Page 13 of Sassy Surrogate
We’re barely settled with our order placed when Rebecca pounces. “Spill. I’ve been going out of my mind with worry.”
Scrubbing my hands over my face, I take a deep breath. The last thing I want to be doing is rehashing the drama of the last couple of days, but maybe talking things over with her will help. After all, two brains are supposed to be better than one, right?
Two heads may well be better than one, but by the time I follow Rebecca out of the coffee shop and onto the sidewalk I’m emotionally exhausted.
“What are your plans for the rest of the afternoon?” she says unexpectedly.
For a second, I’m taken aback by her question. Well, damn. What are my plans for the rest of the afternoon? I don’t have a job to go to. For the first time in possibly ever, I have nowhere to be and nothing to do with my time.
“Nothing,” is my rather bleak answer.
“Why don’t you come over to my place? We can do dinner and just hang. It’s been an age since we just hung out.”
“I like the sound of that. Yeah.”
It sure as hell beats sitting at home alone with my thoughts and fears.
“Great.” Rebecca gives me a toothy grin. “I’ll see you at home then,” she finishes, handing me her keys.
7
Heath
Considering its lunchtime in the city centre, I’m surprised I don’t have to wait more than a couple of minutes to be seated. Settling into the plush booth, I quickly peruse the menu and quietly place my order. Once the server’s placed my coffee on the table, I sit back and take in my surroundings.
Suddenly, I hear an irate, “You have got to be freaking kidding me.” I’d recognise Rebecca’s voice anywhere, and I’m immediately intrigued by her words. My grandmother would be horrified if she knew I had every intention of eavesdropping on this conversation, but, with no shame, I get comfortable in my seat and await her companion’s answer with bated breath.
“Oh no, babe. I kid you not. The spineless bastard stood right in the middle of my living room, quite unashamed he’d broken into my house.”
I recognise the voice of Rebecca’s companion too. I would know that husky voice that makes me think of wooded whisky and satin sheets anywhere. When I do, my entire body goes rigid as I realise what her words imply. My executive assistant’s lunch companion is none other than Danica Brand, Rebecca’s best friend.
Despite our precautions, it would appear her attacker was more devious than we gave him credit for. I reach for my coffee, but my hand stills as she continues.
“Becca, that’s not the worst of it. I don’t even know where to start.” I hear her sigh, and then silence. Waiting on tenterhooks for her to continue, I’m almost tempted to jump up and demand she explain.
“Nica?” I hear the concern in Rebecca’s voice right before the quiet sob. A rustle of clothing is the only warning before it sounds as if Becca stands and slides back into the booth on the other side. I shrink back, attempting to make myself smaller so she won’t see me. Not an easy feat when you’re six-foot-three.
After what feels like an eternity of listening to Rebecca comfort her friend, she finally continues. “What am I going to do? He cost me my job, and now he’s gotten involved with a loan shark, he can’t pay his debt, and they’re threatening to kill my mother if he can’t come up with the two hundred and fifty thousand rand he owes them.”
The silence that falls over their table is absolute. All consuming. Until the furious whisper, “He did what now?” I can almost feel the waves of rage over the top of the booth.
Even I’m hard pressed to remain seated. I don’t know this woman well – I’ve only met her a handful of times. But Rebecca’s affection for this woman is clear for anyone to see or hear. The raw despair and fear in her voice tugs at every protective instinct in me.Hard.
Family is everything to me. And having grown up with an amazing father like mine, it’s difficult to comprehend that hers could throw her and her mother under the bus so easily. Then again, my mother walked away from her marriage and, more especially, her children, without so much as a backward glance, so, I guess it’s not as hard to imagine it after all.
Another sigh filled with so much misery it has me clenching my hands. “I told him I’d figure something out, but I have no idea where to even start. What the hell am I going to do?”
“Oh, Nica. I don’t even know what to say. I mean, he’s always been a dick – sorry, babe, but you know it’s true.”
“Yeah, you’re right. I know you’re right.”
“But this is low, even for him.”
“I feel so trapped, you know? So hopeless. I have no idea how the hell I’m going to get us all out of this mess.”
“Have you ever, just once, considered leaving him to dig himself out of the mess he keeps making for himself?”
I hear her sigh once more. “Yeah, I can honestly say if it weren’t for the fact that he’s managed to get my mom dragged into this, I would have left him to it. I’m so damn tired of it all. But she’s my mother. And the kind of lowlifes he always gets involved with, they wouldn’t hesitate to make an example of Mama.”
