Just not with her name.
Your Ally Cat was written in her tight little scrawl, and fuck if it didn’t make me smile.
She was mine, and she had been since high school. And if we went to that reunion together, there wasn’t a person there who wouldn’t know it.
Especially her.
I shoved the folder across the desk and rose. Actually, nope, I wasn’t going to tear up the contract. Not where I had it in writing that she was mine. I’d take proof in whatever way I could get it.
She wasn’t going to shut me out forever.
I’d made it halfway to the door when Oliver swung into the room, his briefcase in one hand and his eyebrow already climbing for greatness. “So you drove her away, hmm?”
Frowning, I stopped dead. “Drove who away?”
“Why, Alison, of course. She’s the only woman in your life, isn’t she? Perhaps not.” Oliver moved forward to sit on the corner of my desk. “That would explain the secrecy. You have to know friends with benefits never works out well long-term. Or maybe you don’t. Consider it free advice. Just another of Oliver’s—”
“You don’t have any friends, so what would you know about it?” I muttered, not caring if the jab hurt. My brother certainly never worried overmuch about his pointed remarks in my direction. “Oliver’s Life Lessons”, he called them.
I usually offered a lifted middle finger as thanks.
“I know Alison has called out sick all week to work and Sage grew desperate enough to ask me if I’d seen her. I indicated I had not. Clearly she’s not warming your bed either.”
As if he’d dropped a giant weight onto my shoulders, I returned to my desk and sank into my chair. “She’s called in? She never does that. Maybe she really isn’t feeling well.” Hope bloomed inside me as I did some quick calculations. It was early, but possible. She could definitely be feeling some twinges if something had taken root.
But she hadn’t called me.
I reached for my desk phone just as Oliver snatched up the folder. And started to read while I stared almost unseeingly at him.
My slowness to react had to do with the possibility Ally could be pregnant. That was the only reason I had for not leaping to my feet and yanking the folder out of my snoop of a brother’s hands.
“Well, now, isn’t this interesting? A baby contract. Is Ally feeling the need to procreate? She is nearing thirty. I can see why she’d want to move on that sooner rather than later.”
“Give me that, you jackass. And no, Ally wasn’t feeling anything. I was the one who wanted the baby.”
Oliver’s brows snapped down as he peered at me over the folder I wasn’t getting back unless I wrestled him to the ground—and that might end up happening. “I think you better cut back on those vitamins you’ve been taking. That ginseng-biloba must be messing with your wiring.”
“My wiring is just fine.”
“You have a baby. Why would you want another?”
“Laurie is four. Hardly a baby. And I’m not justifying my decisions to you.” I narrowed my eyes. “Why is it so shocking that I’d want another kid? The first one came out pretty damn good.”
“She did, but one is plenty. What do you think you’re going to do? Quit your job and play house husband?” He glanced at the contract. “Seems like you just want her eggs and want her gone. Paying for her school, huh? Guess that explains why Sage mentioned her applying for classes in New York City. Free ride.”
Oliver probably kept talking, but I wasn’t listening anymore. All I could hear in my head on a constant loop was that she’d applied for school in New York City.
Miles and miles away.
I had no right to feel hurt. That had been what I’d suggested all along. We’d make a baby, then she could go to school wherever she wanted. In the back of my mind, I’d always known it was a real possibility whether I gave her the funding or not. Ally mentioning wanting to split town was less frequent these days, but every now and then, it still came up. She wanted a fresh start. Hell, she deserved one. My money could give her that.
Equal exchange. And hey, she could always come see our kid on weekends and breaks and holidays. The city was only a little over four hours away. Not that far at all.
“Fuck.” I slammed my fist into the desk, barely registering the sting.
Oliver shut the folder. “Didn’t know she was applying to schools in New York City?”
“No. I mean, I told her anywhere was fair game.”