Page 3 of Oops, I'm Having My Best Friend’s Baby!

“Sorry, Amy,” he said. “I have a meeting with a potential business partner. A big one…”

“It’s fine,” she said immediately, stamping down on the wave of dread and disappointment. The only tone she allowed to creep into her voice was one of cheerful and understanding acceptance. She’d known calling was a bad idea…

“It’s just we’ve been dancing around this proposal for months now, and…”

“Kai. It’s fine.”

“Sorry, Amy,” he said, and she knew that he meant it. Because Kai understood — of course he did — how she was feeling in this exact second. Which was why she’d wanted to call him in the first place, because even though the answer was “no,” at least there was someone who understood.

“Just tell me it’ll be okay,” she said, voice gentle, not wanting to guilt trip him, but desperately needing to walk away from this phone call with something. “That’s all I need.”

There was a soft huff of laughter on the end of the line before Kai spoke again. “It’ll be okay, Amy. Keep your head held high, all right? You’re there to do a job, not take part in schoolyard politics. Knock ’em dead.”

Amy had no idea when the smile had appeared on her face, but it was nice to feel it there.

“Well, I made my little churro cake-pop things, so I’ll have no trouble winning them over.”

Kai groaned. “Don’t tease me with the churro pops.”

“I’ll make you some,” Amy said. “On a different day.”

“Deal.”

There wasn’t much else to say after that, Kai really did need to get back to work and Amy would have to head off to the high school soon to start setting up. They hung up kind of awkwardly.

Kai had said it would be okay. So it would be okay. Her gut was still churning with nerves, but her head at least was calmer. She could do this. She would be just fine. And there was the half-formed promise of getting together soon, of making churros and seeing Kai in the flesh. But it wasn’t a date. Amy squashed that thought and any associated feelings down deep, banishing them back to oblivion. Despite their long friendship, she’d harbored a crush on Kai, on and off, their entire lives, and it liked to flare up at the most inconvenient times. She’d never given herself the option of acting on it, though. Ever. That friendship was too precious to lose. It was a once-in-a-lifetime sort of thing, and Amy would never forgive herself if she ruined it. Drifting apart was one thing, but detonating a bomb because she got giddy every now and then was an entirely different matter.

Suddenly the storm of anxiety about tonight, her to-do list, all of it was a welcome distraction from the warmth in her chest that speaking to Kai had sparked.

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