“Keith? He’s your ex, right? The one who hurt you?”
I nodded, trying not to cry. The reality of everything was coming down on me hard. Scenarios in which Keith had had Stig removed so that he could get to me were seeming increasingly plausible.
“You have a restraining order, right?”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t matter.”
“That’s what he thinks,” Seth said. “Listen, I know some people at city hall. Powerful people. I’m going to call them. I swear to you, Keith will be in front of a judge by the end of the week. If there are cameras in your building, he will be going to prison for a while. Showing up at your building while under court order is a big no-no.”
Just then, Claudia came in with the water. I was surprised how much it helped. I held the paper cup in both of my shaking hands.
“Better?” she asked me.
“Yeah.”
“I should also tell you: Stig hasn’t vanished,” Seth said. “Not in the way you think, anyway. His departure was rather abrupt, but perfectly explicable. I’m not quite sure what it is myself, but it has something to do with a family emergency. I swear it has nothing to do with you. He loves you— even I can tell that. He’ll be back before you know it, and everything will be okay.”
“Okay. Thank you for all your help.”
I knew I shouldn’t have doubted Stig.
“Don’t worry about it. Do you have anywhere to stay?” Seth asked me. “Clearly you can’t go home to your own place. Not right now anyway. I guess you could stay at Stig’s, but Keith might—”
“—know where that is, if he’s been following me,” I finished for him. “No, you’re right, that won’t work at all. I guess I can check into a motel.”
“We can’t have that. You’re in the Suspicious Activity family,” Seth insisted. “You’re going to stay with me and Jonna until things are sorted out.”
“I couldn’t ask you to do that.”
“You’re not asking. I’m offering. It’s what’s best for everyone.”
“What will Jonna say?”
“Probably something along the lines of ‘I’ll make up the guest room.’”
“Fine, if you insist,” I teased, managing a smile.
“I do.”
“Thanks, really,” I told him sincerely.
I was so glad that Seth was helping me.
I knew I would be safe at his and Jonna’s place.
But now I just had to deal with the fact that I was pregnant.
And with whether or not I should tell Stig right now, on top of everything else we were both having to deal with.
Chapter Thirteen – Stig
I had rushed to the airport as soon as I got a rare call from back home.
But I didn’t forget Holly. There was no way I ever could. Even with everything happening, Holly was never far from my mind, particularly after Stephanie had hinted at me that she might be pregnant.
I doubted it had been confirmed by a doctor, being so early on, and I didn’t even know if Holly had said something or if Stephanie was just guessing, but she was rarely wrong, especially about things like that.
Fantasies of happy families played in the theater of my mind. I would just have to get back to Holly as soon as possible.
The fasten-seatbelt sign on the airplane turned off, leaving all to move about freely. Putting on my headphones, I wiled away the hours, with a playlist of every record that Holly and I had listened to that first night, only in a more travel-friendly CD format.
The whole night, as well as our entire relationship together so far, was coming back to me in vivid color. The more I pondered, the clearer things became. I realized that Holly was the only woman for me— for now and forever.
What had once felt like an infatuation, albeit an extremely potent one, had turned out to be something else— the sort of ethereal connection difficult to explain by science or humanity. Though, some advances were being made. The notion of emotional resonance, that feelings could be both projected and received, was gaining increasing support in lab tests.
Holly and I were kindred spirits, in more ways than mere metaphor.
So why had I left her just now?
That was the question no doubt on her mind.
Petty justification that it was, I didn’t actually leave her. Physically, I did, since Holly was living in the city that I was taking a plane out of. I wasn’t leaving because of her, though, and my heart hurt with each passing moment— hoping she would be okay and knowing I would never stop hating myself for not leaving a note. Even if there hadn’t really been time.
The call had been clear, and I was at the whim of forces greater than myself. And it had kept me on the phone the whole way to the airport. So, I did the next best thing I could think of. I messaged Seth from the gate, hoping my signal was good enough for it to go through, and hoping he would tell Holly and everyone else.