Saving Each Other (BWWM Romance) (35 page)

Could this really be happening? Could he have moved on so fast? I looked at the screen and had my answer. Yes he could and he did. I felt myself grow dizzy and put my head down between my legs. Breathe, just breathe. Earl hadn’t said anything about it to me when I called but then again why would he? He hadn’t known anything was going on between us. He knew it had been pretend from the beginning. Or at least it was supposed to be. Now looking at him with someone else, I didn’t know if it really was for me or not. I felt crushed and used. The office thought…oh my , the office. I didn’t need the pity I was sure to receive when I got back. I had two days. Two days to get my shit together so that I could go back to work. Two days to cry my tears and drown in my sorrow of losing a man that I was suddenly realizing I had fallen in love with.

Chapter 12

The next two days were spent doing just that. I looked him up on the computer and in the newspaper and of course it was all over the television. Finally I cried and cried some more. Sunday night was the last tear I would shed for him, I told myself as I laid down for bed.

I made my way through the doorway to the hall and down to where my office door was still shut and locked. Turning the key, I walked through and smiled at my desk. It was just as I left it as I knew it would be.

“Hey, Trina. I got your mail downstairs. I can bring it up to you in a minute if you like.”

“Thanks, Jason. That would be great.” Jason was the mail clerk. Although there was a full staff downstairs that sorted the mail, he was the only one that our floor saw. He was our distributor. Each floor had their own. I remembered when I had first started and Earl had taken me downstairs and showed me every department in the huge building. At that time, I had been just an entry level administrator. Now however I was one of the bosses. Other than Earl, I was the next in line of the hierarchy in the building. I also knew that I brought in a lot of money for the company as well. I was smart and good with numbers. I sat down in my chair and pushed the button to turn on the computer.

“Hey. Glad you’re back. How was the trip?”

I smiled up at Earl and leaned back in my chair, placing my folded hands behind my head. “It was amazing.” I sat and told him of all my excursions and adventures. I told him of everything I did and how much fun I had. I wouldn’t admit it to anyone but I knew that it probably would have been a lot more fun if I had someone with me. In the end he was surprised when I told him I would be taking a vacation every year. His surprise was shown on his face as he nodded.

“That’s good, Trina. You deserve it. You really do. Well I’ll let you dig in. I’m sure you have a lot to do to catch up and I don’t want to keep you.”

“Thank you, Earl. It was exactly what I needed. You truly are a good friend. Sally’s lucky to have you.” I turned to my computer and didn’t see the blush that crept up his cheeks as he turned around and mumbled a thank you before walking from my office. The rest of the day was spent going through my mail and email. It can add up when you're gone for a day or two and being gone for two weeks was a lot worse. It was excruciating and I finally stopped around six to head home. Everyone else had left for the day and looking around, I noticed I was alone. There was suddenly an instant message that popped up on the computer. Everyone was gone from the building by this time. The message system was an internal system that allowed us to communicate with other departments that were located on different floors. I looked down and gasped at the words.

I heard you were back. I just wanted to say that I hope you had a good time and I wanted to say thank you for such a good time while I was there. You were great, feisty. You have helped me to see what it is that I want in a woman. Thank you.

I sat there and stared at the message. I knew who it was from. There was only one person who would write something like that. The arrogant bastard. ‘Thank you for a good time.’ And he called me the thing that I said not to call me. I could feel the anger boil in my blood. I began typing and pointed my finger over the enter button to send it. My hand slowly lowered as I read the degrading message I had typed. Shaking my head, I realized that he wasn’t the one I was mad at. It was me. Me for falling for the type of man I knew I could never have and me for letting him get to me. I quickly erased the words I had typed and closed the dialog box before shutting the computer down. I wouldn’t respond to him at all. I was better than that. Taking a deep breath, I made my way home and picked up some Chinese on the way.

Chapter 13

It was two weeks later when everything changed. I was making my way to my office when I suddenly felt nauseous. The room began to spin and I felt like I was in a tornado. I was hot all over and then cold. I felt the floor as I dropped to my knees. In the background I could hear sounds. It sounded like someone was saying my name. Maybe Earl.

I heard a sound and tried to zone it out as I tried to finish my dream. As I slowly came awake, I looked around at the people around me. Where the hell was I? Then it came to me. At work.

“Where am I?”

“You’re in the ambulance, ma’am. We're taking you to the hospital. You had quite a spell at work. Seems you had your boss terrified.”

“Earl.” Oh poor Earl. I passed out. I groaned out loud when I thought about it. I had never passed out in my life and now here I was lying on a board in an ambulance on my way to the hospital. And why? Because I had passed out. I had never passed out in my life. What in the world was going on?

I felt them raise the hard board I was being carried on and carried me into the large room. There were lights that shone everywhere. Bright white lights shone down in my eyes. I closed them to keep from going blind and listened to the words and conversations going on around me.

“Maybe it was too much excitement. I don’t know. Maybe… Yes, her boss said she just got back in the country.”

There was suddenly a woman’s voice. “Ma’am. Trina?”

I opened my eyes to look up at the brunette who was suddenly leaning over me. “Yes?”

“Okay. Do you think you can sit up?” At my nod she pushed the button on the side of the table so that I was sitting in an upright position. The lights were no longer shining down at me and I blinked for several minutes before I could focus again. “Alright. How do you feel?”

“I feel fine, just tired all of a sudden. I feel so tired.”

“It seems like you passed out. Do you have a history of passing out?”

