Chapter Eleven

~Nicole~

From the moment that James had walked into the door of my work, I had expected some sort of throw down. Some overdramatic yelling match where my worst nightmares came true. After all, everyone else in my life had always put themselves first, so why wouldn’t I expect a perfect stranger to do the same?

But instead I got one of the loveliest dinners I had in a while and possibly the best conversation I had since Vegas.

Was that sad? It felt like it was probably sad. But what could I say? I had a hard time trusting new people and making friends. Yet somehow, this intimidating man with the stony stare put me at ease.

I was almost mournful when it was time to go. The thought of sleeping in my cramped, cold car, buried under a near mountain of blankets wasn’t really all that appealing. At least my stomach was full of quality food and I could rest well knowing that my little bean had a fantastic meal that wasn’t chock full of preservatives.

The walk to the car was much less awkward then when I first got in. It seemed like the ice had broken between us, as usually happened over carbs.

“So, do you have any plans for the weekend?” He asked as I buckled up.

“No, not really,” I answered honestly. “I might go to the library and read.”

“That doesn’t sound like a half-bad time.” He said. “So what address am I putting in?”

I stared at him a moment, all of that awkwardness coming back. For the tiniest of moments, I thought maybe he was just making a weird attempt at a joke. But then I realized that he must have forgotten that I was living in my car at the moment.

“Just right back to my work.”

“Ah, I see. Taking the bu-” He stopped mid-sentence and his eyes went large. “Right. You live in your car. You told me that.” He let out a small string of curses then fell silent for several minutes and I was almost afraid to ask him what was happening, but then he turned to me with such a serious look on his face that I fell silent.

“That’s unacceptable. I’m not going to have the mother of my child sleep in a car while I’m in town. Especially on a Friday night.” His jaw tensed several times as he struggled with his words. “You can come to my hotel, and we’ll hunt for a place this weekend.”

“Um, I don’t know if that’s a good idea.” I didn’t want him to get me wrong, I was incredibly grateful that he had done what he had done for me. I would also be eternally in his debt for his gracious reaction. But I didn’t know if spending the night with the same stranger who got me into this mess was exactly a wise decision.

What if this turned out to be all a front? What if he was going to axe murder me, or have a hitman take me out now that he knew? Unlikely, sure, but I had never known a person not to put themselves first ahead of everybody else, so how could I know if this guy was any different?

But he took my hand, dwarfing it again between his large palms just like he had in Vegas.

“Nicole, I recognize that you are a strong woman, and that you’ve fought very hard just to get here. I recognize that this is your body, and your decision on carrying the child was up to you. But I am putting my foot down.

“As long as I am here, as long as we are working together to divorce, I want you safe. I’ll sleep on the couch if I have to, but you’re not staying in that car for another night.”

I deflated slightly. I hated being told what to do, but at the same time he was right. It couldn’t be good for my little bean for me to be sleeping in a car all the time. And to be honest, I was almost always tired because I never slept very well. It was cold and my back hurt, and I was always on high alert for if someone else tried to break in.

“…alright. But only for the baby.”

“For the baby,” he repeated softly, putting an address into the GPS and pulling away.

“So, are you always this persistent?” I asked, unsure if I wanted to be irritated or thankful. I decided for both. After all, I was technically two people now, so I could have two people’s worth of emotions, right?

But he cracked a smile anyways. I found that I liked that expression on him. It emphasized his strong jaw and gave him a look of mischief that softened his often-harsh expression. I wondered if my little one would have his smile, or mine, or maybe a mix of both of ours.

“Usually. I find that it helps in my line of work.”

“Which is some sort of head hunting business thing.”

“Something like that.”

I shook my head, looking out the window at all of the city lights. While it was certainly no Vegas, the city of St. Louis still had a lot of charm to it. Especially when passing the arch.

One day I wanted to go up into that big metal structure. It seemed so odd to me, and yet so elegant, just an upside-down U of metal stuck in the ground, but people came from far and wide to look at it.

The gateway to the west, they said. Who knew, maybe it would be my gateway to my new life. I was going to be a mom soon, and come hell or high water, I was going to do my damndest to be the best mom I could be.

“What are you thinking about over there?” James asked, sparing his eyes from the road for a second to glance at me.

“Huh?” I responded. Not very eloquent, but I didn’t know if he wanted an honest answer, or more of a generic one.

“You just have a very serious look on your face. I don’t think I’ve seen it on you before.”

“Oh,” I murmured, trying to figure out how I wanted to phrase my thoughts. “Just thinking about the future. And hope.”

“Hope?” He questioned cautiously.

“Yeah. It’s a dangerous thing, you know. But they say that even an ounce of it can get you through anything.”

“Well, I guess we’re both going to need a whole lot of hope to get us through the path we landed on.”

“Yeah,” I said, looking back out the window. “I think you’re right.”