Goodbye Secrets (The Lost & Found Series book #2) (19 page)

“Okay. Yes I am. Or, was ... they made me sick.”

“Oh. Try the ones over the counter at Walgreen’s. I use them as a multivitamin still. I’ll pick some up for you.” I smile as I put her hair up.

“Are you and Grayson still trying?” she asks quickly.

“No. We’re not trying right now, too much going on.” I sigh.
Yeah, that coupled with the fact that I’m already pregnant!
She did technically ask if we were
trying
, so it’s not a lie ... we’re not!

“There you go. Makeup?” I offer.

“I’ll do it—I’m sure you want to spend some time with Morgan. I’ll be out soon.” She smiles and taps my hands.

“Okay. Any special requests for breakfast?” I kiss her head.

“Nope, surprise me!”

I smile and head out of the room, but I feel my expression drop as soon as I’m out in the hall. I move slowly, trying to process the information. I know she said they were drunk, but still—Ray is a levelheaded guy. He wore protection with me, and I’m the one he wants to be with. I’m having a difficult time thinking he didn’t with her. I head up the stairs. I know Grayson wanted to sleep in, but maybe he’s up now.

“Hey, Gray?” I say as I walk in. He puts his hand up to tell me to wait, then signals for me to close the door.

“You’re fucking shitting me?!” he barks. His face is red, and the vein near his temple is pulsating like mad. This must be bad. As angry as I’ve made Grayson, I have never once seen that vein move like that before. “Did you alert the authorities? Oh, oh, good. Son of a bitch! Okay, very well then. Righto.” He hangs up.

“Righto? My grandfather used to say that.” I smile and hug him. “What was that about?”

“The explosion. The bomb was planted by one of our guys. He checked the plane with one of the others. When they cleared it and got off, he said he left his phone and went back in. Do you know the only reason Smitty is alive? All the lights on the plane were turned off, and he saw the red glow from under the seat! He got down to the ground to check it out and saw the timer. Had he come out of the cockpit one minute later, he would’ve died!”

We stand in each other’s arms, silent. My guess is we’re both thinking about what else could’ve been had Tanya not received a visit from “Aunt Flo from Red Bank.”

“Do they know why he did it?” I finally speak up.

“No, not yet. We’ll know soon enough, though.” He kisses my forehead. “Now, what were you coming up for?”

“Gee, I don’t know if you want to hear about this, what with everything you’re already trying to process.” I look up at him.

“Lay it on me, sweetheart, we’re up to our elbows in it anyway!” He closes his eyes, puts his head back, and takes in a deep breath. I give him the play-by-play of my conversation with Stacey. At the questioning of our sex life, he says, “That’s bazaar.” I tell him about me flat-out asking her if she wants Grayson, and her response. (“Good for you!”) I also mention the Melanie thing. (“I’m sorry, sweetheart, she’s not really my type. I don’t know what came over me.”) Then ... the Grand Poobah. (“Holy fuck!”) Then her questions about us trying, and what I said.

“Good girl, Becca!” He hugs me.

“Baby?”

“Yes?”

“Do you have people that can magically look at medical records? I’m not sure if she’s telling the truth.” It saddens me to feel this way.

“Becca, if she’s not, then we have a problem. She and Ray must know, and if they do, there was a leak at either the doctor’s office or radiology department.” He’s on his phone again. “Jake! It’s Grayson. Yes, Mass General. Yes, all records. Thanks, mate!” He hangs up.

“God, that is fucking hot!” I bite my lip.

Gray raises his eyebrows. “How hot, sweetheart?” He frees my lip with his thumb then bites it for himself, causing a small groan to release from my throat.

“The kind of hot that would make me call you ‘sir,’” I manage to say before I deepen the kiss. Grayson pulls my yoga pants down a bit and gives my bum a proper greeting with his hand. “Oh!” I gasp and relish in the sweet sting. “Again, baby ... please.” I bite his earlobe as I beg.

“Please what?”

“Please, sir.” And I feel the sting again. He pulls my pants back up. Huh? I open my eyes and look up at him.

“Something to think about for later, sweetheart.” He bites my lip again to tease me even more before he releases me. “I have to meet with security, doll.” He kisses the tops of my hands.

“It’s the three month itch, isn’t it?” I joke.

“Oh ... there’s definitely an itch, which only you can scratch. But we’ll have to scratch it later, sweetheart.” He leans in for another kiss and finally lets go so he can head downstairs. I clean up our room and make our bed. Shit, I have to finish wrapping Grayson’s gifts!

