Chapter 114 114
Rachel was her biggest ally at BenTel , and if she were being honest, the only female she ever did anything fun with, like going out for drinks.
Rachel's phone seemed to ring for an eternity. “Sherry? You’re calling me from your phone? Why didn’t you just walk down to my office?”
“I’m at home. Can you talk without anyone hearing?”
“Two seconds. Let me close my office door.” There was a rustle on the other end of the line. “Okay, talk. Wait. Did you hear from you-know-who?”
“No.” Sherry rubbed her head. Good thing she’d bought that pain reliever. “I’m pregnant.” No reply came from the other end of the line. “Rachel? Are you there?”
“I just saw you two hours ago. What in the heck happened after I threw away the blueberry muffin?”
“It wasn’t until you said that thing about PMS that I realized I’d completely skipped my period. So I came home and took a pregnancy test.”
“Why didn’t you tell me? I could’ve come with you.”
“Because I was sure it was a stupid idea, that’s why.” It was worse than stupid. If she hadn’t done it, she could’ve been going about her normal miserable day. Now she had to go about her pregnant miserable day.
“Do you know who the father is?”
“You can’t be serious.”
“You weren’t together for much more than six weeks. How many times could you possibly have had sex?”
Sherry nearly snorted at the question. You have no idea. She and Justin had been like rabbits. There was no escaping their physical attraction. It had a life force all its own. “Let’s just say that he has a very short recovery time.”
“No wonder you were so bummed out to break up with him.”
Sherry sighed. She had indeed been sad to break up with him, although sex wasn’t the reason. She’d fallen in love with the big jerk. “He’s probably going to be the reason BenTel will go down the tubes. I couldn’t exactly look beyond that.” She could never forgive him for that. He not only knew exactly what her family meant to her, he’d known it all along.
“No, I suppose not.”
“So what do I do?” Sherry hadn’t even thought beyond this phone call. Making plans was not in her skill set at the moment.
“You have to tell Justin.”
“What am I supposed to do? Just waltz into his office and announce that I’m sorry that the last time I was there I had to tell him what a bastard he is, and by the way, I’m pregnant with your baby?”
“Think of it this way. It’ll be ten times more awkward when you run into him on the street a year from now and have to explain where you got your little baby who's probably going to look like him.”
A year from now. She might as well have been talking about the abominable snowman. Nothing seemed real anymore, especially not the future. Perhaps that was because she’d grown immune to all of it. Rachel had a point, too. There would eventually be a baby to explain to everyone. There’d be a baby bump before that. “I have to tell my family, too, don’t I?”
“At some point, yes. Nothing makes Christmas morning more uncomfortable than a baby nobody knew about.”
Sherry laughed quietly. At least she had Rachel around to lighten the mood.
“You know he once told me he wants a baby .”
“Oh, honey. He did?”.
“Yes, more than one in fact. He wanted us to get married too but I said no. I wasn't ready, and I don't think I am now,”
“I'm not exactly the sentimental type, but maybe this was meant to be. For whatever reason, the universe decided to bring you this baby now.”
Tears sprouted in her eyes, just right out of nowhere. A baby. “I don’t know what to think anymore, honestly, but maybe there is a reason this happened.”
“So when are you going to tell Justin?”
“Can’t I wait until after I go to the doctor? Maybe wait until the end of the first trimester just in case something goes wrong?”
“You have to tell Justin, honey. No two ways about that. He deserves to know and he deserves to know now. Every bad thing he did in the past doesn’t change the fact that you and he made a child.”
__________
Justin was drowning in the dead quiet of his apartment, but he didn’t have the energy to go into the office. Life without Sherry wasn’t getting any easier. If anything, it was getting harder.
He sat back in his office chair, rubbing at his stiff neck, feeling sore and achy. He’d been working out too much, not sleeping at all, and eating too little. Self-inflicted discomfort seemed only fitting considering the damage he’d done.
It’d been two weeks now, and each day felt as if it stretched on for eternity, a never-ending dirge of meetings and deals and money. He’d once lived on the adrenaline of it. Now it all felt empty.
Every night before he went to bed, he looked at the engagement ring he’d bought for Sherry. All of his pain, both physical and emotional, served as a reminder of what he was still holding out hope for—that he would stop the BenTel takeover and win her back.
Justin's phone vibrated on his desk. Did he even bother to look? Just another person wanting something from him, most likely, but he had to force himself to check. When he did, he stared at his phone in utter astonishment. Sherry.
His heart did a double take, jerking into high gear. Why was she calling? Was it because of the Sunny Side deal? He didn’t want to pin his hopes on anything, but he really hoped she was calling for some other, more personal reason.
“Hey,” he said, fumbling with the phone. Was that really the best he could come up with? He sounded like a teenage boy.
“Hey,” she replied. Her voice was sweet, but distressed, echoing in his mind throughout the most awkward silence Justin had ever endured.
“How are you?” he asked, deciding the course of polite conversation was the only one to take at this time. He wasn’t about to be defensive with her.
Everything bad and ugly had already been said.
“I’ve been better. I need to talk to you and we probably shouldn’t do it over the phone. In fact, I know we shouldn’t.”
“Okay. Do you want to give me a hint?”