Page 54 of Doctor Daddy

My stomach knotted up with nerves. This is going to be what? I bit my lip and cringed waiting for her to finish her sentence.

A broad grin lit up her face. She looked so happy. She finally said, “…Amazing. I’m going to be an auntie. After the baby is born, I can help you. I can watch the baby while you do classes. We can juggle our schedules and we can make this work. You won’t have to do this alone.”

“Really, you’ll help me?”

Hey, I’m your best friend, and that baby’s auntie, of course, I’ll help.”

Tears pricked my eyes. I crossed the room and wrapped her in a hug. She hugged me back.

“I’ve already started thinking of some baby names,” she said.

“It’s been less than five minutes!”

She laughed, and I started to giggle along with her.

“We have work to do, and there is pizza waiting somewhere for us.”

I wiped my eyes. “You’re right.”

“I’m always right. Haven’t you figured that out yet?”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t tell you sooner.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. How are you going to keep this a secret from your parents?”

“That’s easy,” I said. “My Mom is afraid to leave Atlanta. She gets nervous going down to Pensacola. She sure as hell is not going to come up to Chicago. So, I figure I have a few months before they expect me home for a visit. And well, with the job I’m gonna get I’m probably not going to have any time off to go home for either Thanksgiving or Christmas. And by then…”

“And by then you’ll have a baby.” Angela finished my thought for me.

“Yeah,” I agreed.

“Have you started shopping yet?”

“For what?”

“Baby clothes, and diapers.”

“Angela, I’m barely pregnant.”

“Yeah, but you’re going to need a lot to get started. If you start buying stuff now, not only will you have a supply ready and waiting, but it also won’t be a super huge expense all at once. It’s something my cousin did, and I thought it was brilliant.”

“That is a good idea.” I hadn’t even thought of the related expenses this was going to cost me. I was going to have to plan for diapers and clothes. The laundry room was down three floors.

“You aren’t going to let the father know, are you?”

I shook my head. “He was a mistake. I’d rather he never finds out than accept a penny of support from him. He’s the type who would think that paying child support would mean he could tell me what I could and couldn’t do. I’m not doing that.”

“Fair enough. And when are you planning on telling your parents?”

I put my hand on my stomach. I wouldn’t be able to keep this from them forever. “When she’s ten?”

“You think it’s a girl? I was thinking of boy names, like Duke, or Danger.”

“Danger DeBoise? That’s the name of some action-adventure character, not a little boy.”

“I think it’s an epic name. He could be an actor with a name like that.”

“If my child grows up to be an actor, they can change their name.”

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