Page 66 of Plan Interrupted
“Love you, too, Daddy. Can Elizabeth come and tuck me in, too?”
“Sure, sweetie. I’ll send her in.”
Joe’s footsteps grew louder as he walked down the hall toward her, and when he entered the kitchen, she couldn’t help but smile. She was sure the contented look on his face matched that of hers.
“I’ll be right back,” she said as she headed down the hallway.
She kneeled down alongside the little girl’s bed and kissed her on the cheek. “Goodnight, Molly. Sweet dreams.”
“I love you, Elizabeth,” Molly chimed.
“I love you, too,” Elizabeth replied as she stood and stared down at the sweet young girl for a moment.
As she shut the door and padded back down the hall, all she could think about was how wonderful it made her feel every time Molly told her she loved her. She never in a million years would have believed how completely satisfying those words from a child could be.
Joe was sitting on the couch watching TV by the time she returned to him. She took a seat next to him, tucking her cold feet under her to warm them up. She proceeded to tell him about her day, about her conversations with Mr. James and Patrick. As in the past, she found it fairly easy to talk to him, telling him every detail she could remember, and how she felt about the whole thing. He simply sat and listened as his warm, comforting hand held hers.
“You know what really bothers me the most? It’s that I can’t figure out what Mr. James thinks happened. I mean, he obviously thinks I’m pregnant, but how exactly does he think that happened? What has Patrick told him?”
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Elizabeth looked inquisitively at him as if waiting for some sort of response. It took him a minute to remember what his brother had told him about his conversation with the receptionist. Suddenly realizing that Elizabeth probably didn’t have a clue about the rumor that was circulating, he thought he better enlighten her.
“Sweetheart, right before you guys left the office today, Nick struck up a conversation with Darcy about you. She told him that she stumbled upon you and Holly in the bathroom one day, and she found the two positive pregnancy tests.” He paused, trying to choose his words carefully. “I believe she assumed that one of those tests was yours.”
There, he did it, he said it out loud. Was one, if not both, of those tests hers? His breath hitched.
“Oh my God! Holly’s tests. I forgot about those. So, Darcy’s the one. She jumped to conclusions and fed it to the New York office somehow, hence, the reaction from Mr. James. But that still doesn’t explain why Mr. James dragged Patrick here with him. He’d have to know that his nephew is the last person I’d want to see right now. Unless he thinks that...oh my God, he thinks Patrick and I have a real relationship. Today, he made reference to our relationship and I didn’t really know what he meant, but I bet he thinks I consented.”
She cupped her hands over her mouth and sat quietly for a moment.
Joe could hear the wheels grinding in her head.
Elizabeth removed her hands from over her mouth. “Oh my God. Everyone must think I’m trying to sleep my way to the top.”
Surprising to him, she was shedding no tears at this point in time. Maybe she was too pissed. He was pretty sure he could actually see the smoke billowing out of her ears.
He reached over and took her hand in his as he worked to muster up the softest voice he could find in an effort to calm her down. “I’m sure they don’t think that. Everyone knows how these office rumors can get out of hand. It will all work itself out.”
“Easy for you to say. It’s not happening to you. You don’t have a clue! All my years of hard work washed away. I’ll be known as the woman who slept her way to the top,” she spouted as she jerked her hand from his.
Joe felt as though he’d just been punched in the stomach. Hollowness filled his heart. He wondered how she could say such a thing to him. Her words replayed in his head. “It’s not happening to you, you don’t have a clue.” How could she not know that this was happening to him through her, and it was so painful he could hardly stand it.
He rose from the couch and glanced down at her. “You’re right. I don’t have a clue. It’s not happening to me. I apologize for being so insensitive.”
Desperately needing to be out of her sight, he spun and walked toward the kitchen as tears burned in his eyes. He felt so weak and helpless, and hoped she didn’t realize exactly how weak he really was.
He stared through his blurry vision into the refrigerator for a moment before he used the sleeve from his flannel shirt to dry his cheeks. After grabbing a beer and closing the refrigerator door, he gazed at the hand drawn pictures Max and Molly had attached to the door. His most recent favorite was one they worked on together, showing a man and a woman, and a boy and girl standing in the snow next to a snowman.
While staring at the picture, the warmth of Elizabeth’s body glided toward him as she slid her arms underneath the open flannel shirt he wore over his T-shirt. She pulled herself tightly to him, pressing the entire front of her body against his backside.
He set his beer down and covered her hands with his, and just stood there without saying a word, taking in the comfort of her hold, savoring the moment. It crossed his mind to spin around in her arms and take her mouth with his, and whisk her off to bed. Desire penetrated deep inside him. His jeans tightened as his arousal grew.
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Elizabeth ached with desire to be taken by Joe as she stood behind him with the length of her body pressed firmly to him. His muscles were appealingly hard. She longed to slide her hands under his T-shirt and touch his bare skin with her fingertips. She wanted him to want her, to take her now.
“I’m sorry, Joe. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I know this affects you, too, and I’m just really struggling with how to handle this whole thing,” she said as she slid her hands out from under his.