02
When I opened my eyes again, I was looking at a hospital ceiling.
A nurse came over.
"You're awake? What were you doing coming in alone with a fever like that? Whoever dropped you off is already gone."
"Who brought me in?"
A name rose up in my mind.
"A woman. Kind of heavyset. Said she found you on the side of the road."
Not him.
"You just gave out from exhaustion. You'll be fine once you've rested. The doctor took a look. Your fever's from a clogged milk duct. Letting the baby nurse would help, but you really should get it checked."
She handed me an exam slip.
I made myself look at the number at the bottom.
Thirteen hundred forty-two and change.
A fortune.
Afraid of what the room charges might come to, I sat in a chair in the lobby once I could stand, with no idea where to go.
Maybe I should just do what Bruce said and tough it out.
A familiar figure came into view.
Bruce.
He clearly hadn't expected to see me here. His body gave a visible jolt before he walked over.
"Why didn't you tell me you were coming to the hospital? Your hair's soaked."
I'd told him a dozen times before I left. He'd been busy chatting with Amber and hadn't heard a word.
He frowned, as if he were worried about me.
"You'll catch a cold from the rain, and that costs money."
"There isn't much left of this month's pay, and I'm planning to send the dog to that pet school. Don't make more trouble."
The dog was Amber's.
His concern about my getting rained on was that if I caught a cold, I'd eat into the dog's tuition.
He borrowed a towel from the nurse and dried my hair, gentle about it.
I let out a cold laugh. "Have you forgotten how you got your job?"
His hand stilled. He looked at me seriously, then laughed softly.
"You still think you're the CFO who got me hired?"
"What you are now is the family maid, at best."
He gave my nose a light pinch, his voice going soft, like he was coaxing a child.
"I had something going on right then, and you just had to go out anyway. I was scared to death."
"You didn't pick up either. I called several times."
I glanced at my phone. There were three missed calls.
"Is the fever down?"
He stepped closer and reached out to touch my forehead.
"Still a little warm," he said, frowning.
"What did the doctor say? Is it serious? Did they prescribe anything?"
While he asked all that, his eyes flicked to something behind me.
The door to the ultrasound room was still shut.
"They did."
I held out the bill for him to see.
He glanced at it, one eyebrow rising. "Thirteen hundred?"
He folded the slip and handed it back to me.
"Trudy, thirteen hundred would wipe out the dog's whole tuition. He's food-aggressive. If he bit Amber, that would be serious. Can't you just tough it out?"
His face was all tied up as he said it, and he didn't look like he was joking.
"A clogged duct... I'll treat it for you at home... can we skip this? Please?"
I looked down at the state of myself.
"Go pay the bill for me." My voice was flat. "Or we get divorced."
He looked at me for two seconds. "You're threatening me with divorce again?"
The last time I'd used divorce to threaten him
was one month into my pregnancy, when he stayed out all night and I cried into my pillow until morning.
Later I found out Amber's dog had gone missing, and he'd spent the whole night helping her look for it.
"This isn't a threat this time. It's notice."
He stared at me for a moment, as if working out whether I meant it.
Then he opened his phone and tapped a few times.
Something like hope stirred in me. I thought, he still can't bring himself to divorce me after all.
My phone chimed with a message.
A transfer of twenty dollars.
"IOU for this time, I'll owe you the payment. Remember to add it back for me later."
I stared at that mocking twenty dollars. So sleeping with him had a set price after all.
I was worth less than one percent of a streetwalker.
At least the doctor had said it wasn't anything major.
Most of what the bill listed was tests and things to ease the pain.
Letting the baby nurse more would clear it up on its own. It was just the mother who'd suffer.
I crushed the bill into a ball.
No exam.
I couldn't stop myself from asking him:
"You said you'd come find me once you were done. So why did Amber pick up when I called you just now?"
He paused, his eyes drifting upward.
"Amber had just asked me to go walk the dog with her. She probably saw the call and answered it."
I watched him lie. "You take showers while you walk the dog?"
Bruce scratched his head and said nothing.
I got up to leave, and he hurried after me.
"You're not getting it treated?"
"No."
"See, I told you it didn't need treatment. You wouldn't believe me."
He looked proud of himself and patted my head.
"So sensible. Once the dog's food aggression is fixed, I'll tell Amber it was all thanks to you."
A wave of nausea went through me.
"Come on, it's not safe to take a car this late. I'll drive you home."
I turned and looked at him, confused.
"Drive me home? You're not coming back?"
He paused.
"I've still got some business to deal with. After I drop you off I have to go handle it."
Before we left he glanced at the ultrasound room again.
I caught it and asked him, "Is there something over there?"
He shook his head and didn't answer.
