There is a woman, or rather, a girl beside him. Standing only just to his shoulders, she smiles kindly and introduces herself as Eloise. She has perfect blonde tresses sitting on her couture dress. With her ruby red lipstick and long dark eyelashes, she is quite a stunning girl.
“Eloise is Haden’s fiancée,” Marcus gloats.
Vicky moves her head in a not-so-subtle way towards me, watching my reaction and yelling with her eyes, “OMG, what the fuck?!”
The shock and enormity of the situation is constricting my vocal cords, forcing me to reach out my hand and congratulate them. I manage to mumble something congratulatory and when Haden’s hand touches mine, I don’t want to let go.
He watches our hands touch and holds on for a second before I pull away. Behind his glasses, his eyes watch me in silence until Vicky opens her mouth, breaking his gaze.
“So you got engaged in London?”
“Paris actually. Haden popped the question and I said yes!” She flashes her ring, which I pretend to be interested in. Something about princess cuts and Harry Winston in the same sentence. Wow, I had no idea he had money since he bummed around so much. Okay, that is not the issue at hand. What the hell is happening here? I mean, did fate just leave another pile of dog shit on my porch or what?
He. Is. Engaged.
You. Are. Carrying. His. Baby.
What is wrong with this picture? Absolutely everything! Words are being exchanged around me yet I’m deaf, falling into a dark hole and wishing I could rewind back to the days when my biggest problem was Jason putting his white socks in with the pile of black ones.
“So we should double date sometime,” Marcus insists.
“Triple date. Find me a man, Marcus,” Vicky adds.
“Hard to find you a man when you’ve slept with the whole city.”
A mini argument starts and I turn to face my computer, fairly certain the contents of my stomach will soon end up all over my keyboard. I have been fortunate enough to avoid morning sickness, but I definitely know things are changing—including my appetite. I excuse myself and rush to the restroom. Vicky follows straight after me.
“You okay? Well, I know you’re not.”
“I can’t do this, Vicky . . .” I pace up and down the small restroom, then rush to the stall to vomit profusely. Vicky is holding my hair, rubbing my back until I flush the toilet and pull myself up.
Back at the basin, I repeatedly splash my face with cold water.
“You can do it because you have to,” she reminds me, gently.
“Vicky, he is getting married. Four months is a short time to meet someone and get engaged but fuck, I can’t ruin his life.”
“You’re not ruining it! You have a baby inside you. That’s a blessing!”
“Then why do I feel like it’s the worst thing that could happen to me?
“Because you’re scared, Pres. My mom was sixteen when she had me. Then eighteen when she had my brother. That’s scary. You’re thirty-two. You can handle this.”
“So even if I can handle it, I don’t think he can.”
“He has time to get used to the idea. The baby is not coming out now. You’re only four months along. Still another five months. Plenty of time,” Vicky reassures me.
I don’t feel reassured. I know Haden well enough to know that this is not in his plan. It wasn’t in my plan either. But I know what I have to do; Haden would see this as the monumental fuck-up that ruined his life.
Marcus is still lingering around my cubicle when I return. He doesn’t seem worried that I disappeared, and instead, makes plans for lunch.
“I won’t be able to go out today. I’ve got a lot of work to do.”
“It can wait,” he states.
“No, it can’t.” My patience is wearing thin and I just want to be alone for a minute to process my thoughts. “It’s probably best you just go for now.”
“What’s going on with you?” He raises his tone.