Eden (9 page)

“
Where is
Grant?”

“
In his office. He waited
for half an hour in yours. You’re late.”

“
I came straight from the
airport. Why are you still here?”

Sasha shrugged. “I keep whatever hours
Grant keeps.”

I rolled my eyes and held out my hand.
“Are those for me?”

“
Yes,” she said, handing
them over. “I was about to make copies.”

“
That won’t be necessary.
Thanks for staying, but you should head home.” I took the papers
and made my way to Grant’s office. His shoeless feet, in hideous
tan and green argyle socks, rested on his desk.

“
There she is: Mrs.
Peanut.”

“
Don’t start,” I said,
setting the documents on his desk. “I told you I would be right
over. Why did you send Sasha to make copies of these?”

Grant covered his face with his hands.
“Sasha’s a sweet girl—to me—but she’s an overachiever. I’ve been
making up things for her to do.”

I laughed once. “She wants the
assistant job. That’s why she’s been in your hair.”

“
In my hair, in my office,
in my desk, in my face, in my way. She’s incorrigible. I honestly
don’t have enough for her to do. She refuses to help out in the
other departments and won’t leave until I do.”

“
Grant. She’s an intern.
She shouldn’t refuse to do anything.”

Grant thought about my comment for a
moment and then nodded. “That’s true. You can give her a new
assignment in the morning.”

“
Oh, no. You’re not
pawning this off on me. Sasha is your problem.”

Grant fell back against his chair. “I
don’t want to upset her, and you don’t seem to mind. I thought
you’d be happy to do it.”

“
How has this company
lasted so long with such a weenie in charge?” I said, scanning the
document. “Are these…bullet points?”

“
I had Sasha type it out.
I told her I didn’t want to forget anything.” I made a face, and
Grant shrugged. “I didn’t see her for an hour. She had trouble
perfecting the margins.”

“
Grant, you know this
account inside out. You didn’t need to touch base with me. Just get
the damn agreement signed and send them on their way.” I stood,
irritated he had wasted my time.

“
I plan on it. The trouble
is, this deal has the potential to take Titan in a different
direction than what your father had envisioned.”

“
Jack envisioned making
money. Do the deal.”

Grant’s shoulders fell, and his eyes
lowered to his desk, despondent.

“
Wait a minute…,” I said,
pointing my finger at him. Grant immediately tensed. He was caught.
“You didn’t want to talk about the meeting at all! You wanted me to
take care of Sasha for you!”

Grant reached out to me.
“You don’t understand! She reorganizes my desk
every
morning! She makes lists for
my to-do lists!”

“
You’re not married to the
woman. I can’t believe you pulled me away from my first night back
from my honeymoon for this.”

His eyebrows shot up. “How was it, by
the way? Must have been somewhere tropical. You managed a decent
tan. I never thought you would run off and get married. Jack
wouldn’t have approved.”

“
You can’t elope when
you’ve been engaged as long as we have. It was more last-minute
planning. I’ll call you tomorrow between classes for
updates.”

“
Yes, ma’am,” Grant said,
staring at the information packets on his desk. Sasha had
undoubtedly worked on them throughout the week. They were
color-coded and alphabetized. “She…uh…thought it would personalize
the packets to put their names on them. In calligraphy.”

“
She’s a
calligrapher?”

Grant slumped in his chair. “She
thought we should hire one for the task.”

My face flushed. Grant was now
allowing Sasha to misuse company funds for one of her ridiculous
whims. “I’ll have a talk with Sasha tomorrow. Beth has mentioned
that the filing room needs some attention.”

“
Break it to her
gently.”

I rolled my eyes. “Weenie.”

My office looked exactly as I’d left
it. Beth had de-cluttered a bit during the week, but other than
that, it was untouched. I sat in my father’s chair and let out a
cleansing breath. Taking over the company wasn’t supposed to happen
until after graduation, and I wondered how I would juggle my last
year at Brown with my pregnancy and the pressure of running Titan.
I would be a mother before I’d be a college graduate. Everything
was happening so fast.

