hour?” Elle asks as I climb out of her car.
“An hour.” I shut the door, pulling my large hood over my head.
These days, I can never be too careful. I never know who’s lurking, who’s watching, following.
Dr. Foltz’ office isn’t busy today. Still, time crawls as I wait in the lobby, then as I wait in the cool room that the medical assistant places me in. The thin cloth gown does nothing to help, my arms pulled tight across my chest.
“Hello, Olivia,” Dr. Foltz sings as she enters the room. “Ready to get started on more fertility meds?”
Her positivity is contagious. I smile broadly, my feet tapping with excitement.
“I am,” I answer, straightening my spine.
“Sandra, my assistant, says you’d like to use donor sperm?”
I swallow the nerves that are rising.
“That’s right,” I say with the most confidence I can muster. “Donor J-335. I wrote it on a form…”
She thumbs through my chart. “Ah yes, here it is. Well, let’s get an ultrasound, and then we’ll begin stimulation.” She claps her hands together, smiling. “You ready?”
“So ready,” I respond.
She slips gloves on and preps the ultrasound. I watch the screen eagerly, just as I have so many times in the past, only this time there are no follicles to see yet. One more step, then trigger and egg retrieval.
When she’s all done, she helps me sit up, beaming.
“New year, new adventures,” Dr. Foltz says cheerily.
I chuckle. She has no idea how right she is.
When I leave the office, hood pulled over my head, I take a left out the building and push through the doors of my bank, then deposit thirty thousand dollars.
I tried to return this gift to Elle, but she insisted. She swore that she and Zane didn’t need it. She said I would, and she’s right.
It’s also a framing in progress.
Jared did loan me money … technically, I should have deposited it. Now, I have. It’ll be trackable. Jared will inevitably check to see if I’ve completed my side of the bargain. I’ve paid him back. Soon, he’ll see I’ve paid off my credit card debt, the accounts pending closure.
On paper, I’m a good wife to Camden. I’ve obeyed my “uncle-in-law.”
That’s how it’ll look when the authorities track my private account as well. A payment received after completing the accounting for Jared. Just as he asked. Not a loan. A transaction with strings because he was doing me a favor, giving me a job so I could eliminate the debt bogging me and Camden down. I didn’t know the implications of our arrangement until I found documents that didn’t add up—or rather, did. I couldn’t return the money to Jared when I discovered he was having me cook the books. That would cause Jared to become suspicious—so I kept it, and paid off my credit cards as he expected. That’s what I’ll say when I speak to the police.
Reporting Jared will be too easy. Camden, on the other hand … Elle will take care of that.
As I step back onto the snow-covered sidewalk, I search my phone for Sarah’s contact and listen while it rings.
“Hello?” Sarah answers, having to pick up her own calls while I’m out.
“Hi Sarah,” I say, my words bright. “How are things there?”
I need to be cordial, because I need this job more than ever now, unfortunately.
“When are you coming back?” She’s straight to the point.
My chest tightens.
“I’ll be back tomorrow. Thank you for letting me have this time off.”
“It’s not like I had a choice,” she mumbles. “You had the vacation time.”
I had an excessive amount of PTO accumulated, but I appreciate her approving it.
“I needed to check in with you before the end of the pay cycle. I need to switch to paper checks for now,” I explain. “We’re—I’m—switching banks.”
Camden and I have been using a joint account since we’ve gotten together. It’s only in my name, and now I know why.
“Is that all?” she asks, irritation ringing in her voice.
“No,” I say, sucking in a courageous breath. “We can talk about this tomorrow, but I wanted to give you a warning that I’ll be asking for a raise. It’s long overdue. We both know it. I wanted to give you the time to think about how much you’d like to offer.”
Elle insisted I do it this way. She coached me through it.
The silence on the line sets my nerves ablaze. I second-guess this move and start thinking of a way to retract my request when there’s a deep sigh on the other end.
“Alright,” Sarah says calmly. “See you tomorrow.”
The expanse in my chest is delightful. Hope. For a baby. For a future. For a final con.