The Promise (The 'Burg #5)(109)

“Yeah. I didn’t know him, but still, it’s terrible,” she said, her eyes drifting across the office floor. They came back to me and she went on, “Anyway. The Tenrix stuff is on your desk. Chelsea brought the files around while you were working out.”

Something about this coincidence sent a chill sliding up my spine, but I nodded, murmured, “Thanks,” gave her a smile, and went to my office.

I had a million things to do, but after I dumped my workout bag, I reached right for the file on Tenrix. A lot of it I didn’t get because it was about chemistry and biology and we’d been told we’d have someone (though, not Dr. Gartner, obviously) explain it to us in detail.

What I focused on were the mock-ups of the glossy brochures and pamphlets that had Proof stamped on them in big red letters. I read them and, in doing so, read what Tenrix promised to do.

And from knowing Randy Bierman promised the same in the team meeting, weirdly, I didn’t believe a word.

My phone ringing took me out of the Tenrix file.

I stayed out of it, doing half a million of those million things I had to do, when close to five, my phone beeped.

I looked at it, picked it up, and smiled.

It was a text from Benny that said, Thinking about you, baby. Call me when you get home from work. I’ll take a break.

It had been just over a month since the scene with Dad.

Unfortunately, that month included a lot of me traveling.

Fortunately, one of my trips was to Chicago, a territory rich in prospects and a trip whose primary purpose was to bring my rep to heel. He might have had more pharmaceutical experience than me, but he was my only rep not only not exceeding his numbers, but not making them.

I’d extended that trip, working from Benny’s for three days and then having the weekend with him.

I liked this. I liked being at Benny’s and playing house, falling into a pattern that included him having nights off to be with me and him also working. I didn’t mind him working. I went to the pizzeria with friends and saw him, or I stayed at his house and vegged.

But it was more.

What we had was not normal. Any relationship was work, but being separated, that work was harder. I never liked leaving him or him leaving me, but each time it was getting harder.

When I was working at Benny’s, it felt normal. His house felt like home. Our schedule felt natural. Like the life and times of any average couple. I liked that. I wanted that.

The same could not be said for when Ben came to see me.

When Benny came to see me, it was definitely a visit. Not him coming home. Not natural. Not normal. Not anything but good to be with Benny.

I loved being with Benny any way I could be.

Still, I wanted more.

In order not to take advantage and make Manny or Vinnie work the kitchens on their busiest nights of the week, namely weekends, in the last month, Ben had attempted a two-day visit during the week.

This did not go great. Mostly because he showed in the morning when I was at work and all I could think about was coming home to him. While I worked, he putzed the days away at my place and hung with Cal, who was living in a house with his woman this close to having his baby, plus three females who were planning a wedding.

Ben was a reprieve for Cal.

For me, Ben was in Brownsburg and I was at work and I didn’t like that, the limited time we had, the fact that it felt like he barely got there and then he had to leave.

In other words, this wasn’t working for me.

The problem with that was, I didn’t need a résumé that said I jumped jobs every year. Possible employers needed to get the hint that they weren’t going to dump the money and time into a hiring and training process for someone who didn’t have staying power. So I felt I had at least another sixteen months with Wyler.

The other problem with that was, although Ben seemed just as disappointed to watch me leave or leave me, he hadn’t mentioned our future and what it might bring, or the fact we might need to plan to bring it to normalcy. That including being together more than a few days a month and then such impossible dreams as wedding, kids, and family.

I wasn’t exactly getting younger. In fact, my birthday was a few weeks away.

Ben wasn’t either.

I didn’t know how to bring it up. If Ben was good with what we had, after nearly f**king us up in the beginning, I wasn’t big on rocking that boat.

But this didn’t mean the fact that Ben hadn’t even mentioned it wasn’t beginning to worry me.

I did not include this in the text I sent back, which only read, Okay, honey, I’ll be leaving in a few.

I focused on getting as much of the last half a million things I needed to do done so I could get home and call my man, have a brief conversation with him that would leave me wanting more, and then eat alone, hang at my house alone, and go to bed.

Alone.

I was closing in on feeling I’d done what I needed to do when my phone rang and I saw the time on my computer said that it was after six. In other words, I’d lost track so it wasn’t the “few” I’d told Benny it would be.

He was probably worried and this was my thought when my eyes went to my cell.

My brows drew together when I saw the screen said, Keira Calling.

I grabbed the phone, took the call, and put it to my ear.

“Hey, honey.”

“Mom’s havin’ the baby!”