Page 136 of Woman on the Verge

His voice is still calm. He is hoping I don’t mean what I mean.

“There was a man. In the passenger’s seat.”

“Who?”

I swallow what feels like another navel orange. “Elijah Baker.”

“Who?”

He is shaking his head now, shaking off the reality I am presenting to him.

“Elijah Baker. I met him when I was up here.”

I let the words hang. I don’t want to have to say it:We were having an affair.I wait for him to come to the conclusion himself. It is agonizing.

“What are you talking about?”

“I was involved with a man here. Elijah Baker. He was in the car. I just needed to go for a drive after my dad died, and ...”

I’m about to tell him about the journal I found, but then don’t want to get into it. Has Merry already told him about that?

“Honey, are you sure you’re thinking clearly right now? Nobody said anything about another person in the car.”

I start to cry. “What if he’s on the side of the road? Did they look?”

He puts his hand on my leg, and that’s when I know he doesn’t believe me. If he did, he wouldn’t want to be within ten feet of me.

I touch my belly.

“I could be pregnant. Am I pregnant? Is the baby okay?”

“Nic, slow down. You’re not pregnant. They’ve done a ton of blood work and tests. You thought you werepregnant?”

Did I? Nothing is making sense.

“You need to find out about Elijah. He could be on the side of the road,” I repeat.

“Honey, look, I’ll contact the police department and ask whoever was on the scene, but I think it’s more important that we ask the doctors about your head.”

Jocelyn just said they checked my head, though.A bit of a miracle.

“Wait, do you have my phone?” I ask.

“Your phone? I don’t know where—”

“Or log into our Verizon account on your phone. You’ll see his number in there.”

“Whose number?”

“Elijah Baker’s,” I say. “Maybe he’s at a different hospital or something. I need to try to call him.”

“Nic, look, I think you’re mistaken, okay? But if you want me to try the police department, I will.”

That will have to do. For now.

“Okay,” I say. “Call them.”

He looks dumbfounded. “Really?”

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