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She turned then and walked out of the room, out of the house, and began walking down the road. She stopped partway and sat on bench in a park not far from Scott’s home. She wondered how she let herself be so gullible as to be pulled in by him again, just as she had so many other times. She had felt the change in him. She had seen his excitement about the baby.
She had been at the doctor’s office with him, and in public, at least partly, and both in the same day. It had been huge. It had been one of the biggest changes that had ever happened between them. She had believed it, until he had started up with his talk about work again, and then she knew. She and their baby were never going to be more important to him than his precious career.
She called a cab and had it take her to her office where her car was. She didn’t go inside. She got into her car and drove to the beach where she liked to go. She sat in the sand as she had before, but there were no tears. There was only a stony silence as she sat there and watched the waves rolling in, one after another, in rhythmic consistency. Always the same, and always different.
There would have to be a decision made. There would have to be a cutoff, she decided. There had to a point when she didn’t bow to his requests any longer; when she didn’t let her love and passion for him overtake her and leave her in such a despondent position; a pathetic position, wondering if she would ever really matter to him, or if she was just there to play the mouse to his cat game, while he toyed with her and teased her.
As Naomi thought about all the times it had happened, she finally made up her mind. She was done with him. He could be a father to their baby if he wanted to be, but he wasn’t going to be a partner of hers at all; not ever. She told herself that if he let their child down the same way that he let her down, then he wouldn’t be part of their child’s life, either. That would be easy enough to change. They weren’t a priority for him, and she doubted that they ever would be.
The knowledge of it broke her heart right in two. Determined to make things work for herself, her business, and her baby, Naomi told herself that she really was done with Scott. She had far too much on the line to let him tear it down, or tear her down. She was going to have to tell him that they really were through.
She left the beach feeling somber but better, because she knew that there was nothing more ahead of her with him. No more uncertainty. It was done. She drove herself home and slept that night more soundly than she had in a long while. It was a restful peace, and when she woke up the next day, she felt like was ready to take on whatever might come her way. She felt prepared to be a single mother, and she knew that no matter what happened, she would be all right.
As she drove to work, she noticed a tan colored car that seemed to be behind her a few cars back, and it had been near her home and had seemingly followed her at every turn, always winding up a few cars behind her where it had been. At first she thought that it was a coincidence, but then she had gotten far enough from her home that she realized that it could not possibly be a coincidence.
In a maneuver to see if he was really following her, she changed direction at the last minute and instead of heading in to the office, she began to drive toward Jennifer Jones’ house. The tan car followed her.
Naomi called the police and told them where she was and what was happening, and they sent a squad car to follow the tan car behind her. She was relieved when fifteen minutes later, and almost at Jennifer’s house, the tan car was pulled over. She pulled over as well, and another officer came to sit with her while the first officer questioned the driver, just down the hill from her.
After a moderate discussion, the officer with her checked in on his radio, and came back to her.
“Ma’am, the man driving the car behind you is a reporter for the Times,” the officer told her.
She was livid. “So that’s how he’s been getting all of those stories on me! Officer, he’s been following me for days! He’s publishing all kinds of things about me in the paper, and he’s basically stalking me and stalking Scott Thompson, just so he can try to get all of the latest stories on us!”
The officer blinked and looked at her in surprise then. “Oh yeah! I know you! You’re the one who’s having Scott Thompson’s baby… right? Is that you?” he asked curiously.
Naomi sighed and nodded. “Yes, that’s me, and the reporter who is writing all of that trash is following me around! Can’t you arrest him or something?” she pleaded.
He looked at her sympathetically. “Well, he hasn’t done anything illegal right now, but I’ll check with the other officer. I’ll see what we can do.”
He went back to his radio and a few minutes later, he returned to Naomi. “Okay, so I have some good news for you. He’s got some outstanding tickets, so there’s a warrant out for his arrest for those. We’re going to take him in on those charges, but as soon as he pays them, he can go.
So, he’s only going to be downtown for part of the day. We’re going to take our time on it though, so you’ll have a little break. The other thing is that we don’t take too kindly to paparazzi, so if you want to get a restraining order you can, then if he breaks that, you can press charges against him. Either way, it ought to work, at least long enough to get you out of the papers.”
Naomi smiled and nodded gratefully. “Thank you, Officer. I really appreciate your help.”
He shook her hand. “No problem, and hey! Good luck with the baby and with Scott. I don’t think he should be with Jennifer Jones anyway; I think he should be with you, and so do a bunch of the guys down at the station. We’re pulling for you!”
She smiled at him again and didn’t bother to tell him that Scott had destroyed his chances of being with her, and that it was all over between them, except for him being able to see his child. He let her go and she drove to work, agitated and relieved at the same time.
When she walked in the door of the firm, she was surprised to see Eva sitting there on the sofa waiting for her. She almost rushed to her, thankful to see her best friend on such a taxing morning. Eva hugged her tight and then let her go, looking into her eyes steadily.
“Have you seen the papers?” she asked anxiously.
Naomi shook her head. “No, I haven’t… why? What did that jerk print now?” she asked as irritation began to swell in her once again.
Eva picked the newspaper up from the table and handed it to Naomi. “Here. Read it fo
r yourself. I’ll get you some tea.”
Naomi sat down on the sofa and began to read while Eva went to the refreshment table and made two teas for them. Her eyes scanned down the printed page, and she took in every word of the article that she found, reading it in disbelief.
“What an absolute…” she began, and Malaika hung her phone up and turned in her chair to look at Naomi.
“Good morning. I didn’t get a chance to read that yet; we’ve been too busy in here. What does it say? I’ve been so interested to know, and Eva’s been here for an hour waiting for you,” Malaika told her in her honey soft voice.
Naomi rolled her eyes. “Well, I’d have been here an hour ago if I wasn’t on a wild goose chase.”
