The Chauffeur

by A. P. Hallmark

  After I hang up the phone, Jason bends to kiss my forehead, placing the tray of goodies on my lap.

  “Good morning, beautiful. I made a pot of coffee for us,” he says, stroking my face. I take the tray and set it on the bed so we both can share the what he brought from home.

  “So, that call was with your parents, then?” he asks, placing our cups on the nightstand and then fluffing his pillow to sit against the headboard.

  “Yes,” I answer taking a mouthful of buttery croissant. “I wanted to tell them about my new job.”

  I pick apart the flaky pastry, contemplating what all this means.

  “What’s up, baby?” he asks, lifting my chin so that I’m looking at him. “Something bothering you?”

  “I’m just disappointed that I have to move out of this apartment. I fell in love with it, and I enjoy being so close to you,” I say taking his hand in mine.

  “Well, what if you could stay, would you?”

  “What do you mean? I can’t stay here, Jason. The new driver will be living here.”

  “I’m sure my parents will talk to you about this later, but I think I can tell you that they aren’t going to hire a new driver right now. My father and I feel that it’s in your best interest to stay close to home. Your safety is top priority now that we see what Kathryn is capable of.”

  “I’m scared, Jason. That accident was meant for your parents. I believe that Kate somehow got information that your parents were going to be on that flight, and she intentionally rigged that explosion. She threatened to take you and your family down, right?” He nods in agreement. I know he’s thinking about Roger and the crew, just as I am.

  “Just make sure you stay close to me, Kyle, my dad, or Adam. I would include Sam in there, but I don’t want him this close to what’s going on. Although I know he’s close to Sue now, he still drives Kate around, and until we find out what she’s up to, it’s best to keep Sam at arm’s length. Are you all right with that?”

  “Yes. My parents were asking me to come out to visit them before school starts, and I’d love to spend some time with them either before school or at Christmas. Also, I have staff meetings at the university that I will need to attend. I’m not sure how we’ll work that out and have one of you staying close to me.”

  “I’ve been giving this careful consideration, and I’m going to assign a man to accompany you while you’re at school. You’ll be safe there, I assure you.” He gets up and moves the tray away, placing it on the floor next to the bed. “Come here,” he says, lying back down on the bed then pulling me into his arms.

  “What about visiting my parents?” I ask, snuggling close, feeling the need to sleep some more.

  “Let me know when you want to go, and I’ll have Sue clear my calendar. It’s time I meet them anyway, don’t you think?”

  ~.~

  “Hey, Emily,” I answer when I hear her ringtone.

  “April?”

  Uh-oh, this doesn’t sound good.

  “What is it? Are you all right?” I ask, and then stop loading the washing machine.

  “Can I come over? I think I’m in trouble.” Her somber response is verging on tears. My stomach reacts with fear and concern.

  “Yes, of course. Hurry, but drive carefully.” After I finish loading the machine with my last load of towels, I set off to make us a snack before she gets here. I’m grateful that Jason won’t be back for a while since he drove himself to Romeoville for the day to meet with the plant manager and to do a little investigating of his own. He said he wanted to go through the personnel files in search of Joe Smith.

  Once I place the last bit of cheese on the tray, Emily buzzes that she’s arrived, and I release the downstairs door for her to enter, meeting her on the landing. Once she reaches the top of the stairs, I take her hand and pull her inside my apartment.

  “What’s wrong? I’ve been a nervous wreck since you called,” I say as she walks across the room to the kitchen and empties the contents of her bag onto the counter. I look at the pile of every pregnancy test available on the market.

  “Oh, Emily,” I say in a whisper. “Let’s get started.”

  She takes three of the boxes into the bathroom with her, while I sit nervously, waiting on the side of the bed. When she calls me in, she has placed all three tests on the counter … each one displaying negative results.

  I pause, looking to Emily for her response to the results before asking, “What made you think you were pregnant? I mean, the tests results are negative, what made you believe you were?” We sit on the edge of the bathtub, and I drape my arm over her shoulder.

  “Because I’m late. I’m never late. I’m like clockwork, just like you.”

  It’s true; my cycle has always been right on time. Then her words sink in, causing my mind to come to a screeching halt. Once reality sets in, I feel the blood drain from my head.

  “April, what’s the matter?” my best friend asks, her hand covering mine. I can barely hear her through the white noise rushing through my head.

  “I don’t know when I had my last period. Things have been so crazy since I was run down by that car, I don’t know when …” I say, staring off into the distance, trying to calculate my cycle. I’m trying to concentrate, but all I can do is think of the repercussions of my statement.