I head over to Melissa’s room and knock. “Melissa?” I knock again. Duh, she’s at the meeting. Shoot!
I could just walk in, but Country Sybecca waves an authoritative finger at me.
She’s right. I shouldn’t just go barging in, even if it’s my place. Defeated, I head downstairs. I’ll just wrap his gifts later.

“Hey, Morgy! What should we do today? Do you want to start baking now?” I put my arm around her as she walks by.

“Huh?” She pulls her earbuds out.

“I said, what would you like to do today?”

“Well, Mom, Annie’s going to be here in a couple of hours, so I thought we’d wait for her. What’s for breakfast?” We walk into the kitchen as I’m still trying to process this information. It’s not even close to noon yet, and I already feel overwhelmed! My brain is starting to think it’s the end of the day instead of the beginning. Ugh! Half day before the holiday! How did I forget that? Why are they doing that for a Friday? It’s a conspiracy, I swear!
Cautionary Sybecca has her ticker board out again. It reads, “Shit ... shit ... fuckity ... shit!”
And I agree!

“Omelets or pancakes?” I ask.

“French toast!” She grabs several loaves, reminding me I have quite a few people to cook for! I pull out the eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg. My French toast always tastes like fall. I also pull out the different egg bakes I made last night and throw them in the oven to warm up. I do love my new kitchen. And I love my fiancé; he’s really wonderful and thoughtful!

“Mom, how do you know when you’ve put enough in? You don’t measure,” Morgan asks, watching me from one of the barstools at my new huge island. Its creamy white-and-brown granite go great with the maple cabinets.

“Oh, I measure by sight. Someday, I’ll take my time and measure everything out so I can write it down for you.” I love that her interest in cooking has resurfaced.

“No, Mommy, I want to learn by sight like you and Susanna.” She rests her head in her closed fists as she watches.

“I miss Susanna. We should give her a call later.” I stop whisking. Come to think of it, I miss California. Maybe it’s because it was just us there, none of the baggage from here. Well, a little, but only in the emotional sense!

“There are my girls!” Hazel smiles as she walks in. “What do we have going on in here?” She heads over to wash her hands at the sink, then begins our old routine of getting the breakfast spread ready to go. I wish I could merge my New Hampshire and California lives into one, because I’m overwhelmed with the sense of home right now! “We’ll be spending a lot of time in this kitchen for the next few days, huh, girls?” Hazel cuts biscuits out of the dough.

“Oh yes, more than usual. We’re going to have a lot more people this year.” I exhale a big breath. A little overwhelming, but I love it!

“Hey, Mom, I have an idea!” Morgan says excitedly, slapping the island.

“What’s that?” Uh-oh. When Morgan’s excitement is this high over an idea, it’s usually quite the endeavor!

“Well, all of our Secret Service agents are missing Christmas with their families. Why don’t we make a request box instead of a suggestion box? They can each write down one thing, a dish or cookie that will make them feel closer to home, and put it in the box, then we could make sure they have it!” And she’s up and probably off to get supplies.

“Jesus! I hope half of them say turkey or ham!” Hazel rolls her eyes.

“C’mon, Hazel, it’s only three days ‘til Christmas!” I say sarcastically, as if that’s a lot of time. Within half an hour, we are bringing everything out to the dining room.

“Becs ...”

It’s Ray’s voice. I turn to see if my ears are playing tricks on me.

“Becca!” Annie runs to me, giving me a huge bear hug before I set down the tray I’m holding. Guess my ears are working just fine.

“Hey, kiddo! What are you doing here so early?” I hug her and look up at Ray. It’s only ten o’clock.

“The nurse sent me home. Where’s Morgan?” I look at Ray again, panicked. Why is he bringing her here if she’s sick? He shakes his head.

“Um, she’s around somewhere, sweetie. Just not in her room. You can check room 205 upstairs.” I smile and she’s off. “Annie, tell her it’s time to eat!” I shout after her as I walk up to Ray.

“Can we talk? It’s about Annie, and it’s personal.” He unzips his jacket and pulls off his hat. Hmm ... he still hasn’t gotten a haircut. He looks so cute when his hair grows out. It’s very wavy. He looks ten years younger.

“Uh, yes, we can go into my office.” I wave the way.

“Hey, it looks different in here. It’s nice, babe, when did you do this?” He follows me.

“While we were in California.” Well, that’s when Grayson did it, but Ray doesn’t need to know that.

“I can’t believe you painted over all of the wood. You always loved that about this place. It’s really not you. Well, not the you I used to know,” he says as we walk into my office.

