They will fire me, and probably excommunicate me, when they find out I’ve become pregnant outside of marriage. They tried to fire me when my husband...left me. Since my husband abandon me though, they didn’t have grounds.” She laughed. “This time, it’s all on me. Then I saw you in the paper.”“I’m still not clear on where this is going, Ms. Barnes.”“It’s really simple, Mr. Stephens. I like my job. I don’t want to lose it. I’m willing, if it means keeping my baby, but I would rather not.”“And?” I. "I can't wait to chat with you again tomorrow!" I gushed. She looked crestfallen."I have a date with Michael tomorrow," she said sadly."No worries," I promised with a smile. "We'll work something out."===We managed to chat again a couple of nights later. She begged for another true story. I begged to see what her hand was doing "down there". She begged to watch me finish again. It was a good chat.We both had busy weekends planned, so we made plans to chat again in the new week.===I have used. Could you..." This was hard for him. He was compelled to bring her back through me even as he knew what damage it did. It reminded me of the powerful cravings I had to smoke even though I knew it would slowly kill me. He paused hoping he had said enough. Realizing he hadn't, he nudged the request forward tentatively, "Would you mind..." a pause, ".. maybe grabbing some things..." a pause, "of your mother's ...?" I nodded, stopping this painful display. I was gaining nothing from having both of. She looked back once to make certain, and as she turned to look forward again, the toe of her shoe caught the crack in the pavement, pitching her forward. Cale caught Emma just as her balance had passed the tip-over point. Emma looked forward just in time to see his open jacket and the T shirt that he wore below that. Cale caught her a little awkwardly, but was at least gratified that it was her cheekbone that hit his chest and not her pretty nose. He did his best to soften her landing against.