“Yeah. I don’t have any enemies, so…” she trails off and takes a sip of her martini. I watch her and think about how close she came to being hurt.
She has no idea how big of an enemy she actually has. Orhad. Hopefully.
"So they don't have any leads? There must have been cameras in the area."
"Nothing," she says. "The person covered their license plate, and honestly, the police didn't seem that eager to solve it. My insurance company has been more helpful than they have."
Cool. I'm done listening.
My phone buzzes.
Tori
Raya’s in labor! At hospital now. Northside
“Fuck!”
I hand Veronica my drink and race out of the conference room. I don’t even stop to get my bag, I sprint straight to my car.
I can’t do this shit again.
If something happened, I just…I don’t even wanna think about it.
Once I get on the road, I call Tori.
“Hey, Ace.”
“What happened?”
“She’s okay. She was in class and she started having bad contractions.”
“She’s not due for another few weeks.”
“The doctor says it’s not that early. The baby’s heartbeat is fine, Raya’s at four centimeters.”
“Okay, I’m on my way. Tell her I’m on my way.”
The phone shuffles, then I hear Tori’s muffled voice.
“Okay, she said take your time. She doesn’t want you dying on the way here.”
I’m sure we both roll our eyes at the same time at that, but hearing that makes me feel better instantly. She’s my same old Raya, not in too much pain to say some shit like that.
After Tori gives me the room number, I hang up and make it to the hospital in record time. I snatch my parking ticket out of the machine and race through the parking garage.
Upstairs in the maternity ward, my mother’s already there. I hug her and Tori, then I enter the room to see my wife.
She’s in the bed, hair pulled up in a messy bun, her face plain and composed. She looks beautiful. I swallow the lump in my throat and say, “Ray Ray.”
When she sees me, she smiles. It catches me off guard, because it’s the same way she smiles when I walk in the door after work. Like it’s any other day in the world, when, to me, it’s the most important day of my fucking life.
But I can’t make her feel that. So I just hug her, kiss her, and ask her what she needs.
“I’m good,” she says. “They won’t let me eat.”
“Yeah, that’s normal.”
“They said I can get the drugs when I hit five centimeters, so that’s what I’m waiting on.”
