Page 12 of The Virgin's Baby
“Not a problem. I’ll pick you up.” I was getting excited about meeting this woman. “And since you don’t usually eat expensively, how about you let me make our lunch arrangements? Do you have a nice dress and heels you can wear?” I thought about it. “No, scratch that. I’ll send over something for you to wear. Send me your address, clothing, and shoe sizes. I’ll have something brought to you in the morning for you to wear.”
“That’s too much. I’ve got nice dresses. I can’t accept anything like that. And I’m still not sure about this.”
I wasn’t about to let her off my hook. “Let’s get together and talk. If nothing comes out of it, at least you’ve got an In with my grandfather’s oil company, Miss Petroleum Engineer Major.” Now how could she pass that up?
“Okay. Thank you. I’ll text you my address, and I look forward to meeting you, Ransom Whitaker. Goodbye.”
Is this fate?
Chapter Six
Aspen
Lubbock, Texas – May 16th
Margo sat in the living room interviewing a girl I had seen around campus a few times. Cher Sandoval was a shy, reclusive art major who I thought would fit right in with us. Margo wasn’t as sure about her as she asked her, “And are you going to be okay with sharing a room with a complete stranger, Cher?”
The girl looked down, her hands on her bony knees, uncertainty billowing like a blanket around her. So I took it upon myself to take a seat next to her on the sofa to give her some confidence. “You know, I was shy, too, once upon a time. Margo helped me come out of my shell a bit. I’m sure she can help you as well. And sharing a room isn’t hard if you stay out of each other’s way as much as you can.”
Cher chewed her lip. “I guess I could get used to it.” She lifted her head to look at Margo. “What if I paid that other share of the bills though?”
Margo shrugged. “Can you come up with that much?”
There went Cher’s little dark-haired head again, down looking at the floor. “I don’t know. I only work part-time at Chick-fil-A.”
Putting my arm around her narrow shoulders, I hugged her. “Come on. I think you need a roomie to help you find yourself. It’ll be fun. You’ll see.”
“I would love to get out of my parent’s home. They kind of stifle me,” Cher admitted.
I had the feeling that her parents were controlling, keeping her home as much as they could. “It’ll be good for you. How old did you say you are?” I asked her.
“Twenty-two,” she answered. “Old enough to make my own decisions. Even if my mother doesn’t agree with me.”
Margo seemed concerned. “If you do move in here, are we going to have to worry about your mother or father butting in on our lives here, Cher?”
She shook her head as she looked at Margo. “No. My mother doesn’t like to leave the house much. She won’t come over here. She’ll do her guilting over the phone. You don’t have anything to worry about.” She looked at me then. “I’ll take the room. If that’s okay with you guys.”
Margo and I exchanged looks and smiles, then I said, “Welcome home, Cher.”
It felt good to have at least one person who had a job living in the house again. The alarm went off on my cell, letting me know I only had one hour left before Ransom Whitaker would be picking me up for our lunch meeting.
Margo looked at my cell as I pulled it out of my pocket. “What’s that about, Aspen? You have an appointment somewhere you didn’t mention? A job interview?” She held up crossed fingers, telling me she hoped it was that.
“Well, it’s kind of like that. I doubt I’ll do it, but it is a job of sorts.” I got up to go change clothes and fix myself up.
“You better do it if it’s a job, girl,” Margo told me smartly.
Cher got up to leave. “I’ll go pack my things. Um, is anyone going to be home today so I can move my things in?”
Margo fished an extra house key out of her pocket. “Here you go. This one is yours. You can come and go as you please. Just please to remember to lock the door whenever you leave. Not that we have a ton of nice things anyone could take and sell, but the few things we do have, we’d like to keep.”
“I will be sure to lock up, Margo. Thank you. I’ll see you guys later, I guess.” The shy girl went toward the door as we gave her our goodbyes.
I started to head to my room, but Margo caught me by the arm. “Okay, I get you might not want to talk about this job in front of the new girl but tell me about it.”
Being open with people wasn’t my thing. And I wasn’t sure what Margo would think about me even entertaining the thought of being a surrogate mother. But I knew I should tell someone. “There’s a very rich man, and he needs an heir. He’s willing to pay a lot of money for a woman to have his baby. And there’s no sex involved.”
Her jaw dropped. “You want to have a baby and then give it away?”