  Emily gets up abruptly, runs out of the room and comes back, handing me a test. I look at her as if she has lost her mind, or perhaps I’ve lost mine. She leaves the bathroom, shutting the door behind her, and as I clutch the stick in my hand that may alter my future, I reluctantly take it.

  “Oh, no, no, no, no … NO!” My voice gets louder with each ‘no.' Emily comes barreling into the bathroom with a look of excitement on her face. “Emily, no, this can’t be accurate. It’s not possible. I can’t be pregnant. I’m taking another one. It could be a false positive,” I say, running to my cell phone to pull up my calendar to see when I’m due to take my next shot.

  “Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck! I was scheduled to get my shot almost two months ago. How did this happen? How could I be so irresponsible? What am I going to tell Jason?” I pull on my hair and pace the room.

  I chug a glass of water that Emily hands me and ask for another. Once I down that one, I continue to pace the room with Emily by my side rubbing circles on my back, until I feel the urge to pee. I grab a different brand test off the table and run to the bathroom. As soon as my pee hits the mark, within minutes a bright blue cross appears.

  “I’m pregnant.”

  “April? Are you all right?” Emily says from the other side of the door. I get up and open it to show her my second test.

  “Oh, shit, April,” she says, shock settling in for both of us. “What are you going to do?”

  “I don’t know,” I say stunned. I feel the sting of tears behind my eyes, but I hold them back. “I mean, I just got the teaching job at Northwestern, I don’t need to show up pregnant only to have to go on maternity leave. But Emily, this is Jason’s baby.”

  “Are you going to tell him?” she asks, rubbing her hand along my back.

  “I don’t know. Yes. No. Fuck. I need to think,” I say, suddenly turning toward Emily. “You will not say anything about this to anyone, do you understand? It’s my responsibility to tell Jason, not yours. Do not say a word to Kyle, Emily.” My god, after lecturing her about her ability to keep secrets, I am entrusting her with the biggest secret of my life.

  “I promise with my life, April. With Kyle’s life, I won’t tell a soul. Ever!” she says, holding her hand up in a pledge.

  “I mean it, Emily,” I say, wanting her to hear the sincerity in my voice.

  “I gave you my word. This is your deal. I will be here for you and won’t say a word to anyone,” she promises.

  “Good. I just need some time to digest this. Jason has so much going on right now, and I also need to think about what I want to do,” I say, holding my hands over my stomach.

  “Okay, let’s get these out of here,” I say, s
cooping the remaining tests into the bag they were brought in. “Here, go put the used ones in the bathroom in this bag. Jason doesn’t need to see those lying around.”

  After we clean up our evidence, Emily takes the bag to her car and places it in her trunk then comes back upstairs. Needing a diversion to keep my thoughts occupied, I devise a plan.

  “How about we invite everyone over for pizza and a swim,” I suggest, rummaging the drawer for the pizza menus.

  “Okay, I’ll call Kyle and Adam, you call Jason,” Emily says, already on the phone with Kyle.

  “Hello, baby,” he says, answering his phone. “I’m just heading home.” I’ve never heard anything sound so good. Just hearing his voice is calming.

  “Hey, handsome. Emily is here, and I thought we could have pizza and a swim with everyone tonight. Are you interested?”

  “Sure, sounds good. You order the pizza from Vito and Nick’s, and I’ll swing by and pick it up,” he offers. “See you in about an hour.”

  “Drive safe,” I say.

  “April?”

  “Yes.”

  “I missed you today.”

  “I missed you too, babe. See you,” I say hanging up fighting the urge to become overly emotional. That would set off his alarms, and he’d be relentless until I spill.

  The clock says it's four-thirty, and I decide to wait to order the pizza at five. Emily is just getting off the phone after calling everyone and places her phone on the table.

  “Kyle will be here in about half an hour. He’s working on something for his father. Adam will call Nicole to see if she can make it. He said he'd be here either way.”

  “I’m going to call Sam to see if he and Sue can come,” I suggest. Emily’s eyes light up at the idea.

  “Hey, Sammy, it’s April.”

  “Hi, doll. How are you?” he asks.

  “I’m doing okay. Hey, we’re having a pizza and a swim night, and I was wondering if you and Sue wanted to join us.”

  “Hang on, let me check with her,” he says, covering the receiver with his hand while I wait. “What time should we be there?”

  “Anytime between five and five-thirty. It will be good to see you two again.”

  “I’m looking forward to seeing you too. See ya.”

  “Okay, we have the crew coming over. Do you have a suit, or do you want to borrow one of mine?” I ask Emily, getting a bottle of water out of the refrigerator.

