Page 125 of Free Agent

I turned to walk away, but then stopped. When I turned back around, Monty was still wearing that same wistful, regret-filled expression.

"Where is she?" I asked.

"Melissa?"

"Yeah." I nodded.

"Last-minute nursery prep stuff with a friend. Why?"

I let out a deep sigh, still wondering if I should even say anything. "You should get a paternity test," I said. "I'm not trying to be ugly, but I know how important a child is to you. And… you should just get a paternity test."

He didn't look at all surprised by this statement. In fact, he shrugged. "As long as I can raise him, it doesn't actually matter."

"Of course, we'd love to build this for you," I answered Tatum's mom, hoping that the utter giddiness I was feeling didn’t come through in my voice.

I didn’t want to sound too eager.

Not because I didn't want her to think I was excited about the prospect of building out a parent app for her Wildflowers program, but because I didn't want her to think I was too excited about it.

Like, weirdly excited about it.

Even though, actually… maybe I kinda was.

"That’s wonderful! What all do you think we could include?" she asked as I jotted down notes from our phone call.

A hairdresser fussed over my curls behind me, and in front of me, a makeup artist put finishing touches on my eyebrows.

"We could do... a progress feature that is tied to expectations for that particular child. Not necessarily like these nebulous milestones that might make the parent feel unnecessary pressure. Everything fully customized and personalized. We could put in lesson plans, things they could do at home with their parents, articles and resources. Honestly, all kinds of things. You make a list of your dream things that you would want included in this app, and I'll talk to some of my consultants about what might be recommended, or possible. And I'll talk to Shannon and Hollis about timelines, user interface, all of that. We can put together a whole pitch package for you."

"Oh, that would be great," Mrs. Wilder gushed. "You are such a doll, you know that?"

"Well, thank you," I replied, giddy over that compliment.

Not only did she think I was a capable business owner and developer, she also liked me for her son.

Like, really liked me.

Not that Monty's mother hadn't, but she had definitely never been this warm about it.

And Tatum’s mom got along extremely well with mine, to the point that they had a regular lunch date.

It was one of those things that almost felt too good to be true.

Except it didn't.

It felt… perfect.

"Rori, we're ready. Haley and Rashad are here," Shannon said, walking up with the photographer and interviewer from Sugar and Spice.

Quickly, I wrapped up my conversation with Tatum's mother so I could properly introduce myself to the pair—well, to Haley, as I'd already met Rashad from a Sugar and Spice feature a few years ago.

This time, I was going to be on the cover.

The next few hours passed in a blur of questions and photographs, and by the end of it, I was wiped out.

Haley wasn't a typical interviewer; she actually asked in-depth questions about BabyBee, about my history, and about my future.

Notably, she did not ask me about my love life, a small little tidbit that I was super grateful for.

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