134

134
CAMILLE
I sat in my office and stared at the flowers that had been delivered earlier in the day. They were beautiful but I didn’t know how to feel. Nobody
had ever bought me flowers before.
Even though I knew they were from Drew, I still hadn’t sent him a message to thank him. I couldn’t bring myself to. Since our night of sex a few days ago, I had been avoiding him.
It wasn’t the best way to deal with my problems, but I needed some space to think things through before talking to Drew. We needed boundaries. We needed to stop arguing all the time.
I needed to figure out what the hell I wanted out of life now that everything was changing faster than I ever thought it would.
With a sigh, I leaned back in my chair and ran a hand through my hair. I knew it was only a matter of time before he came looking for me, but I hoped that I could hold him off until then.
The first appointment with my doctor was tomorrow. If I could just make it until after that appointment without having another argument with Drew, I would consider that a win.
What we were going to do after the baby was born, I didn’t know.
How could two people who were so different make anything work? We didn’t even know how to be friends with each other. We could barely even work together on a good day.
This is all a giant mess. I don’t know how I’m going to figure all of this out.
There was a part of me that wanted to take the rest of the afternoon off. It was already after one. I could leave and go spend some time relaxing and trying to sort out my personal life.
However, if I left early, Tyson and Clarke would know that something was wrong. I had been careful to keep all that was going on in my life a secret from them. I still wasn’t ready to tell them that my house had burned down or that I was having a baby with their business partner.
The longer I thought about what was going on in my life, the more I wondered who I had pissed off in a past life.
My hand drifted down to my stomach. Despite everything that was going on, I was still excited to be having a baby. I was going to have to figure out how to run my career and raise a baby. There was no way that I could avoid taking time off. Hell, I wanted to take time off. It had been a long time since I had taken a vacation.
Although, trying to survive the first month or two with a newborn on my own wasn’t going to be a vacation. I was hoping that Drew and I could work things out so I could at least get him to watch the baby for a few hours while I took a nap.
“You look like you’re thinking hard,” Leigh said as she appeared in the doorway of my office, tucking a strand of her long brown hair behind one ear. “Something wrong?”
I smiled and took my hand off my stomach, reaching for a file that was on my desk. When I got up, Leigh’s gaze drifted to my stomach before she looked back up at me. There was a knowing smile on her face, but she didn’t ask the question and I was grateful for that. I wasn’t sure that I was ready to tell anyone.
Even though Leigh was my closest friend, and I needed someone to talk to, telling her that I was pregnant seemed like a big step. I would have to admit that I was seeing someone—at the very least sneaking around with someone
—and then there would be questions. She would want to know who I was seeing.
There was no way that I could tell Leigh—who was the wife of one of my bosses—that I was screwing another one of my bosses.
Leigh wouldn’t judge me for it, but I couldn’t ask her to keep it a secret from Clarke. That wouldn’t be fair to her. Then, once Clarke knew, he would be obligated to start a human resources investigation because Drew and I had not reported our relationship.
Telling Leigh that I was sneaking around with Drew would only resort in a giant mess.
“Camille?”
“Sorry,” I said, moving to the filing cabinet and putting the file inside. “Got a little lost in my thoughts. I’ve got another media storm to deal with due to Drew’s antics and I don’t know how I can keep cleaning up after him all the time.”
Leigh shrugged. “It’s time that he started growing up. I swear, if he runs Clarke’s company into the ground, I’ll kill him and then Haley will resurrect him and kill him again on Tyson’s behalf.”
I laughed, slipped my jacket on, and grabbed my purse from the chair on
the other side of my desk. “I don’t think it will get to that point, but he is driving me insane. There’s more work to do than I need but I’m fine with it.”
“If you ever need help, you know that you could tell Clarke to hire you an assistant.”
“I know,” I said as we headed for the elevator. “I don’t want an assistant right now though. I like working on my own.”
“You’re going to need somebody to help eventually if Drew doesn’t get his shit under control,” Leigh said. “I don’t know what’s been going through his head lately. He seemed so put together when Clarke hired him. Of course, he had a reputation and then he decided that he would rather get hauled in for meetings with the partners than get along with you.”
“It’ll get better soon,” I said as we reached the ground floor. “Where do you want to go get some lunch?”