A familiar pair of hands gently
touched the bare skin between my shirt and neck. Jared’s thumb
massaged into my tense muscles. My head automatically bowed, and I
sighed. Without a word, he kneeled behind me and let his lips trail
from my shoulder to my neck. I tilted my head, making the passage
easier for him.

“
You never come in here,”
I said, smiling. “I must be really tense.”

His hand made its way down my
shoulder, arm, and then traveled slowly down my side, resting on my
stomach. His fingers pressed into my skin, palming my belly like a
basketball. His firm grip took me off guard, and I felt my eyebrows
move in, curious what he was up to. His lips weren’t as soft as
they usually were; instead they felt dry and scratchy.

“
A little lip balm goes a
long way, love,” I whispered.

“
Is this unpleasant for
you?” A voice rasped.

I looked down. The hand cupping my
stomach had pasty, abnormally long fingers. The nails were filthy,
and came to a point at the ends.

When I turned, a pale face and black
eyes were just inches from my face. The creature grinned, revealing
two rows of unnatural, razor-sharp teeth.

I sat up straight and blinked my eyes.
The office was dark and quiet, except for the sound of my heart
thumping in my ears. My breath was quick and shallow. The
frightening man was no longer behind me, but a dark figure sat in
the green chair on the other side of my desk. I gasped.

Jared reached out. “It’s okay. It’s
okay, it’s just me.”

“
Oh,” I said, touching my
fingertips to my chest.

“
You’re
shaking.”

“
Bad dream. I must have
dozed off.”

“
It’s been a long week,”
Jared said, forcing a small smile. “My dad wasn’t there, was
he?”

“
No,” I said, trying to
calm myself. “No. I don’t know who it was. Someone with too many
teeth.”

Jared nodded once. “I could sense
them.”

“
Or it’s just that I’m
pregnant. I’ve read pregnant women notice an increase in
nightmares.”

Jared frowned. He was always one to
imagine the worst. With good reason, granted, but it would be nice
if he would admit for once that something perfectly normal could be
the culprit. I stood, grabbed my briefcase from the floor, and then
shoved my feet into my shoes. I didn’t remember taking them off. I
must have been exhausted.

“
Claire called,” Jared
said.

“
Is something
wrong?”

“
Ryan’s fine. They were
wondering if we wanted to join them for dinner.”

“
At the
hospital?”

“
They’re
bored.”

I ran my fingers through my hair and
wiped the mascara that had likely smudged under my eyes. “I am
hungry. That’s the best time to eat hospital food,
right?”

“
I thought we could bring
some take-out.”

“
Even better,” I said,
opening the door. “I know just the place.” Jared put his hand on
the knob over mine, and leaned down to kiss my lips. Instantly, I
felt better. His lips were their usual soft and smooth. Not as
warm, though.

I took a deep breath and smiled. No
bullets raining down, no explosions, and no men breaking into the
building with automatic assault rifles. Our first day back would be
without event. I dared to hope that Hell would wait until the baby
came to bother with threats. Their typical pride and overconfidence
would give us a little more time to plan, and to win over some key
allies on the other side.

As we drove through the streets of
Providence, it suddenly seemed like the home I had known in my
childhood. In that moment, it wasn’t harboring threats at every
corner; it didn’t seem dark and sinister. It was the picturesque,
bustling, traffic-heavy town I remembered. Where I was born. Where
my child would be born, and where I’d walked the streets with my
father. Providence was the backdrop of my love story with Jared. It
was still home, and this is where we would make our
stand.

“
You’re curiously relaxed
this evening,” Jared said.

“
I don’t know,” I sighed.
“Everything just feels right.”

“
That’s
encouraging.”

