As she descended, she could hear the crashing off patio furniture, and she winced.
Chapter Twelve
Samson stayed out of the office for the rest of the week. He was still too angry with April to deal with what had happened. Moreover, he was too angry with himself. It was true that he’d been getting impatient for their relationship to progress, but taking out that impatience on her, for a situation that was out of her control, had been so far beyond how he ever imagined treating her that he felt he didn’t really deserve the comfort of her warm embrace or her fond teasing.
Still, he missed her. It was only a matter of days, but he ached without her near. He did his work from his apartment, sent messages to the office, and kept to himself. He went through more bottles of wine that week than he cared to admit.
The next Monday, Samson steeled himself to return to the office. It was time to be a man. It was time to see April and work this thing out. During his time away, he had done some thinking. Of course, he couldn’t possibly have her get an abortion. He would never do that to her, given how she felt about the baby already, and knowing how she grew up, it would be cruel to force something like that on her. Not too long after that, Samson realized that he wouldn’t want to get rid of his own child.
His main difficulty with the whole situation was that after everything, he would have to actually be a father. He wasn’t sure their child deserved that.
Regardless, his insecurities were no reason to punish them both. Nothing would be worked out by simply sitting around and feeling sorry for himself. He picked up a triple espresso latte and headed into the office determined to put things right between them.
When Samson reached their floor, however, nothing felt right. Many of the staff were staring at him. Quite a few of them were shooting daggers. He approached Babette’s desk, and she jumped as though she’d been stuck with a pin.
“Sir,” she muttered.
“Could you collect my messages, Babette? I have quite a bit to catch up on.”
“Absolutely, sir.” Babette fumbled through her organizer.
Samson furrowed his brow at her. “What’s going on? Why is everyone acting so strangely? Is it because of my absence?”
“Well, probably the reason for your absence.”
Samson blinked. “What would you know about that?”
Babette stared at him for so long that he snapped, “Spit it out!”
“April left. I-I don’t know.” Babette rubbed her lips and then looked up at him with a strange expression. “I have no idea why. You should talk to her team.”
“Fine. Get those messages together.”
Samson swept through the office like a dark cloud. What had she meant that April left? April wouldn’t leave a job like this. She was pragmatic. There was no way that she would leave a job like this. Especially since she now had a child to think of.
“Garcia.” Samson appeared in the office where Garcia was sitting on the edge of his desk and talking to Jessie and Katy, the new hire who had been added to their team. “I need an update. What is this about April leaving?”
Garcia leveled an incredulous look at him. “You ought to know.”
Samson tilted his head to the side. Jessie was staring him down, too, while Katy looked between everyone curiously.
“What do you think happened?” he asked.
“We figured out you two were dating a few weeks ago,” Katy offered.
“You asked me for where to take her on dates,” Garcia said.
“You dumped her, and now she’s gone,” Jessie said.
“That is not what happened,” Samson said peevishly. “Don’t go spreading rumors.”
“She came in here a week ago, very upset, and told us that she couldn’t work here anymore,” Garcia said. “I tried to argue with her, but she said it would be impossible for her because of how things were with you. I told her she could just wait you out. You’d be out of our hair in a few months, but she wasn’t having it, and I gave her some contacts for a new job.”
“She’s probably heading back to New York by now,” Jessie said.
Samson almost dropped his coffee and actually stumbled backwards. “Why would she go back to New York?!”
“She has contacts there. She’s always talking about how she likes it better up north,” Jessie said.
Samson stepped up to Garcia’s desk, causing the man to hop off and step back. He slapped the desk hard. “You are going to give me the leads you gave her. And I’m going to go get her back.”
***
Samson spent the next hour on the phone. Although he called April first, he kept getting her voicemail. After three messages, he gave up and began following up on the contacts to figure out where she might be headed.