I shook my head as I looked around in confusion. “I have never passed out in my life.”

“Okay. It seems like you have been out of the country. I am going to do some blood tests and get a urinary test. Maybe it is some virus you got or something you ate. You seem like you are pretty healthy though. Any problems or allergies that we should know about?”

“Um no health concerns but I am allergic to sulfa. Oh and bees.”

“Okay. Let me get a nurse get you something to drink. I’m going to get you something with a little caffeine and then we will get someone in here to take that blood and when you can, we will get the urine test, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Is there anyone we can call for you?”

I shook my head sadly as I told her there was no one, if they could just let my boss know what was going on.

“Okay. We will let you call him in a little bit, okay?”

“Okay.”

I watched her walk from the room and sat in bewilderment. Did I get some disease when I went on vacation? Maybe it was just some flu bug or something. I could only hope that it was and that everything would be ok again. I took a deep sigh as I waited for the nurse. I sipped on the ginger ale someone brought me and then I saw the young woman come in with a large cart.

“Hi darlin’ I’m Mary, and I’m gonna take a little blood, okay?”

“Okay.”

“I know, honey. None of us like needles. I will be gentle and I have to admit that I’m good at what I do.” She smiled at me tenderly and I felt myself ease a little. I wasn’t scared of needles or anything but I didn’t necessarily like them. Then again I didn’t know anyone who did really. I took a deep breath as she tied the band around my arm. Her finger breezed over the inside of my elbow easily and she smiled. “You have good veins, honey. That makes my job that much easier. So tell me what do you do?” She was making conversation and I felt the stick as the needle went into my skin.

“Uh. I work in advertising.”

“Wow. So you do like commercials and stuff?”

I smiled at the woman and watched as she switched bottles as they filled. She quickly untied the band around my arm. “I do the businesses mostly, handling the finances and such. Stuff like that.”

“Wow. You are a very talented woman then. Especially as accomplished as you are.”

“Thank you. I have to say that you're great. I didn’t even think about what you were doing. I was listening to you and talking while you worked. You're good.” I smiled at the older woman and was amazed that she was already done. I hadn’t even felt the sharp stab of pain I normally felt when they removed the needle from my arm. I looked down to see her place a piece of gauze on my arm and then push my arm up so that it held the little piece of gauze.

“Thank you, honey. That's the key. Keep you preoccupied with something else so that you don’t think of what is going on. You have a good one, honey. We will get you all better before you even know it.”

“Thank you.” I watched as she turned and after placing the stickers on the tubes that I knew had my name and information on them, she put them in the small sandwich bag she had laid out. Smiling one more time, she stood and began pushing the cart back out of the room. I heard the wheels as they squealed all the way down the long hall. When I finally didn’t hear them anymore, I laid my head back against the pillow. I must have dozed off again because the next thing I knew the brunette was back in the room. I realized she was my doctor and finally everything became clear.

“Trina? Hey, honey. I wanted to let you know what was going on. I think we found your problem.”

I straightened up in the bed with fear. I searched her face for signs of worry and sadness but there was nothing there but a smile. “Is it bad? Maybe a virus. How long does it last?”

She sat down with a laugh. “Well, honey, the virus lasts for about 3 months for most women but can last for up to 9 months. Then I’m afraid you will be paying for it for at least the next 18 years. Prepare yourself.”

“It is bad. What am I going to do? I need to figure something out. I have good insurance. What can I do?”

I heard her laugh again and looked up at her. Was this woman crazy? I had a disease and by the sound of it the disease was bad or I had a bad case of it. I wondered where it came from. I was fine in France and Italy so it couldn’t have come from the beach unless it took a little bit for the symptoms to show. I was now frantic as I looked at her worriedly.

“Trina, honey, you don’t have a virus. You're not sick and you don’t have a disease.”

“But you said…”

“You’re pregnant.”

“What? But how could that happen?”

She laughed again. “Honey, you should know by now how that happens. The symptoms you are having are all associated with the first trimester. You are about three to four weeks.”

“But I’m on birth control.”

“Unfortunately it doesn't always work. Your boyfriend must have strong swimmers.” I decided to keep it to myself that I didn’t have a boyfriend. David was far from my boyfriend. I was having a baby, and alone. “I can see this is a shock. You take some time. I will be back to check on you in a little bit.

I sat back and thought about what she said. I was pregnant. My hand instantly went to my stomach. I was having a baby. The shock was beginning to fade as the realization of what was going on was starting to hit me. What was I going to do? Should I tell him? Should I act like it was someone else’s? If he saw the baby would he know it was his? There was so much running through my mind that I forgot about the one thing that would make the choice for me. My job. If I continued to work there then I knew it would get back to him that I was pregnant. I needed to decide whether I would let him go or not. Whether I would tell him about the baby or not. I didn’t want him to be in my life because of the baby. I wanted him to want me. But in the same instance I knew that keeping the baby’s father from him would not be right for my child. I sat for what seemed like forever as I contemplated my situation. What in hell was I going to do now?

Chapter 14

Within the next hour, the hospital finally released me from their clutches so that I could head home. The doctor knew from my reaction that I was shocked. She also said that although it was vacation, my time away was fast paced and told me I needed to take a couple days to rest and catch up on my sleep. I readily agreed and mostly slept for the next two days. I thought over what I would do next and decided that for the next few months I was okay where I was. I would decide what to do and whether I would stay with the company or not when I began to show.