, the one that made him feel as though he never wanted to be anywhere else, even when she was standing before him with her arms crossed, leaving a barrier between them.