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Well, he thought, she’d made her feelings known. He should fight for her, but wasn’t she a grown-up? She’d expressed her wishes, and now it was his job to respect them. Isn’t that what a gentleman did?
Mark ran his hands through his hair, his brain still feeling foggy from lack of sleep and from the emotional trauma of the last couple of days. He didn’t want to believe Laura would give up on them so easily, but the proof was right here on his phone.
He suddenly couldn’t get enough air into his lungs. The condo felt tight, oppressive. He walked out on his patio and studied the waves rolling in on the beach, the steady flow of water up on the sand.
Mark didn’t know what to do, but all he knew was he needed to get away. Clear his head. Maybe if he gave her some time to calm down, she’d be willing to talk to him once more. Maybe if he got out to sea, where he could think clearly, where he could breathe, then he could figure this all out.
Or maybe, a small voice in his head said, maybe the ocean would decide this all for you. The dark thought, the one he’d thought of less and less since before Laura came into his life and turned it upside down, resurfaced. One thing he knew for sure. He couldn’t stay in his condo. Not now, maybe not ever.
Every single square inch of the place reminded him of her, of the amazing sex they’d had, of the laughs they’d shared, even the meals they’d eaten together. Her ghost walked through the condo and there was only one way to get away from her—the sea.
He went to his closet and pulled out an empty duffel bag and began stuffing it with clothes he’d need for at least a week. He didn’t know how long he’d be on that boat, but he figured at least that long. Maybe longer. Hell, maybe all the way around the world. All he knew was that he needed to get away, needed to clear his head, needed to figure out what he was going to do next.
He grabbed his phone and charger off the kitchen counter and tucked it in his bag. He couldn’t stay here a minute longer.
He knew he probably couldn’t outrun the heartbreak, but he was going to try.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Five months later
“STOP FUSSING OVER ME,” Laura declared as she lay in Maddie’s queen-size bed in her home in the suburbs of San Francisco. Maddie carried a tray featuring lunch—a grilled cheese sandwich, fresh fruit, a yogurt smoothie and a glass of water. Laura pushed herself upright, moving a pillow behind her head so she’d be propped up.
“This is what bed rest means, Laura,” Maddie declared as she set the tray on the table she’d put near the bed. “Doctor’s orders, remember? You’re to stay in bed if you want to take care of that baby inside you.”
The baby gave Laura a big kick then as if agreeing with her aunt.
Laura had decided to find out the baby’s gender. She thought it might help her focus on keeping her baby inside her. “No peeking early,” she’d said on more than one occasion to her belly.
Maddie had met her at the airport when she’d flown home and then taken her to the specialists. When it was clear that bed rest would be the only hope to carry the pregnancy to term, Maddie had offered her spare bedroom. Laura had never been more grateful. And Maddie had kept the running editorial largely silent. Laura didn’t feel judged.
For the first time with her sister, she felt supported, nurtured. She didn’t have a doubt that they both wanted the same thing: the birth of a healthy baby.
The doctors were hopeful that she might be able to carry to term, but that meant complete bed rest and no stress. The no-stress part was the hardest. She’d not heard from Mark except for a couple of calls where he’d hung up and had not left a message. She’d heard from Edward that he’d sailed off to another race, and that cell reception was nonexistent on the boat, but still…his radio silence irked.
She forced herself not to think about it, and yet, every time something happened with the baby—her first kick, her first sonogram picture—she wanted to share it with Mark, but then realized she couldn’t.
Laura glanced at the small black-and-white ultrasound photo taped to the bedpost and wondered what Mark would’ve thought of all this. Wondered if he’d be excited or angry, picking out baby names or running for the hills. Her money was on running, since that’s what he’d ultimately decided to do.
“Did you hear me?” Maddie asked, quietly.
“Sorry…what? I zoned out.” Her mind just ran in circles these days like a frozen computer.
Maddie just shook her head knowingly. “I asked if you wanted some extra napkins, but I see you’re a million miles away. Everything okay?”
