“Rachel, you should go to the police. They can keep you safe,” Dr. Gordon said.
“No,” Rachel said quickly. “I tried that before and it made everything worse. I have to leave, Doctor Gordon. With or without your help.”
“Okay,” Dr. Gordon said. “You know what’s best for yourself. Give me five minutes to make a few calls and I’ll get back to you, okay?”
“Thank you,” Rachel said, horrified to find herself on the verge of tears.
She ended the call quickly before Dr. Gordon sensed the tears in her voice. The last thing she needed was him deciding to play the hero and sending the police around or something.
Rachel jumped up, too full of nervous energy to remain still. She paced the living room floor while she waited for Dr. Gordon to call her back. Come on, come on, she thought to herself as she imagined the man from the house with the yellow door calling Bastian and giving him her number.
If he called, she would make something up. There was no way she would tell him she was pregnant, not now, but she was afraid he would hear the panic in her voice and somehow put everything together. She knew that was unlikely, but it made her nervous all the same. She glanced down at her stomach and told herself she was being ridiculous. There was no way she was showing, no way the man could have known her reason for wanting Bastian to contact her. He wasn’t about to barge in here and refuse to let her leave. Her mind was still trying to jump to the worst-case scenario, even as she told herself she was overreacting, and when her cell phone rang, she made a desperate squeaking sound.
She picked it up as though it might bite her, sure she would see an unknown caller and that it would be Bastian. Relief flooded her when she saw Dr. Gordon’s name on her screen. She answered the call.
“Thanks for getting back to me so quickly,” she said.
“Of course,” the doctor replied. “I have bad news and what I hope is good news.”
“Go on,” Rachel said.
“The bad news is we have nothing out of state at this time. The hopefully good news is that there’s an opening for a receptionist in our Dallas branch. One of the team has just put her notice in today. I have spoken to Dr. Monroe, the head doctor, and explained the situation. The job there is yours if you want it.”
Dallas wasn’t as far away as Rachel would have liked it to have been, but it was better than staying here, and deep down, she knew she was overreacting. Bastian couldn’t know she was pregnant. He wasn’t going to come looking for her.
“That would be perfect. Thank you so much,” Rachel said.
“You’re welcome, Rachel. Now, I’ll give you the address of the office and Dr. Monroe’s contact number. She’ll be expecting your call during business hours tomorrow. You won’t be able to start until the week after next when the current receptionist’s notice period ends. Is that okay?”
“Yes,” Rachel said.
It was perfect. It would give her a chance to find somewhere to live and get settled in. She carefully wrote down the address and phone number and thanked Dr. Gordon again.
“I know you’ve already gone way above and beyond for me, Dr. Gordon, and I really appreciate it, but could I ask one more favor?” Rachel said. “Please don’t tell anyone where I’ve gone, not even the other receptionists. And if anyone calls asking for me, just have them pretend they’ve never heard of me.”
“Done,” Dr. Gordon said. “Good luck, Rachel.”
“Thank you,” she said again and ended the call.
She sat down for a moment, clutching the piece of paper with the address and contact number of the new doctor’s office to her chest. It was all going to work out just fine. Even if Bastian tried to find her, he wouldn’t be able to do it. She had told him she worked in a doctor’s office, but not which one, and if the staff there pretended they’d never heard of her, he would have no reason to doubt their words.
Rachel stood up and took one last look around the house. She smiled sadly. She had been happy here, but she knew that she had to go. She set her cell phone down on the coffee table. She would have to leave it behind in case Bastian could somehow trace her through it. It would be a shame to lose contact with everyone in her contacts list, but she had always known this day would come. It had just happened a little bit sooner than she had thought it would, that was all.
She turned around and left the living room. She put her jacket on and took her house key off the bunch. Picking her suitcase up, she opened her front door and stepped outside. She glanced around, quickly scanning the streets for the man from the house with the yellow front door. She couldn’t see him, and no one passing by gave her a second glance. She locked the door quickly, slipping the key back through the mail slot. She hurried to her car and threw her suitcase into the trunk. She got in, started the engine, and pulled away, heading for a new city, a new life. A life as a mom. She rubbed her stomach and smiled to herself. Everything was going to work out just fine, she told herself again. And she knew it would. She would make damned sure of it.
6
Bastian’s cell phone rang as he sat in his apartment eating pizza. He picked it up and frowned when he saw Brady’s name on the screen. They didn’t have a call scheduled for that evening, and Brady wasn’t the type to call for a chat. Something had to be wrong. Bastian was instantly on high alert. He had heard back from Oscar last week and Oscar had confirmed that the rumors
