Total pages in book: 28
Estimated words: 25833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 129(@200wpm)___ 103(@250wpm)___ 86(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 129(@200wpm)___ 103(@250wpm)___ 86(@300wpm)
Jason.
A man I never would have met had things gone the way I had planned for them to go. But now I go to bed beside him every day feeling like the luckiest woman in the world. I pursue a passion I never even knew I had because he planted the seed of the idea inside me.
Every day that goes by, I fall deeper and deeper in love with him. I know he’s going to propose to me soon, just like I knew Zack was going to one day. But unlike with Zack, I actually cannot wait for Jason to pop the question. I’m dying for him to. I think about it every day.
How will he do it? Where? When?
I don’t care about the size of the ring. He’s a billionaire. He could put a diamond the size of a boulder on my finger and it wouldn’t matter to me. All that matters is that we end up engaged and then married. That’s all I want.
Just the thought makes me smile as I place a hand on my belly and pick up the TV remote and begin flicking through the channels. Normally this process goes on for up to ten minutes before I find something and stop on it, but today is different.
Today I stop almost instantly. Today I see Jason’s face on the TV.
It’s a news channel, and it’s something serious. Not just some kind of fluff trying to tie Jason to the latest supermodel or something like that. There’s an earnest-looking male anchor in a blue suit staring down the camera as he speaks and big letters at the bottom of the screen that read:
Rooke Industries accused of dumping chemical waste and polluting drinking water of many small towns in Connecticut.
A chill runs through me, as if ice water has been injected directly into my veins. I raise the volume.
“Frightening news today for the multi-national company run by the billionaire CEO Jason Rooke. It appears the company has been ignoring waste disposal laws and regulations and has been instead dumping chemicals in the woods of Southern Connecticut. Experts say this has caused those chemicals to leech into the ground, poisoning the drinking water of the homes for many of the towns in the surrounding areas…”
I can feel myself going numb as another face fills the screen. Some kind of expert – a scientist or something who starts going on about the side effects that could occur if people drink the poisoned water.
“Well, it’s certainly not good for you, Jeff. It’s not safe. I urge people in the following towns to stop drinking from their taps and to only drink bottled water until this matter has been sorted out. Symptoms such as nervous system damage, organ damage, damage to the reproductive system, or even cancers can be experienced from long-term exposure, so I urge people to stop drinking from their taps right away.”
The list of towns on the TV is pretty large. How could something like this happen? How could Jason allow this?
But then my eyes stop on one town in particular.
Redding. The town where my grandfather lives.
My heart nearly stops. My grandpa with cancer, who lives in the zone the news just highlighted that has been exposed to chemical waste dumped by my boyfriend’s company.
I don’t even know how to process this information now.
I press mute and slowly stand. I pace the house slowly, doing my best to come to terms with everything I just learned. So many questions plague my mind. Did Jason know about this? He must have, considering it was his company. Why did he do such a thing? Why not dispose of the waste like he was supposed to? It’s not like he couldn’t afford to.
Was it the drinking water that caused my grandpa’s cancer? And if so, how am I ever going to be able to live with knowing that? How will I ever be able to look Jason in the eye again?
Is this the end of us?
I step outside and look up at the sky. I take a breath. This is a pivotal moment that will define the rest of my life. I place a hand on my belly. I’m carrying this man’s child – the man whose company is being accused of potentially poisoning thousands of people. And I just don’t know what to do.
But I do know I need to talk to him. So I take out my phone and dial his number.
And it goes straight to voicemail.
I try several more times, and all I get is voicemail. So he’s either crazy busy dealing with his corporation, or he’s fielding requests from the media and reporters who want to talk to him…or he doesn’t want to talk to you.
All of those could be possible, but it’s the last one that’s burning a hole in my heart.