Page 79 of Baby For The Billionaire Silver Fox

“My work here is done. Don’t forget your coat on your way out.”

I did as I was told and decided to head to the gym. I could always think better when I was moving.

I wanted to be a father. But Mandy hadn’t been ready, and then when we divorced, I didn’t see it ever happening. Now I might have the opportunity to become a dad in probably less than six months.

I knew Nicole wasn’t out to trap me. There was no question that Mandy was wrong about that. She’d made that part up. In fact, Nicole had been trying to push me away. I thought she just needed time, and if I gave her that, her walls would come down. Those walls… it all made sense now.

I did a punishing workout as if moving weight around was the way to solve everything. I added a four-mile run on the treadmill for good measure.

Having had a little space, I was ready to talk to her. Shit, I needed her to talk to me and tell me what was going on in that head of hers. I called, but she didn’t pick up. I tried several more times throughout the evening. Frustrated, I texted her to call me.

I thought about going over and throwing pebbles at her window, insisting she come down. I decided against it because Buddy would bark and wake up Nana. That probably only worked in the movies, anyway.

But I wasn’t going to let her fade into the night and never speak to me again. I wanted to hear everything from her lips. There were things I wanted to know, and there were things I wanted to tell her.

- 29 -

Nicole

Iturnedoffmyalarm and snuggled back under the covers. I hadn’t slept much last night—hardly a surprise—and I wanted to crawl into a ball and pretend yesterday morning at the coffee shop had never happened. The look on Dan’s face at what Mandy told him kept coming back to haunt me.

I felt a presence, and I opened one eye. Buddy was sitting with his face as close to mine as he could get it, staring at me. He appeared worried that I wasn’t getting up. He evidently knew what the alarm meant.

“All right, smarty pants, I’m getting up.”

I shuffled into the bathroom to shower and get ready. Good thing my pants were stretchy. I looked at myself in the mirror and marveled at my small baby bump.

How are you this morning, Esmeralda?I asked it.

Pretty soon, she would be kicking hard in my belly: once for yes and twice for no in answer. That was absurd. One thing I knew was we were in this together, just us two.

I decided on oatmeal for breakfast and sat at the table to eat it. Nana came in as I was checking my messages. There were a few more phone calls from Dan, plus he’d left me a text to call him. I felt sick as I frowned at my phone.

Nana noticed. “What’s up?”

“Nothing much. Dan wants to talk to me.”

Nana raised her eyebrows. “Aren’t you going to?

“Dan is not part of the picture. Especially not now,” I said quietly.

“Hm,” she murmured, but the firm set of her jaw said more than that.

I looked away so she wouldn’t see the tears welling up in my eyes, blurring my vision.

I mumbled something about needing to get ready for work and left the kitchen before Nana decided to lay some of her wisdom on me. I couldn’t handle that right now.

I knew I didn’t look my best as I dragged my ass to work. I was really looking forward to doing my job and losing myself in other people’s problems. Maybe tonight I could get caught up on my sleep.

“Congrats!” one of the other nurses on my floor said with a smile as she hustled past me. By the time I figured out what she was talking about, she was gone.

“A baby. What a blessing,” another nurse commented shyly as we entered the lounge together.

“Thank you.” I smiled at her. “I guess the word is out, huh?”

“Of course,” she chuckled. “News travels fast around here, especially the good kind.”

Throughout the day, I heard words of congratulations and encouragement—even from some of my patients. Did everyone in this town love babies or something? Or were people just nice? I thought about the two people who were my parents. It would have cost them nothing to say kind words or encourage me from time to time. Maybe knowing hownotto act would make me a better mother.

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