The Slow Burn by Caro Carson

Author:Caro Carson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2020-06-09T20:41:48+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Tana’s phone vibrated against the nightstand as its screen lit up. The combination was enough to drag her awake.

She opened one eye. The phone screen was obnoxiously bright, because her bedroom was pitch-black. It hadn’t been when she’d lain down for a quick cat nap, exhausted from her cross-country car trip.

The vibrating stopped as the call went to her voice mail. Tana didn’t raise her head off the pillow as she groped for the phone to check the time.

“Crap.” She’d been asleep for five hours. Beneath the time, her phone screen listed one identical alert after another: Missed Call: Coach Nicholls.

Bob Nicholls was going to kill her. She’d promised to let him know the minute she arrived home, but she’d gotten to her apartment, walked straight to her bathroom—at thirty-seven weeks pregnant, she felt like she had to pee every thirty-seven minutes—and then she’d flopped onto her bed for just a quick minute, five hours ago.

She needed to call him, pronto. Driving home from the NCAA Championships in Indianapolis hadn’t been as easy as she’d assured everyone it would be. One thousand miles in a rental car had been uncomfortable at best, even broken up over two days, but she’d done it.

She’d had no choice.

The airlines that flew where she’d needed to go were the ones that wouldn’t let pregnant passengers fly after thirty-six weeks. Missing the men’s NCAA championships wasn’t optional for a coach who needed her one-year contract to be renewed. She’d flown to Indiana on Monday at thirty-six weeks. She’d had to rent a car to drive back to Texas on Sunday, at week thirty-seven.

She called her former coach. “I am so sorry.”

“The last time I talked to you, you were in Arkansas. I was seriously going to call the highway patrol to put out an APB on you. What happened?”

“I got home and fell asleep. I’m fine. Just tired.”

Actually, her ankles were swollen, for the first time in her entire pregnancy, from so many hours of sitting immobile. She hadn’t been able to work out for the two weeks before all this travel, either. Tana had flown to Georgia for the women’s championships the week before the men’s. Tomorrow, she’d get back in the pool and swim some laps. That would put everything to rights.

Not really. Getting back in the pool and then getting a renewed coaching contract—that would put everything to rights. She hadn’t heard anything from the athletics director yet. Her baby was coming, but her paychecks were ending.

“Well, you probably need the sleep,” Bob said. “Congratulations again on your showing at the NCAAs.”

“We didn’t bring home the trophy.” The trophy wasn’t everything, but it sure would have helped impress her boss. He was big on trophies. Football trophies, especially.

“Appelan set a new record. Masterson swimmers were up on that winners’ podium again and again. Don’t underestimate the impact of all those second-and third-place finishes. Your school colors are in practically every podium photo. You’ll have your pick of recruits next year.”

Tana could practically hear her parents: Silver and bronze don’t get soup commercials.

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