Page 5 of The Surrogate Mother
Shelley laughs. “Don’t worry, Abby, I won’t blab your secret.” She grins at Monica. “But anyway, she’s got a big trust fund, so she doesn’t have to worry about the cost of diapers, believe me.”
She isn’t entirely wrong. I do have a small trust fund that’s gotten me through some tough times. But it’s not infinite money. I’m well-off, but not rich. That said, the cost of diapers is definitely not something I need to stress over.
Monica wanders off to grab a sandwich, but Shelley lingers by my side. She’s got an unreadable expression on her face. I’ve known Shelley ten years, since the two of us were both lowly assistants ourselves, but I still have troubleknowing what she’s thinking. “You getting nervous, Abby?” she asks me.
I give her a look. “What are you talking about? I nailed the Cuddles pitch.”
“That’s not what I mean. Are you nervous about the B-A-B-Y?”
I shake my head. “No. We’ll be fine.”
“How about Sam? How’s he holding up?”
I can’t suppress a grin. “He’sreallyexcited. It’s adorable. He spent all of yesterday putting together the crib.”
“Oh right, I forgot—Sam’s perfect.”
“He’s not perfect…”
“Yes, he is.” Shelley takes a swig from her baby bottle. What isinthose things? “He takes out the garbage, he cleans, he does laundry… he presumably changes the toilet paper roll more than once per millennium. He even cooks now…”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” I say. In the last few months, buoyed by the excitement of the new baby coming, Sam decided he was going to learn how to cook. The results have been mixed. No, that’s kind. He’s horrible at it. You would think that just by following a recipe, he could achieve some level of competence, but no.
“Well, so what if he can’t cook?” she says. “Most importantly, he’s still desperately in love with you even though you’ve been marriedforever. And best of all, he’s still really hot. He hasn’t lost even one hair on his head, while Rick is practicallybald.”
I almost laugh at the expression on my best friend’s face. “Rick isn’t bald.”
“No, I said he’spracticallybald. Bald would be better! Instead, he’s pathetically clinging to those last few strands.”Her jaw tightens. “One day, I swear I’ll shave him in his sleep.”
“I’d think Sam was just as handsome even if he went bald.”
“Please stop, Abby. You’re going to make me vomit.”
“Well, sorry.”
Shelley always pretends to be jealous of me, but the truth is, her husband Rick is a really good guy too. He’s a great dad too, as far as I can tell. But yes, I have to admit, Sam is hotter and less bald. But that’s not all it’s cracked up to be. I like having an attractive husband, but it’s not so great when that attractive husband is a math professor who works with young undergrads.
Not that I think Sam would cheat or anything, but…
Well, he wouldn’t. But sometimes I wish he worked at an all-male university.
I feel my shoulders relax as Shelley and I chat. Maybe I can spend more than fifteen minutes here. I have done nothing but fixate on the Cuddles campaign for the last three months—I’m entitled to at least twenty minutes to enjoy a party held in my honor. How often do I get a baby shower?
I pick up the baby bottle in my hand and take a long swig from the nipple. And… damn—it reallyisapple juice. Okay, I guess I won’t enjoy this partythatmuch.
I’m about to suggest to Shelley we get drinks after work when the door to the conference room cracks open. My mouth falls open when the familiar face of my husband appears at the door. A warm feeling of joy fills my chest like it always does whenever I see Sam unexpectedly. I can’t believe Shelley invited him! She’s the best.
“Hey, it’s the father!” Shelley calls out when she spies him at the door. “Sam!Come get a bottle!”
Sam smiles crookedly. Whenever he appears suddenly, I always get a jolt when I notice how handsome he is. A guy like him could easily have become a player, but he’s actually somewhat shy and often seems mortified by the impact he has on the opposite sex—like when his students refer to him as Professor McHottie. He wears glasses because contacts are “pointless,” he’s never bought a bottle of hair gel in his life, nor has he ever even set foot in an Armani store. Yet in spite of all that, he still manages to turn heads on a regular basis.
“Hey,” I say. I’m smiling so wide now that it’s beginning to hurt. “I can’t believe you made it here. Didn’t you have a lecture this afternoon?”
“Uh, yeah.” Sam scratches at the stubble on his chin because he only shaves every other day, even though he really needs to shave every day. He looks ridiculously sexy on non-shaving days. “Hey, um, Abby…”
Sam lifts his brown eyes to meet mine. Sam has really kind eyes. They say the eyes are the window to the soul, and if that’s true, my husband has the best soul of anyone I’ve ever met. He has a lot of good qualities, but it’s his kind eyes that made me fall in love with him.
And I know just from looking into those eyes that something horrible has happened.
