Free The Price of Fame: A Price Novel (The Price Novels Book 2) by Maggi Craft Page B

coworkers looking at us and talking to each other. Arden let go of my hand, announcing, “I’m going to the bathroom. Let’s get this over with. Order me a cheeseburger while she’s over here.”
    I let her out. By “this,” she meant smile and be all Hollywood Slayde for the two servers. Though that was the very last thing I felt like doing at the moment, I knew it was necessary to have any peace for the rest of our time in here.
    I ordered our food and handled the little meet and greet really quickly before Arden made it back. She plopped down across from me. “Is it over?”
    I laughed. “I hope.”
    She mostly picked at her food, but a few bites were really all I ate myself, so it was a quick meal.
    On the way to the car, Arden said, “I’m kind of thinking going to a nice hotel and living off pay-per-view and room service sounds amazing right now.”
    I felt a smile creep across my face. “Couldn’t agree more.”
    We drove to the Ritz Carlton in San Diego. While she took a shower, I ordered us decadent chocolate cake and her favorite wine.
    She emerged in a fluffy white robe and wet hair moments after room service left. “Wine?” she asked.
    “Yes. Unless you want something else.”
    “No, that’s perfect. Thank you.”
    She smiled a little, handing me her glass. I poured us both a glass, took a sip of mine, and then went to take my own quick shower.
    But when I came out to join her, she was lying on the bed, crying. I lay next to her and hugged her but let her cry.
    “Why did this happen?” she asked.
    “I don’t know, but it’s not your fault. I do know that.”
    “I didn’t listen to you. I was so concerned about my residency that I neglected my body. Like I always do. What does that say about me as a mother? As a wife?”
    I made her turn over and face me. “It says nothing about either of those things. It was probably going to happen anyway, baby. You couldn’t have done anything to stop it. Between 10 and 20 percent of pregnancies end in miscarriages. That’s a lot.” She looked up at me with a questioning look. “Google,” I said.
    She almost smiled. “You Googled it?”
    “I Google everything. If I die, please destroy my phone and laptop. My Google history alone would kill my mother of shock.” Noticing that this was lightening her mood, I continued with my insanity. “Anywhere from midget porn to “do birds fart?” Google.”
    She burst out laughing. “Midget porn? Really, Slayde? Please tell me why.”
    “Hello, haven’t you ever wondered if midgets have midget penises or regular-size ones?”
    Laughing still, she said, “No, but now I need to know what your findings were.”
    “Ahhh, proportional to the rest of the body.”
    She hugged me, laughing. “Seriously, I love you.”
    “Yeah, I know.” She squeezed me, and I kissed her forehead. “Love you more.”
    She let out a deep sign. “We’re gonna be all right, huh?”
    “Yep.”
    She relaxed into my body, and that gave me peace. I knew as long that as she could deal with this, we would be fine.
    After our two days off, we both went back to work. It was probably for the best. Sitting home dwelling on it wasn’t going to change it, nor was it going to make it easier. Staying busy and going back to normal life was all we could do at this point. So that’s what we did.

Chapter 7
Slayde
    A day later, I had a day off. I didn’t want to sit around my house thinking, so I invited Kevin and Whitt to come over to cook out and drink beer. Arden wasn’t supposed to be home until the next night, so I went to sleep after they left without cleaning up.
    But when I woke up in the morning, Arden was home. She wasn’t being quiet either, which meant that she was trying to wake me up. She even turned on the light in the bedroom before looking through her drawer for a shirt.
    “Why are you home?” I asked.
    She turned around and glared at me. “What do you mean, why am I home? Was I not supposed to come home?”
    Damn,