“Yeah, that was a misunderstanding. I didn’t want to paint the wood, but I’m used to it now. It’s pretty. I like it.” I try to hide how I really feel.

“And you’re still a terrible liar.” He gives me a small smile and tucks the strand of hair that’s escaped my ponytail behind my ear.

“Um, so what’s going on with Annie, Ray?” I sit and offer him Claudia’s chair. He pulls off his jacket and hangs it up on the coat rack before he sits. He’s wearing blue jeans with the brick-red shirt and creamy-white and red flannel I bought him last year. It’s become a tradition that one of his gifts from me every year is a flannel and matching shirt. I didn’t even get him anything this year. I didn’t think of it. I didn’t get anything for Annie, either. I need to fix that right away; kids are different! Christ! What are they doing for Christmas? They always spend it with us!

“Theme song, baby?” He touches my cheek lightly.

“Huh? Uh, no, I’ve just got a lot on my mind. Sorry. What’s going on with Annie?” I refocus and pull my head back a little.

He slaps his knees and sits back.

“Well, I got a call from the nurse’s office shortly after school started. Annie was down there complaining of stomach pain. So the nurse had her lie down for a little while, then try the bathroom. Annie came out very upset because when she wiped ... uh, there was blood.” His eyes go wide, a look of horror on his face.

“Ray! Oh my God! Oh ... oh my God, Ray ... already?” I can’t believe it!

“I know, Bec, my little girl. Agh!” He rubs his face.

“What did the nurse say?” I swat his knee.

“She just gave her a pad to put on and told her to talk to her mother! Thank God you’ve already told her about having a period! Can you imagine if you hadn’t, how traumatic that would’ve been for her, babe?” He grabs my hands.

“I can’t believe Mrs. Tansen said that to her, Ray! I’m going to call her right now.” I raise my voice at this news, my blood boiling!

“Baby, it wasn’t Mrs. Tansen. It was a sub.” He gives me a crooked smile. I pull my hands from him and turn to the phone. I call the school.

“Yes, can I speak to Mrs. Preston? This is Becca Campbell. Okay. Thanks.” I pause and look over my shoulder at Ray. “They’re transferring me,” I say, and he sits back.

“Ms. Campbell, how are you and Morgan doing?” Mrs. Preston asks excitedly when she picks up.

“Oh, we’re doing fine. Thank you! How are you? Ready for Christmas?” I smile. I’ve always loved Principal Preston.

“I’m great; will be even better in two hours!” She laughs.

“I can understand that.” I’m sure she can sense my sympathetic nod. “Hey, listen, the reason I’m calling you is Annie McNeil.”

“Oh, yes, is she all right? I saw her father picking her up earlier.”

“Well, that’s what I’m calling you about. I know you have a substitute nurse today. Um, you may not want to have her back.” I sigh and explain what happened.

“Oh, Ms. Campbell, that’s awful! Well, I’ll give her a piece of my mind! Is Annie okay?” I can tell she’s very upset. It was quite unprofessional!

“Yeah, she’s with me now. Luckily, I taught the girls about their periods, but it could’ve been another girl who wasn’t educated about it. It may have been very traumatic.” I lean my head into my hand.

“You’re right. Please tell Annie and Mr. McNeil I’m sorry. When is Morgan coming back?” she asks quickly.

“I’m not sure. We’re floating between here and California. We haven’t made a decision yet, but I will let you know. I’ll let you get back to work, Mrs. Preston. Thank you for lending me your ear. We’ll talk soon. Merry Christmas!”

“No problem at all! I’m glad you told me. It was good to hear from you, and we hope to have Morgan back here real soon! Merry Christmas, Ms. Campbell!” We hang up.

“There! That nurse will never be back at their school!” I turn, proud of myself. My smile fades as I find Ray with tears falling down his cheeks. “Ray?” It’s very rare for Ray to show emotion like this. As a matter of fact, I could count on one hand how many times I’ve seen him cry and have plenty of fingers left over.

“Hey, thanks, Becs.” He wipes his face and gets up for his coat. “What time should I pick Annie up tomorrow?”

“Ray!” I grab his arm to turn him to me. “What is it?” He opens his mouth to say something, but stops himself. He looks up to the ceiling and grits his teeth. I give him a moment to compose himself. He makes an “O” with his lips and exhales.

“I just, um ... I miss this, baby. I miss us being a team. I miss us making decisions together. I ... um, I feel like ... like I’m in the middle of a divorce that I didn’t see coming, nor want. I just don’t understand, Becs. Why wasn’t I enough? I have to go.” He tries to leave again, but I push him against Claudia’s desk.