We picked up dinner and then made our
way to the hospital. When the elevator doors opened, Jared grabbed
my hand and led me to Ryan’s room. The door was open, but it was
quiet inside.

Claire sat next to the head of Ryan’s
bed. Her head was resting on her fist, and she was smiling at him.
Ryan’s fingers mindlessly twisted a section of blanket next to
Claire’s arm. They seemed to be engaged in a sweet conversation
about nothing in particular. I remembered when I was in that chair,
giggling at Ryan’s nonsensical humor, and I was glad to see the
light back in his eyes.

The IVs and telemetry leads were no
longer streaming from different parts of his body. He seemed so
relaxed with Claire next to him. I reached out for Jared’s hand.
His knuckles brushed against mine as our fingers interlaced, and I
looked up at him. He was smiling at his baby sister, pleased to see
her finally content.

Ryan’s eyes wandered to the doorway
where we stood. Claire slowly turned our direction and offered a
small smile.

“
Knock, knock,” Jared
said, holding up the bags of take-out. “Cheeseburgers. Nina said
it’s your favorite.”

Ryan’s smile turned into a cheesy
grin, and he threw his head back. “Oh, thank God! I thought I would
starve to death.”

“
Oh,” Ryan said, chewing
an oversized wad of cheeseburger. “Red Stripe has the best burgers.
Seriously. You shouldn’t do this to me in the hospital. I might
think I’ve died and gone to heaven.”

Claire rolled her eyes. “Could you be
a little more dramatic about a cheeseburger?”

Ryan stopped chewing, and wiped the
bit of ketchup off the corner of his mouth with his wrist. “You
don’t have to be jealous of a burger, honey.”

“
Oh, brother,” Claire
said. She pointed at Ryan. “Do you see what I have to deal with?
Will one of you call OSHA?”

“
I don’t know,” Jared
said. “You looked fairly pleased when we walked in.”

Ryan took another bite and then
smiled. “She acts tough every time someone visits. She doesn’t fool
me, though.”

“
Who else has visited?” I
asked.

“
Mom. Kim. Beth. Chad.
Josh…yeah. That’s about it. No, wait….”

“
How did that go? With
your mom?” I asked.

Claire frowned, and Ryan winked at
her. “It went fine. She’s developed a theory. Since the last time I
was in a hospital you showed up, and now Claire’s here, Mom thinks
I’m getting myself hurt over girls.”

“
Aren’t you?” Jared said
with a wry smile.

“
Shut it, Jared,” Claire
warned.

I handed Ryan his cup of soda. “You
know, this is becoming a habit.”

His whiskers were far
beyond a five o’clock shadow, and his hair had grown downright
shaggy.
He looked so much older than the
last time I’d seen him in that hospital, and nothing like the
Marine in the photos he'd sent with his letters.
“Tell me about it. I thought I said two
hospitalizations ago that it was your turn?”

“
I took a
turn.”

“
Yeah, so you almost bled
out, big deal. I’m three to your one.”

“
Well, I’m pregnant, so
I’m due for a hospitalization this year,” I said, processing the
words as I spoke them.

Ryan laughed. “Wait…what?” he said,
his face morphing from amusement to concern.

I looked to Claire. “You didn’t tell
him?”

She shrugged, her platinum, angled
tresses bouncing when she did so. “It’s your business to tell. Way
to dump it on him, stupid.”

I frowned. Ryan mirrored my
expression. “Congratulations,” he said. He glanced to Jared, sent
him a lightning-fast dirty look, and then returned his focus to me.
He pushed up in bed, sitting taller.

“
Say it,” Jared
said.

Claire watched the exchange, clearly
unhappy. I wasn’t sure if she was just sensing Ryan’s change in
mood, or if it was her own reaction to the sudden, unpleasant turn
in conversation.

“
It’s not my place to say
anything,” Ryan said.

“
You have my permission,”
Jared said. After his last word, he gestured for Ryan to
continue.