A spike of awareness races up my spine, so I turn my back to him and fight to get my breathing under control.
This can’t be a coincidence. That’s the man I spoke to. He made me feel uneasy and now it’s happening again.
Cole must know that I’m here.
I reach for my whistle hanging around my neck and blow on it. “Kids, it’s time to go inside.”
“What? Why?” Johnny yells from the top of the slide.
“Because…”
Stacey can sense the panic in my voice, so she interjects, “We’re gonna watch a movie and eat popcorn!”
The screams of excitement are extreme, but her bribe does the trick. Little legs race to the buildings where the classrooms are, but Stacey stays behind with me, wrapping her arm around my shoulder while the other teacher lets the kids back inside. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah, I think so.” Placing my hand over my stomach, I say, “I—I just got really nauseous.”
“Did you eat something different than normal?”
“Uh, yeah actually. Maybe it just didn’t agree with me?”
Stacey nods. “I get it. Happens to me all the time. I have a delicate stomach too. Why don’t you go to the bathroom, take your time, and I’ll keep all of the kids in my room. I have some antacids if you need them.”
“I have something, but thank you. I appreciate it.”
“Of course.” She enters the building right before I do, glancing over my shoulder once more to see if the man is still standing outside of the fence.
But he’s nowhere to be seen.
Did I imagine it?
No, Vienna. Sadie came up to you and told you about him. If a child saw him, he was there.
Just relax. There’s nothing to stress about.
Cole is going to know where you’re at sooner than later, and he’s not the type to make a scene. It would ruin his precious reputation.
A United States senator can’t have anything make him look unfit in the eyes of the public—including a wife who wants to leave him.
And yet that’s the thing that I’m the most afraid of.
I might have left but I’m definitely not free. Not yet anyway.
But now I want that more than anything.
I just hope the price isn’t too high to pay.
***
“This isn’t working for me anymore, Cole.” I’m proud of how strong I sound right now, even though I know his temper is simmering beneath the surface and one more word could make him begin to unravel.
He lifts his scotch to his lips. “Not the first time I’ve heard that one,” he mutters.
“Well, this time I’m serious.”
The asshole laughs at me. “You? Serious?” Standing from his chair, he crosses the room and gets within an inch of my face. “You think you won’t change your mind tomorrow and then everything will be fine again until the next time you try to tell me what a shitty husband I’ve been?” He shakes his head. “How about owning the fact that you’re a shitty wife who can’t get pregnant with my child?”
Theonly thing I want to tell him right now is how grateful I am that I’m not having his baby, but I know that’s the last thing I should say. And honestly? The fear of not being able to get pregnant at all haunts me every day. If I can’t have children, I don’t know how I’m going to handle that.
