Page 32 of Surprise Baby for Daddy's Best Friend

“Kim!” Mandi shouted from her bed. “Where’d you go?” Her voice came out as more of a whine than anything.

“I’m here,” I said with a sigh, and peeked out from the bathroom. “You doing alright there?”

Mandi nodded and closed her eyes again, “Can you keep it down?” She groaned. “My head hurts.”

There went my plan to at least relieve myself with music and the shower again. Nothing was going according to plan.

I sat on the bed and unlocked my phone. The evening was the most fun I had in a long time and dad was right about one thing, if I wanted to keep my standards high, I would have to find a guy willing to spoil me, but also one I could tease a little too.

Overall, it needed to end in us enjoying ourselves afterward so the teasing didn’t frustrate me. It didn’t matter if Jared supposedly had a lot of money. I didn’t care much about that or the exact spoiling that my dad claimed he wanted for me. I would have been fine if Jared just took me to McDonald's, as long as we enjoyed ourselves.

Still, the nice dinner had been a lot of fun, and I could get used to it as long as it was with Jared.

I searched for his name online. Most of the results ended with awards he had won throughout the years, or news about his business expanding and growing. Nothing that gave me any information about him specifically though. I turned to Facebook. He was old enough to still be there at least. Nothing. The closest I found was a public page with his name, but it was obvious by the posts it wasn’t him. They were too friendly. Too clean. If I messaged the page, it was probably some intern managing the page and not actually Jared.

“How am I supposed to get ahold of you?” I grumbled to myself.

Mandi muttered something in her sleep and rolled over so her back was to me. It was perfect. I could steal her phone and find Jared’s phone number that way. There was no way he would give her a fake number or some employee pretending to be him that way.

I smiled and reached for her phone, trying not to disturb her. It wasn’t locked which was an extra bonus. Though I needed to make sure she set a lock on it later. If I could easily steal her phone and do whatever with it, then anyone else could do the same.

She had dozens of numbers for different businesses and people with special titles added to them. Some of the contacts even had profile pictures of people in business attire. A stark contrast to the fun photos I grabbed from a person's social media account, or when I snapped a picture of them randomly while they were doing something. I stopped when I saw the name Dad on the contact and clicked on it.

The messages were pretty normal. Stuff a daughter would text her dad to check in on him, or make sure things were going alright. The latest messages were her expressing frustration that he had paid for everyone's meal at the table. I ignored the argument and clicked on his icon so I could see his phone number.

I quickly transferred his contact information to my phone and stared at the blank picture of his initials in the circle for his contact information. I had no fun photos of him. The only thing I could grab was his professional photos online which were out of the question. They didn't feel like him. I put Mandi's phone back on the bed next to her and hopped onto my bed.

The idea of texting him now was exhilarating. Just start sending him messages to make him wonder who the mysterious person was. Perhaps send a few pictures of me with my face cropped out so he had to figure out the mysterious secret admirer.

Mandi let out a loud snort and turned around. She cracked an eye open and yawned.

"What're you doing still up? It's getting late," she muttered.

"Oh, yeah, I guess it is," I shoved my phone under my pillow as if she could see her dad's name on my screen despite being so far away. I felt like a teenager texting a crush in front of her parents, "I'll head to bed in a minute."

Mandi nodded and closed her eyes again. I waited for her breathing to slow and the night to grow still again. At that point, I realized how tired I actually was from the day and tucked myself under my blankets. I stared at Jared's name on my phone for the rest of the night until I fell asleep, immobilized by the thought of what to send him as my first message, and the all-consuming questions…Did I want him to figure out who I was just yet?

The afternoon sunbeat down harder than usual today. I checked the temperature. Way over 100 today. I was dying for something to drink, or a way to cool off. Instead, I was stuck out on the sidewalk with the rest of the girls while we waited for the delayed car to show up.

"You're sure they know?" Mandi asked.

"Pretty sure," Amanda swayed where she stood. She fanned herself with the top of her tank top.

Thankfully, because of the planned outing, none of us were wearing anything too stuffy. I had chosen a pair of booty shorts and a crop top, but it wasn’t helping much.

A single blue sedan pulled up to the front of the resort and we all crowded toward it before the driver could roll his window down.

"Please," Amanda gasped as she pushed to the front of the group. "Please tell me you're here for us."

The driver picked up his phone, "Party for Amanda?"

"Yes!"

A sigh of relief escaped all of us at once.

"There are others coming, right?"

He narrowed his gaze and then pointed behind him, "Should be following me. Might be stuck at a red light."

---