Page 54 of Baby for My Billionaire Rival

All of us waiting on one thing and one thing only. The godforsaken blue and white test on the sink.

“I don’t think you are,” Jude says.

“You keep saying that,” I reply.

She grins nervously. “Just a feeling.”

“Could you stop pacing?” I ask Chase accusatorily.

Chase pokes his head into the doorway. “I’ll do what I have to given the circumstances, thank you.”

I rest my head on my knees. I hadn’t meant for him to get involved, but when I came to their house, Jude answered the door and I exploded with the news that I might be pregnant and needed to take a test in the bathroom immediately.

Chase happened to be walking into the front hall at that exact moment. The look on his face will be burned on my mind forever in the absolute worst way.

“Well, no matter what, it’s going to be okay,” Jude says.

“Jude, stop. Please.”

No one speaks for a while. Who knew three minutes was such a long time? Finally, Jude’s alarm goes off. I sit up straight. The three of us look at each other, some sort of standoff.

“Who wants to do the… honors?” Chase asks.

“Can you literally not?”

He flinches. “Sorry.”

“I can do it if you want,” Jude says.

“No, no. I’ll do it.”

I get to my feet, and look in the bathroom mirror, consciously realizing that this moment is a turning point. Maybe. Or maybe not. Maybe I just ate some bad chicken salad and we’ll all laugh about this tomorrow. I grab the test, look down at the results indicator and freeze.

“What does it say?” I hear Chase’s voice.

“Caroline?” Jude’s now.

Everything fades into the background, all of my senses dulling as I’m overcome with the truth.

“I’m pregnant,” I whisper.

Tears spring into my eyes. Not of sadness. Not of anger.

They’re complicated tears. I think I’m terrified.

But I also think I might be happy.

Chapter 18

Jake

Halfway through the semester means it’s time for quarterly reviews with Fig. I arrive early for my appointment purposefully to get some emails sent out. Emails are one of my least favorite activities. When Caroline and I were together, she’d always let me dictate to her while she tapped that out on my phone, her nails clicking. We’d be lying in bed running my business and the next moment we’d be completely naked, all over each other.

I miss her. I miss her a lot.

Not just for the sex and the intimacy, although that’s a big part of it. I just missher. Her presence and her bright smile. The way she listens and leans in when I hold back from saying what I really want to say.

I feel more alone than I did after Dad passed away. Because it felt like for a moment, I saw a glimmer of hope at the end of the dark tunnel, only to be shrouded once again in darkness.

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