What I focused on were the mock-ups of the glossy brochures and pamphlets that had Proof stamped on them in big red letters. I read them and, in doing so, read what Tenrix promised to do.

And from knowing Randy Bierman promised the same in the team meeting, weirdly, I didn’t believe a word.

My phone ringing took me out of the Tenrix file.

I stayed out of it, doing half a million of those million things I had to do, when close to five, my phone beeped.

I looked at it, picked it up, and smiled.

It was a text from Benny that said, Thinking about you, baby. Call me when you get home from work. I’ll take a break.

It had been just over a month since the scene with Dad.

Unfortunately, that month included a lot of me traveling.

Fortunately, one of my trips was to Chicago, a territory rich in prospects and a trip whose primary purpose was to bring my rep to heel. He might have had more pharmaceutical experience than me, but he was my only rep not only not exceeding his numbers, but not making them.

I’d extended that trip, working from Benny’s for three days and then having the weekend with him.

I liked this. I liked being at Benny’s and playing house, falling into a pattern that included him having nights off to be with me and him also working. I didn’t mind him working. I went to the pizzeria with friends and saw him, or I stayed at his house and vegged.

But it was more.

What we had was not normal. Any relationship was work, but being separated, that work was harder. I never liked leaving him or him leaving me, but each time it was getting harder.

When I was working at Benny’s, it felt normal. His house felt like home. Our schedule felt natural. Like the life and times of any average couple. I liked that. I wanted that.

The same could not be said for when Ben came to see me.

When Benny came to see me, it was definitely a visit. Not him coming home. Not natural. Not normal. Not anything but good to be with Benny.

I loved being with Benny any way I could be.

Still, I wanted more.

In order not to take advantage and make Manny or Vinnie work the kitchens on their busiest nights of the week, namely weekends, in the last month, Ben had attempted a two-day visit during the week.

This did not go great. Mostly because he showed in the morning when I was at work and all I could think about was coming home to him. While I worked, he putzed the days away at my place and hung with Cal, who was living in a house with his woman this close to having his baby, plus three females who were planning a wedding.

Ben was a reprieve for Cal.

For me, Ben was in Brownsburg and I was at work and I didn’t like that, the limited time we had, the fact that it felt like he barely got there and then he had to leave.

In other words, this wasn’t working for me.

The problem with that was, I didn’t need a résumé that said I jumped jobs every year. Possible employers needed to get the hint that they weren’t going to dump the money and time into a hiring and training process for someone who didn’t have staying power. So I felt I had at least another sixteen months with Wyler.

The other problem with that was, although Ben seemed just as disappointed to watch me leave or leave me, he hadn’t mentioned our future and what it might bring, or the fact we might need to plan to bring it to normalcy. That including being together more than a few days a month and then such impossible dreams as wedding, kids, and family.

I wasn’t exactly getting younger. In fact, my birthday was a few weeks away.

Ben wasn’t either.

I didn’t know how to bring it up. If Ben was good with what we had, after nearly fucking us up in the beginning, I wasn’t big on rocking that boat.

But this didn’t mean the fact that Ben hadn’t even mentioned it wasn’t beginning to worry me.

I did not include this in the text I sent back, which only read, Okay, honey, I’ll be leaving in a few.

I focused on getting as much of the last half a million things I needed to do done so I could get home and call my man, have a brief conversation with him that would leave me wanting more, and then eat alone, hang at my house alone, and go to bed.

Alone.

I was closing in on feeling I’d done what I needed to do when my phone rang and I saw the time on my computer said that it was after six. In other words, I’d lost track so it wasn’t the “few” I’d told Benny it would be.

He was probably worried and this was my thought when my eyes went to my cell.

My brows drew together when I saw the screen said, Keira Calling.

I grabbed the phone, took the call, and put it to my ear.

“Hey, honey.”

“Mom’s havin’ the baby!”

My heart thumped hard in my chest and I came right out of my seat.

“Right now?” I asked.

“Yeah!” she cried, then chanted. “Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod.”

“Where are you?”

