Livie had given him a stern look and said, “Only answer the questions. You are a professional today, Zoltán, and other people, other than Fia, can speak Hungarian.”
Point made.
But she shooed him away and took me to the side. She hadn’t told me much about her pregnancy, but I was genuinely concerned she had to be carrying twins with how her stomachhad popped in the last month.
“Are you okay?” she whispered, looking me over for anything to prove her doubts.
I knew immediately what she was referring to.
I’d asked our team co-ordinator to book me a room in the hotel instead of staying at their Airbnb. Zolt had shrugged, saying if he had his way, I’d be spending minimal time anywhere other than his trailer.
We’d practically been living in each other’s pockets. After Dad’s birthday party, I’d managed my time carefully. Luca and Everly always slept in. Mum would normally go for a coffee with her friends after getting my brothers to school, and Dad was the earliest riser. So I woke at the crack of dawn and watched the morning news with him, eating French toast and chatting about our days.
Before going to see Zolt.
“Yeah, I’m all good, just really nervous,” I said, wringing my hands. “I just thought it was about time I got out of your hair. I want to start making my own friends here and… sometimes the Airbnbs mean I don’t get to socialise much with people my own age.”
If I said that to Everly, she would probably be offended. She wanted to be forever young.
Livie knew that wasn’t the case.
“Of course,” she said with a smile. “When I started here, I must have gone out every other weekend. It would be nice for you to spend some time with some of the grid girls. But if you ever want to stay with us, Fia, you’re never in our hair.”
“Thank you.”
That same awkwardness that I wouldn’t have dreamed of a few months agocame back.
And she became all business. “How are you feeling about today? Prepared? You and Derek went through Zolt’s answers, didn’t you?”
His publicist had helped make Zolt toe the line with the questions he answered.
I nodded. “Still feel really nervous though. I’ve had so many nervous wees.”
She laughed and guided me back into the conference room. Thankfully, it was still empty. Our steps echoed on the wood floor. “Here,” she said and gestured to my seat before plopping a water bottle next to the sign of my name. “We have fifteen minutes until people start arriving. Give yourself the time to decompress.”
I thanked her again and started to sip on the water. I wouldn’t have ever had to do this in the hospital, but this wasn’t exactly a rarity in StormSprint. This was my job.
Sometimes live on TV.
My stomach knotted tighter.
It wasn’t that big a deal. I knew the report — and Zolt — better than anyone. I was the best person for letting the world know what he wanted to get across. I wanted the world to know what he’d fought through to be where he was, what he had to cope with every day. He pretended his headaches didn’t exist. He smiled and nodded despite the tightness in his body, the invading bolts in his collar and spine. The scars that mapped his skin.
Although I’d rather keep them to myself, tracing them with gentle fingertips, dragging soft kisses at their seams.
Think of the devil, and he shall appear.
Zolt walked in with a bright, beaming smile, as if the sole purpose of this conference wasn’t to expose his trauma. “Hello, beautiful.”
“Hey,” I said and tried to smile back, but I felt it falter at the edges, wobbling until I had to bite down on my bottom lip.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, sitting in his seat next to mine and stroking my shoulder through my white shirt.
I shook my head. If I told him how scared I was, he might think I’d falter. And this was important.
What he thought of me was important.
“Baby,” he said, and my heart stopped.
