The same as me.
Phantom had ordered me back to the original version of my life, so that was what I did.
I threw myself into my work and pretended that I didn’t have one or two guards living in my downstairs bedroom and shadowing me everywhere I went.
Hours became days, and I ended up joining Eric and Byron on for their first official date—along with about forty to fifty other people. We all came out for the fake December 30th “New Year’s Eve” party Eric throws for his friends every year since most medical professionals he knew well had shifts or procedures scheduled on actual New Year’s Eve—especially us OBs. Moms loved to schedule C-sections for the last and first days of the year. And quite a few of them ended up in surprise labor on New Year’s Eve after too much celebration.
As it turned out, Byron had a police officer version of the same problem down in New Jersey, so this had been the perfect opportunity for them to hang out.
And as it also turned out, I’d called it right. Byron showed up early, and he and Eric were pretty much at the making out in the corner stage by the time the party was in full swing.
Bernice and I ended up providing host duties, with a grumpy Wayne in the background, eyeing everyone who came as if he was performing a visual pat-down.
Not that I minded playing hostess. It gave me something to do with myself since my flirting skills weren’t nearly as finely tuned as Eric’s and Byron’s.
Also, I’d forgotten how much fun Bernice could be at parties. Judgmental front office clerk and responsible single mother by day—turnt up for what as soon as you got a few drinks in her.
She walked around, dispensing shots, laughing with men she’d never met, and dancing on various tables with more twerking skills than I would have guessed she possessed, given her name and office demeanor. Then soon after Eric came up for air to lead his guests in a faux countdown, she ran to the bathroom to vomit all that party dip and alcohol out.
“This is how I got pregnant,” she admitted as Wayne and I walked her outside to pour her into a rideshare. “Too bad there weren’t Ubers in backcountry Tennessee.”
Another clue! Was the father of her baby from Tennessee? Or maybe Olivia 2 had just been conceived in Tennessee? Maybe I should rethink my policy about not gossiping with Eric about the identity of O2’s mystery father—
Without warning, a surge of adrenaline coursed through me just as Bernice’s Uber pulled away.
Goosebumps—check.
Hair rising on the back of my neck—check.
Crazy fluttering in the pit of my stomach—check.
Sudden urge to runaway—check.
Or kiss the person who was making me feel this way….
Check?
What the heck?
Phantom? Was he here?
No freezing due to the flight or fight decision this time. I turned and whipped my gaze to the dark street below Eric’s walk-up. Looking for him.
Looking for the man who’d been haunting too many of my waking thoughts since Christmas.
But I couldn’t find him anywhere in the shadows. I could only feel him for some reason.
“You alright?”
I didn’t realize I was crying until Wayne asked me that question, his voice gruff. I’m pretty sure a weepy woman was the last thing he wanted to deal with tonight after helping me clean up Bernice and get her downstairs.
I shook my head with an embarrassed smile. “Ever have one of those years that felt like several steps back?”
“No,” Wayne answered in a direct way that let me know why Phantom preferred him over most of the other Silent Triad members.
“Okay,” I answered. “Happy New Year anyway.”
Wayne just grunted—probably because it wasn’t truly New Year's Eve. Just like my engagement with Phantom had only been a game of pretend with sex added in as a bonus.
“We should get you home too,” he said. I think he suspected I was just as drunk as Bernice, and that made me even sadder as I climbed into the back of his Audi. Driving home, I felt even more sober than I’d been before the party.
A couple of days after that, I came down the stairs to find Tom and Wayne with their bags packed and ready to leave.
“So I guess this is it,” Tom said.
Something major must have happened to neutralize whatever threat had caused Phantom to command me to stay in Kentucky. The end of their guard duties was less like a phase-out and more like an abrupt disappearance.
Just like that, those last vestiges of my time with Phantom went away, too.
And I hated it…I hated that I wasted the first couple of days after they left picking up my phone, wondering if Phantom would call or text or maybe stop by.
Especially since he didn’t do any of those things.
