You Looked Down on Me Once Now You Look Up (Patricia and Oliver) novel Chapter 486

She didn’t look away until the two of them disappeared through the door.

On the way home, Emerson drove. Tina sat in the passenger seat, chatting with him to pass the time.

“I went for a check-up earlier. There was this older lady there—pregnant with twins, can you believe it? Got me wondering… do you think it’s too late for us to try for another, you know, before menopause actually hits me?”

Emerson adjusted his grip on the steering wheel, his voice even. “Pregnancy at our age is pretty risky.”

Tina let out a soft sigh. “I just worry that someday, all the responsibility will fall on Ruby. What if it’s too much for her?”

She perked up, an idea sparking in her eyes. “But with all the technology these days, maybe we could… I don’t know, adopt? Or try surrogacy? Bring home another little one?”

Emerson glanced at her, surprised by the hopefulness shining in her face.

He hesitated before saying quietly, “If that’s really something you want, I can look into it. But I think you should really think it through.”

Tina leaned her head against the window, a gentle smile on her lips. “Yeah. I’ll think about it.”

Halfway home, Emerson’s phone started buzzing over and over with new messages. While waiting at a red light, he picked it up and checked.

Three texts from Amber popped up one after another.

“My stomach hurts.”

“The doctor says it’s not looking good.”

“Can you come see me?”

Emerson read them quickly, then deleted the whole chat.

Tina, knowing full well the messages were probably from a woman, still asked with a casual curiosity, “Who was that? Aren’t you going to answer?”

“Just some real estate agent I added when we bought Ruby’s apartment. She’s a little too much. Not worth replying to.”

Tina had seen this sort of thing before. Whenever she and Emerson went to look at cars or houses, there was always some pretty saleswoman openly flirting with him, even right in front of her.

When she heard voices from the other room, Tina quietly put the phone back.

Meanwhile, over at Cloud Peak, Patricia had just come back from a walk in the garden, her skin lightly damp with sweat.

She was about to head upstairs to shower when Jackson hurried in. “Miss, Tina just ordered a bunch of furniture. She wants it delivered to the house tomorrow.”

Patricia stopped on the stairs and looked at him. “Come with me. Have Aiden meet us in the study.”

In the study, Patricia took out a small box and handed Jackson something about the size of a memory card.

“Go to the furniture store and hide this in one of the pieces.”

Jackson held it up to the light, curious. “What is this—a bug? It’s so tiny.”

Aiden shot him a look. “You have no idea. That’s a brand-new prototype from the boss’s company. It’s not even out yet.”