I reached across the table to snatch the phone, but she stood suddenly and raced into the other room. My eyes widened in shock and panic. She was running. I ran after her, afraid she was going to trip or fall. Neither was acceptable in her condition.
“Stop running!”
She flopped down on the couch, laughing, but I didn’t find it funny. “Are you hurt? Is everything okay? How’s the baby?”
I leaned over to check her over, but she slapped my hand away. I started freaking out big time, running my hand over my head as panic took over. “Oh shit. This is not good.”
“What’s not good?”
I swallowed hard and pulled out my phone, shooting off a text to Eric.
“What are you doing?” Kat asked. “What’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong? What’s wrong?” I laughed humorlessly, shaking my head that she just didn’t get it. “I can’t believe you don’t get what’s wrong.”
“I can’t believe that you think something is wrong.”
I started pacing the room, wondering what the hell was taking Eric so long. It was absolutely ridiculous. She was here, all by herself. What if something had happened?
The back door swung open and Eric charged in, his face full of panic. “What the hell happened?”
I glared at Kat, turning the heat to Eric. “You want to know what happened?”
“I’d like to know,” Kat muttered.
“I caught your woman running. Running,” I said harshly.
Eric turned his gaze on Kat and shook his head. “You were running? What the hell were you thinking?”
“What was I thinking? I’m still trying to figure out what the hell you’re thinking!”
“Me?” Eric said incredulously. “I’m not the one that’s pregnant!”
“So, I can’t run if I’m pregnant?”
Eric’s eyes widened and he looked like he was grasping for sanity, and then he exploded. “No! Do you have any idea what might have happened?”
Kat looked at both of us like we were insane. “Um…I might have gotten some exercise?”
“Exercise,” I huffed, turning to Eric. “She thinks she would have gotten exercise. Can you believe this?”
“No, and frankly, I can’t believe you would be so careless with your life, with our child’s life!”
Kat put her hands on her hips, her eyes pinched in confusion. “Whoa, back up just a minute here. You think I put our child’s life at risk because I was running?”
Eric scoffed, looking up at the ceiling like he was praying for divine intervention. I was right there with him. I didn’t understand what the hell she was thinking. “She doesn’t get it,” he muttered to himself. “She doesn’t see how she could have endangered herself or our child.”
“Well, let’s not be too hard on her. This was her first offense.”
“Excuse me?” Kat gaped. “My first offense? And what happens the next time I decide to run, or hell, even skip! Are you going to lock me up? Or do I just pay a fine?”
“This isn’t the time to mess with me,” Eric growled. “That’s my child in there.”
“I’m aware, since it’s in my body and all. What I don’t understand is why you think I’ll harm our child by running.”
“You know what? I don’t have time for this right now. I have a business to run. I have things to do.”
“Well, I’m so glad that you have all those things to do. I have things to do also, and they all include you not being here.”
“Like I would trust you here by yourself.”
“Don’t look at me,” I said as Eric glared at me. “No, I have shit to do. She can go hang out with Anna.”
Eric sighed heavily. “Fine, but any hint of wrongdoing and you’ll be following me around for the rest of the day.”
I winced. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Hammers and nails…that’s just asking for trouble.”
He nodded. “You’re right. I’ll just have to have a talk with Anna. Robert would have already talked to her.”
“What are you two talking about?” Kat snapped. “I’m not going to the office just to sit around. It’s not happening.”
I glanced over at Eric and he nodded. He snatched Kat up in his arms as she screamed and hit him, but he just stalked out of the house, leaving me to close up after him. Sometimes, you just had to handle things the way only a man could.
Getting out of my truck, I could hear Kat still yelling at Eric. She was pissed, but that was just too damn bad. When I saw her running around the house, I immediately thought of her losing the baby and how devastated we had all been. I couldn’t see that dead look on her face again, or on Eric’s. It almost tore them apart, and that was just something that I couldn’t allow to happen again.
“You’re such an ass! I can take care of myself!”
Eric walked around the truck and grabbed Kat gently by the arm. “Kat, I know you think you can take care of yourself, but—“
“But nothing!” she screeched. “I do not need to go upstairs and sit with Anna—“
“You know, she has a point,” I interrupted.
“Thank you!” Kat grinned, crossing her arms over her chest.
“What if they decide to go out for baked goods? All it takes is one slip on the stairs. What if both of them fell? Honestly, this isn’t the place for either of them.”
Eric’s face scrunched up as he considered what I was saying. “You’re right. That’s not safe.”
“Now the stairs aren’t safe? Are you kidding me? People walk up and down the stairs all the time! I do it at home.”
“Yeah, I’m gonna have to move the master bedroom downstairs,” Eric said thoughtfully.
“I’ll come over this weekend to help you out. I’ll make sure Will and Joe can be there too.”
“Maybe we should install a ramp over the porch stairs,” Eric added.
I shook my head. “With winter coming, just one slip on the ramp and she’s going down.”
“That’s true. Maybe I could install a motorized chair.”
“It’s five stairs,” Kat shouted. “I can walk up and
