Linn shut the break room door and pulled a chair to the corner, where the phone sat on a table. She wasn’t sure she could do this. But what choice did she have? Her shift was over, it was dark out, and she had no place to stay tonight. She looked at her bare finger. She’d already sold the sapphire ring Keith had given her. Good riddance. But she hadn’t gotten much for it, and that money was long gone.
She eyed the phone again and wondered if she had it in her to make the call. Natalie had been the kindest, most compassionate woman Linn had ever met. She’d wondered a dozen times why Keith had left a woman like that for her. He must’ve been crazy. But Linn had totally blown it with Natalie. She could surely never forgive Linn for what she’d done.
It had been almost two weeks. Maybe Natalie had calmed down some. Like a lot, if she had any chance at all. She picked up the extension and dialed before she could change her mind. She pictured Natalie’s face the last time she’d seen her. She’d hardly seen the woman upset, much less seething with rage. And Linn deserved her anger, didn’t she? She didn’t deserve Natalie’s forgiveness. Her eyes began to burn again.
“Hello?”
It was Natalie, and her voice sounded calm and cool. She couldn’t do it. She didn’t have the gall. She hung up the phone, her heart skittering in her chest.
The break room door burst open, and her friend Kayley entered. “Still here?”
Linn shrugged. Like she had any place to go.
Kayley took off her apron and stuffed it in her locker. “Can’t find a place to stay? Did you try your dad again?”
“Not yet.” Her friends from high school had left for college the previous week, and she had no family other than her dad. She was out of luck.
“Kayley, can I maybe just come over one last time? I’ll work something else out tomorrow—” She stopped when she saw her friend shaking her head slowly.
“Sorry, Linn, but Mom’s on days now, so she’s home at night. And she ’bout had a fit when she found out you stayed last week. I’m practically grounded till I graduate.”
Linn nodded. “Sorry you got grounded.” What was she going to do? She glanced at her watch and saw it was almost ten o’clock. What would happen to her if she slept outside somewhere? It was warm enough, but was it safe? She felt the baby move and put a hand on her belly.
Kayley gave her a sympathetic hug and slipped out the door. What would she do now? The only other option was to call her dad. He would ask her if she’d had an abortion. She was beginning to think that was her only option. What was she thinking trying to have a baby when she didn’t even have a place to sack out at night? Her baby had no loving parents, no future. It would have been great if things had worked out with Natalie, but she didn’t have the luxury of thinking that way now. She didn’t even know what the laws were. It might be too late to have an abortion here. But Kayley had told her of someplace in Kansas that did late-term abortions. She cringed at the thought and shook the thought away.
She picked up the phone before she could change her mind and punched in the numbers. The phone rang and rang, and she feared he wasn’t even home. She looked at her watch. He should be home from work by now unless he’d stopped at Sidewinders for a few beers. She hadn’t talked to him in the three weeks since he’d kicked her out. Maybe he had softened a little.
“Hello?” Her dad sounded out of breath.
“Dad?” The silence was deafening and awkward. She searched for something to say. “How’ve you been?”
She could picture him rubbing the black whiskers on his chin. “Linn. What are you calling for?”
She heard laughter in the background, a woman’s laughter.
“Daddy, I … I need a place to stay, just for a little while.” She closed her eyes, twisting the old-fashioned corkscrew cord around her index finger.
“Did you take care of that issue we talked about?”
Her eyes came open as her stomach bottomed out. “I don’t know what I’m going to do yet. I need some time to think about it.” It broke her heart to even consider it, but—
“You know what my offer was. I haven’t changed my mind.” The woman in the background squealed, then laughed as if he’d pinched her or done something equally revolting.
“Please, Daddy. I promise I won’t be there long. I just need a place to sleep. I won’t be in the way.”
“Now’s not a good time. You’ll work something out.”
She heard another cackle. Her heart raced and her eyes tingled the way they did when she was about to cry. “All right,” she said before he could hang up. “All right, I’ll get the—I’ll have it done. I’ll call tomorrow and make the appointment.”
“No, you have it done first. Then you can come home.” Click.
“Dad?” Nothing. She sighed and dropped the phone back in the cradle. She remembered all the pictures she’d seen of fetuses. She knew what hers looked like now.
Don’t think about that. The choice is out of your hands now. You’re not a bad person, just a kid with no other options.