“There’s a cute little Italian place around the corner,” Leigh said. “I’m craving pasta and if I don’t get some soon, I might turn into a raging bitch.”
I laughed and made my way to the front door of the building, waving to security. It was snowing outside but there was a car waiting by the curb. Leigh grinned and wandered through the snow, kicking some of it up in the air like a child.
“You know, it’s good to get out with you,” I said as we got in the car. “I’ve missed having you to talk to. Are you sure that you don’t want to move back to the city?”
Leigh laughed and shook her head. “I can think of a million things I would rather do. I hate living in the city. There’s too much noise and people are always in a rush. Things are much more peaceful out in the country.”
“I love the city. I just wish there were more houses around for sale at a reasonable price.”
“What’s wrong with your house?” she asked. “I’ve been there a few times.
It’s a nice enough little place.”
“Burned down,” I said, giving her a tight smile.
The car stopped just in front of the Italian restaurant. Leigh and I got out of the car and hurried inside, eager to get out of the cold. Leigh kept her mouth shut until we were sitting in a booth. I shrugged out of my coat and put it on the seat beside me before grabbing the menu.
“Your house burned down?” she asked, her words sounding slightly choked. “When did this happen?”
“Remember that weekend I took some time off and went out of town?” I asked. Leigh nodded as she took her coat off. “Happened while I was out of town. One of my neighbors called me and told me what was happening.”
Leigh’s mouth dropped open and a thin line appeared between her eyebrows. “Are you alright? I mean, clearly you’re alright and sitting right in front of me, but I mean mentally.”
“It’s been a lot,” I said, choosing my words carefully. She didn’t need to know that Drew was the one who discovered the fire at my house or that I was staying with him. “There was nothing that I could save. Too much smoke damage.”
“Do you need a place to stay? We have a couple condos in the city and I’m sure Clarke would be more than happy to let you stay at one of them.”
I smiled and shook my head. “No, thank you. I have a family friend I’m staying with. I don’t want to be a burden to Clarke.”
Leigh rolled her eyes. “It wouldn’t be a burden at all and you know that.
Clarke treats you like you’re his little sister.”
The waitress interrupted us, taking our orders for drinks and appetizers before disappearing. I studied the menu, looking for the pasta dish I wanted
the most before settling on an asiago chicken bowtie dish.
Before Leigh could jump back into asking questions, the waitress came back with our drinks and took our entrée orders. When she disappeared, Leigh took a long sip of her lemon water.
“I wish that you would have called me when it happened,” Leigh said with a small frown. “I would have been able to help you.”
“It’s okay,” I said, reaching across the table to squeeze her hand. “I know that I could have called you but I had people already taking care of me. There was no need to bother you guys.”
“How did it even happen?” Leigh asked as our plate of cheesy garlic bread was set between us.
I picked up a piece of the bread, my mouth watering at the cheese pull when I separated the pieces. Leigh grabbed one of her own, taking a big bite and looking at me expectantly.
“I left a curling iron on,” I said, my cheeks heating. I took a bite of the bread and nearly moaned at the taste of the garlic butter. “It got too hot, lit shit on fire, and the rest is history.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to talk to Clarke? We have a condo near the office.”
I shook my head and grinned. “It’s fine, Leigh. Stop worrying about me. I have a place to stay.”
“I’m always going to worry about you,” Leigh said, her gaze darting down. “Especially when you keep resting your hand over your stomach like that.”
I pulled my hand away from my stomach and blushed. While we were talking, I hadn’t realized that I was touching my stomach.
“It’s a secret for now,” I said as I grabbed another piece of garlic bread. “I don’t want people to know yet. It’s still early.”
“I won’t tell anyone,” Leigh said, her smile stretching from one side of her face to the other. “You must be so excited! Have you see the doctor yet?”
“I’m going after lunch.”
“Do you want someone to come with you? I have nothing else I need to do for the rest of the day.”
I considered it for a minute. I had thought that I was going to be doing this on my own, but maybe I didn’t have to. Leigh was my friend. She would be by my side, and she would help me if I asked her to.
“You know what,” I said as I finished my second piece of bread, “I would really like it if you came with me.”
“It’s settled then,” Leigh said as our entrées were set in front of us. “We’ll gorge ourselves on pasta and then we’ll go see your beautiful baby.”