“A baby? What the hell kind of contract do you have for a baby? And why the hell would you want a baby?”
“Look, like I said, it’s complicated. But you know how Mom and Dad have been getting on me about settling down and having kids and passing on the family legacy and all that shit?”
“Yeah … and?”
“So I’m going to get them off my back. Emma’s a good person. She’s going to have my baby. I’ll pass on the legacy and the family name and all that. And she gets paid well for it all. And I’ll take care of her and the baby of course.”
“Are you insane? You only met her … what? A couple months ago? And you’re planning on getting her pregnant? It’s one thing to sleep with a girl. Hell, if both of you are into it then do it as much as you want. But having a baby …”
“She’s pregnant.”
“What? How long has this thing been going on?”
“The contract? A couple months.”
“And she’s pregnant already?”
“She got pregnant pretty quick, actually.”
“So now … now what?”
“Well, now we just go through the pregnancy and I keep taking care of her.”
“You take care of her. And how exactly do you do that?” he asks, the skeptical tone still evident in his voice.
“She lives at my house. I provide everything she needs there and everything the baby will need. And I give her an allowance for anything else.”
“And she’s … good with that?”
“She signed the contract and she’s still there so, yeah. I think she’s good with it.”
“You didn’t at any point think that you should talk to someone about this plan before you jumped into a contract and got the girl pregnant?”
“It all worked out just fine, Ethan. She’s pregnant just like we planned. And we’re going through the rest of the contract.”
“What if she bails?”
“Then the baby stays with me. And I’ll get a nanny to take care of it while I’m working.”
“I can’t imagine you with a baby. Whether the girl stays or not.”
“Well, I’m going to have one now.” Ethan slumps back in the chair and stares at me, still incredulous.
“This is … damn. What does your family think?”
“They don’t know yet. We’re going to talk to them soon.” Even though we haven’t really talked about that. “We’ll tell them then.”
“You think they’re going to be cool about it?” If anyone knows my parents it’s probably Ethan. And the truth is … no, they’re probably not going to be keen on the whole thing, if they find out the whole thing. But I’m not inclined to tell them.
“I’m just going to present her as my girlfriend and tell them she’s pregnant. I’m not planning on telling anyone what I’ve just told you.”
“That’s probably a good idea. Because they’d think you were nuts, too.”
“Is it really that bad of an idea?”
“How well did you really know this girl before you made this offer?” he counters and I shrug.
“Well enough. And it’s worked out well so far.”