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“Wait at home?” He was confused. Wait for what? And he’d tried her at home. She hadn’t answered.
“For the call.”
“What call?”
A quick intake of breath came over the line. “I assumed she’d told you. She usually tells you everything.”
About The Bouncing Ball, sure. Just like he ran most of his big business decisions by her. But...
“Told me what?”
“You need to talk to her, Braden. If she didn’t tell you...it’s not my place... I’m not getting in the middle of it.”
He could hear children’s voices in the background, as though Julia was out in a playroom.
“No, that’s good,” he said. “It’s just...well, I tried her cell and she didn’t answer. Should I be concerned?”
“Try her again. Maybe she was on the phone.”
Hanging up, he tried Mal’s cell again. She picked up on the second ring.
“Hey, just calling to let you know I’m in town,” he said. “I drove down early this morning.” He told her about the water leak. She knew the account well. It had been his first big one. They’d celebrated the signing of that deal with a weekend in Cabo.
She asked a couple of questions about the situation, wanting to know why the city thought they weren’t responsible for their own plumbing, if anyone knew yet what had caused the leak. And then she said, “Okay, well, keep me posted,” in a tone of voice that sounded like she was ready to hang up.
“I don’t see your car in the parking lot,” he said, not wanting to hang Julia out to dry. The woman hadn’t meant to clue him in to anything Mallory hadn’t wanted him to know.
“I’m working from home this morning. Going over the finances.”
That was it. Nothing more. She did like to do her financial rundowns at home, so she could be certain she wouldn’t be interrupted. But usually she did them in the evenings. He’d never known her to miss work for it.
“You feel okay?”
“Yep.”
“Any morning sickness?”
“Nope.”
He tried to remember back when she was carrying Tucker and to figure out what could possibly be going on with this pregnancy that would “alarm the kids.”
Nothing. He had nothing.
He didn’t like it.
“You want to meet for a quick lunch?” he asked her.
“Can I get back to you on that? I’m expecting a call and I need to be able to talk freely when it comes in.”
“Sure, okay. And everything’s good with you?”
“I’m fine, Bray. Just preoccupied this morning. Lunch sounds nice. I’ll let you know if something changes and I can’t make it.”
They agreed on a place and time and he hung up.
He was disgruntled for the rest of the morning.
* * *