She buried her face in her hands. Why had she gotten herself into this mess? She was so stupid! She’d had it made with a college scholarship. Now she was pregnant, homeless, and had no way of paying for medical care. There was no future for her or her baby.
It doesn’t have to be that way. If you just have the procedure, everything will be the way it was before.
She sniffed and wiped her cheeks. Tonight, she didn’t know what she’d do. But tomorrow she would call the Women’s Health Clinic. It wasn’t like she had a choice, right? Her eyes burned. Her feet hurt, her back ached, and she just wanted to go to sleep for a long time.
“Who was it?” Kyle asked Natalie as she hung up the phone. He didn’t like the fear he saw on her face.
“I don’t know. They hung up.”
Upstairs he could hear the boys bouncing on the beds and giggling hysterically. “Has that been happening a lot?”
She shook her head as she placed the phone back in its cradle. “That’s the first time.”
“I don’t like this. Not after what they did to the center.” When he’d found out about the center the day before, he’d called Natalie. He’d felt so many things. Worry for her safety, a desire to protect of her, and hurt that she hadn’t called him right away. Her invitation to dinner tonight had helped.
He walked over and picked up the phone, then punched *69. A mechanical voice repeated the number, but when he punched it in, a busy signal beeped out through the lines. “It’s busy. Probably a wrong number, and they hung up and dialed the right one. But if it happens again, dial star sixty-nine and call back and see if they answer. Maybe you should get caller ID so you can screen your calls.”
“If it keeps up, I will.” She folded her arms and looked into his eyes. “What if they know where I live?”
The tremor in her voice beckoned him. “Come here.”
She walked toward him, and he pulled her into his arms. Ah, sweet heaven. Did she know how good he felt when he held her? The way she burrowed into his chest sent warm shivers through him. The night he’d held her until she’d fallen asleep was a memory that had replayed itself in his mind a dozen times. Just thinking about the comfort and trust required to make herself so vulnerable nearly crushed him. He’d wanted to hold her all night, but that was hardly appropriate. He’d only let go of her when his back ached unbearably from sitting still so long.
Natalie squirmed in his arms, pulling him from the memory, then she stepped away. She didn’t look him in the face but walked to the sofa as if to put some distance between them. Was he rushing things? Did he even want this to go further than friendship?
Who was he kidding? He’d never enjoyed holding anyone so much. Maybe distance was what he needed. Not wanted, mind you.
He took a seat across from her on the chair and turned his mind back to their problem. Their problem. Funny how he’d begun including himself in her world.
“I don’t like this,” he said. “If they’re calling you at home, I have to wonder about your safety here.”
“They vandalized the center, so I don’t think it’s personal. It’s probably some angry boyfriend of a client.”
“How can you say it’s not personal? You were attacked in your car a few months ago.” He watched her swallow and look at her hands on her lap. “I’m not trying to scare you, but I want you to be careful.”
Her lips tipped up as she met his gaze. “I appreciate that.”
He wasn’t spouting platitudes. He was genuinely worried for her. “I don’t want your appreciation,” he said gently. “I want you to promise to be careful.”
She cocked her head, and he wondered if he’d overstepped his boundaries. He had no rights to her. All they’d shared was some conversation and a couple embraces, but darn it, he was worried about her.
“I’ll be careful,” she whispered.
Their eyes met and clung. She looked like a woman who liked what she saw. He wished she wasn’t across the room with a coffee table between them. Was he reading too much into the look?
She looked away. “I should get the boys bathed and in bed.” She stood.
He stood with her. Well. Not exactly a little hint. “I should be going, then.” He hoped he’d misread her. He hoped she’d tell him not to move, that she’d be back down shortly, and they could pick up right where they’d left off. She didn’t.
“Thanks for coming over,” she said.
She walked him to the door, and he pulled it open and turned. “Thanks for having me. Dinner was great. I don’t get homemade meals very often.”
She laughed, and he thought he could drown in the sound. “I don’t know if I’d call spaghetti with Prego homemade.”
“If you were a bachelor you would.”
“You make a good point.”
He wanted to kiss her. Or hug her, at least. But she crossed her arms over her chest, and he could feel her pulling away.
“Well. Good night,” he said.
“’Night.”
He walked out the door but turned before she could shut it. “Be careful.”
“I will.”