“At home. Kate is, like, freaking! Joe called. They were out pickin’ up dinner and it just happened. He took her right to the hospital. We gotta get her bag. We gotta get gas ’cause Kate says she’s almost out. And we gotta call everybody.”

“Stop right there,” I interrupted. “Kate’s in a state and she’s drivin’ you?”

“We gotta get going!” she shrieked. “And I got, like, seven million calls to make.”

Hurriedly, I went about turning off my computer. “Do not leave that house, Keirry. I’m comin’ and I’ll take you both.”

“You got a two-seater,” she pointed out.

“We’ll take Vi’s Mustang.”

“Oh, right,” she muttered.

I kept closing down and grabbing shit as I said, “Listen to me. Are you listening to me?”

She sounded like she was hyperventilating when she said, “I’m listening.”

“Get the keys to your mom’s car. Make sure she has everything she needs for her and Angela in her bag. Grab some waters, some pops, and some snacks ’cause we probably got a wait ahead of us. Make your calls. Deep breathe. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

I was rushing through the mostly deserted floor on my way to the elevator when Keira replied, “It’ll take you forever to get here.”

“It takes a while to have a baby, honey. Just try to keep calm. I’ll get there as fast as I can and we’ll get to your mom and Cal.”

“Okay, Frankie.”

“Mawdy’s bag doesn’t have nightgowns!” I heard Kate screech from a distance through Keira’s phone.

I tagged the elevator and smiled.

With Ben in Chicago, and Cal, Violet, and the girls the only friends I had close, I spent time with them. Dinners at their place, dinners at mine, dinners at Frank’s Restaurant in town. They were the only things keeping me sane, being so far from Benny and everything I knew.

Doing it, I’d gotten to know the Winters–Callahan family.

And now I knew that Kate, who was normally level-headed, lost it when her mom was about to give her another sister.

“Well, get her one!” Keira yelled back.

“Keirry, honey?” I called.

“Yeah, Frankie?” she asked.

“Deep breathe. Calm. It’s all gonna be great. It’s gonna be amazing. Something beautiful is happening. Yeah?”

I heard the rush of breath come with her “Yeah.”

“Be there soon,” I promised.

“Okay. See you soon, Frankie.”

“’Bye, honey.”

“’Bye, Frankie.”

I disconnected. The elevator opened. I dashed in, hit the button to the parking garage, and as the doors were closing, I didn’t fuck around with Recents. I just dialed Ben’s number right into the phone.

“Hey, baby,” he greeted.

“Vi’s delivering Angela right now,” I told him.

There was a hesitation before he asked, “Come again?”

“Vi…is…delivering…Angela right now!” I was near on shrieking myself when I finished.

“Jesus, that’s fuckin’ great,” Ben replied.

“Uh…yeah,” I agreed. “I’m off to pick up the girls. They were driving themselves, but they were freaked. I don’t want them behind the wheel.”

There was another hesitation, this one weighty, before he whispered, “My Frankie.”

“I don’t have time for you to be sweet right now, Ben. I only have time for you to tell me you’re coming down as soon as humanly possible.”

There was a smile in his voice when he said, “I’m comin’ down as soon as humanly possible.”

“Awesome,” I whispered as the doors opened.

“Be safe with you and those girls,” he ordered.

“I will.”

“Okay. Love you, baby.”

I stopped dead on my mad dash to my Z.

“’Bye,” he finished.

“Uh…’bye, Benny.”

He disconnected.

I stood there, frozen.

Love you, baby.

Oh my God.

Love you, baby.

Oh my God!

Ben told me he’d never loved a woman.

And now he’d just told me he loved me.

What I did next, I didn’t care that security probably saw me doing it on the monitors and would rightly think I was crazy.

Cal and Vi were having their baby.

And Benny Bianchi loved me.

I did a war whoop and a big feet-thrown-back cheerleader jump. In pumps. Holding my phone, my computer bag, my purse slung over my shoulder. Just like a woman in a commercial who successfully got through her stressful day as an executive and did it without getting underarm stains.

Fortunately, I landed firm on my feet.

Then I ran right to my Z.

***

I was sitting in the maternity waiting room of Hendricks Regional Health.