Olivia already had her eyes set on it. She wasn’t obsessed with becoming managing director the way she’d been obsessed with becoming vice-president, but she still had goals. Her dreams of conquering Wall Street hadn’t vanished just because she’d struck a healthier work-life balance.
“I’m sure you will.” Alina’s eyes twinkled. “So...you have your first ultrasound today?”
“Yes.” Olivia narrowed her eyes. “Isthatwhy you came here? So you can tag along to the ultrasound?”
Her sister was the picture of innocence. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Bull. Shit. You’re as bad as Sammy’s family.” Olivia planted her hands on her hips. “Do you know who’s already coming with me to the sonogram besides Sammy? My mother-, father-, brother-, and sister-in-laws and my entire book club, plus a group FaceTime call with Farrah, Kris, and Courtney. I swear the sonographer is going to kick me out.”
“Great. That means one more person won’t make a difference,” Alina said, ignoring the last part of Olivia’s statement.
It took time, but after she got out from under Eleanor’s thumb, Alina had relaxed and blossomed into the warm, loving soul Olivia remembered from her early childhood. Alina and Eleanor still kept in touch—barely—but her sister no longer let their mother run her life, and it’d made all the difference. Alina was thriving at work, dating for fun instead of being laser-focused on finding the “right” husband, and she looked happier than Olivia had ever seen her.
Olivia gave up on trying to dissuade her sister from joining her at the ultrasound appointment. “Fine. Meet me there,” she grumbled with affection. “I’ll text you the address. Now, I need to get back to work so I can afford the mountain of diapers in my future.”
Alina hadn’t left for more than a minute before Lizzy knocked and poked her head in. “Michael wants to see you in the conference room.”
Olivia’s brows furrowed. “Do we have a client meeting?”
They only used the conference room for client and staff meetings, and they didn’t have the latter scheduled for today.
“He didn’t give any details, but he said it’s urgent.”
“All right.” She sighed. She’d hoped for extra time to review her notes before her three o’clock meeting, but she guessed that wasn’t happening. Luckily, she’d already done the bulk of the preparation yesterday.
She followed Lizzie to the conference room. The office had emptied for lunch, and—
“Surprise!”
Olivia’s jaw unhinged when she saw her co-workers crowded around the large mahogany table, beaming. Michael, Cassidy (now a VP), Logan (who, unfortunately, still worked at PHC but who’d toned down his snark given Olivia was now his boss)...they were all there. Some wore party hats; others held balloons. A giant white, pink, and blue cake sat in the middle of the table, along with soda, chips, and assorted other snacks.
Her heart picked up pace.How did they find out?
She’d been so careful about hiding her pregnancy, but everyone looked happy—except for Logan—and they were throwing her a party, so maybe she’d agonized over the announcement for nothing.
“Who told you?” she blurted.
Her colleagues exchanged glances.
“What?” Cassidy spoke for the rest of the group.
“Who told you I was pregnant?”
You could hear a pin drop.
Michael’s eyes widened while Cassidy’s mouth fell open. A quick look around the room confirmed they weren’t the only ones with that reaction.
Dread slithered into Olivia’s stomach at their obvious shock.Shit.Theyhadn’tknown, but then what was—
“No one.” Logan snorted, quickly masking his smug satisfaction with a fake smile. “This was your belated surprise birthday party.”
“We didn’t celebrate a few weeks ago because of the Haldern-Pacific deal,” Michael explained.
“Oh.” Olivia didn’t know what to say. Of all the ways she’d imagined announcing her pregnancy, dropping the bombshell by accident to her entire office hadn’t been one of them. She might as well have hit reply-all to an email with a photo of her sonogram. She let out a nervous laugh. “Well, surprise! I’m pregnant.”
Fuck it, the secret was already out. Time to embrace it and take the consequences as they came.
More silence.