  “I’ll need one of yours. We have thirty minutes before they get here, why don’t we swim now? We’ll have the pool to ourselves.”

  Before we change into suits, I call and order pizzas. Jason’s going to think I’m nuts when he sees three pizzas to pick up rather than just one.

  While I’m putting on my suit, I place my hand on my flat stomach, and then it hits me. There’s life growing inside me. There’s so much to consider: How will Jason take the news? What about my new job? What about seeing my parents? I try putting these thoughts to the back of my mind for the night. I just want to relax and enjoy my friends.

  After a quick change, Emily and I head out to the small pool Grace designated for my use.

  It is too hot to be inside, and the water feels refreshing as we hop on our pool floats. Using our hands to navigate our way to each other, Emily anchors us together with the heel of her foot.

  “So, you’re pregnant,” she states. Bluntly, I might add. “Want to talk about it?”

  Shaking my head, I close my eyes. “I just want to relax tonight. I’ll schedule an appointment in the morning, just to have the doctor to confirm the results. I have to be one hundred percent certain before I make any decisions or talk to Jason.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Emily says, agreeing with me. “Let me play devil’s advocate here, though. Let’s say you and Jason want this baby—you can keep your teaching job. The baby will be born sometime in April, so you can teach the fall, winter, and most of the spring semesters. They can bring in someone to fill in for you for the remainder of the spring and summer semesters. Some subjects aren’t even available in the summer, so maybe this is something you can work out with the administration. I think this is totally doable, you know?” As ever, I’m impressed with her organizational skills.

  “Yeah, I suppose. But what if Jason isn’t ready for this? Oh, hell, I’m just going to tell him. I don’t want to hide it from him. I’ll make my appointment with the doctor and see what he says before I say anything to Jason. I would hate to tell him he’s going to be a daddy then find out I’m not pregnant after all, you know? You might want to do the same,” I say, looking over at her. “If you’re unusually late, you should double check, just to be sure.”

  Emily and I both are startled at the loud gasp behind us and our heads whip around to see who overheard our conversation.

  “April? You’re pregnant?” Rita asks, beaming in delight then struggling not to spill the tray of ice tea she was bringing us.

  At once, Emily and I move into action to explain the importance of keeping this information confidential. The fewer people who know, the better. At least for right now.

  ~.~

  “Do you remember the time Roger jumped on his chair, squealing in fear when he saw that spider?” Sue belly laughs her question to Jason. “I went running down the hall toward Carl’s office, knowing full well it was him. I thought something sinister was going on, but when I got to his desk, he was trying to stand upright on the seat of his chair. His arms were flailing everywhere while he did the potty dance on a chair with rollers,” she laughs even harder, tears falling from her eyes. Half the tears were from hysterics, the other from the memory of her friend. “It’s like he was jumping around inside a hammock. His arms and legs were everywhere while he vowed he wouldn’t put one foot on the same floor as that spider.” By then we all have the visual and are laughing as hard as she is.

  “When I asked where this tarantula was, he screamed again at having to even point at it. When I came around his desk, it was this teeny tiny baby,” she laughs even harder when she told us she walked away and told him to deal with it.

  “He yelled my name for an hour to come and stomp on it.”

  “How did the story end?” I ask, sitting back down, trying to quit laughing.

  “Robin picked it up and threw it on him. I think he fainted,” she says, taking a deep breath.

  “Leave it to Robin to be unsympathetic to someone’s fears,” Jason says to himself.

  We continue to laugh at Sue’s description of Roger’s arachnophobia when Sam speaks up, quieting the room.

  “Oh, speaking of Robin—guess who’s dating James?”

  “No fucking way?” I exclaim, nearly sliding off my seat.

  He cringes. “Way. I think he found someone as disgustingly horny as he is.”

  “They’re made for each other then,” Jason says, getting up to put his plate in the dishwasher.

  “Yeah, I don’t think Kathryn’s too happy about it either,” he continues. “Mark said that Robin and James have been holed up in his office for the past month and that Kate was in there yelling at both of them today.”

  I get up, feeling disgusted by the three of them.

  “Are we ready for a swim?” I ask, looking around the room.

  “I am!” Adam says scooping Nicole over his shoulder and carrying her down the stairs. “We’ll be back after Nicole changes into her bikini.”

  Since Emily and I are already wearing ours, along with cover-ups, we grab our towels and head outside.

  “Last one in is a rotten egg,” we say, bumping Kyle to where he fell back down onto the couch.” Emily skips across the room, sticking her tongue out at Kyle.

  “I’m going to go change, April,” Jason says, kissing my cheek.

  “Me too,” Kyle says getting up again. He tries to get past Emily, but she’s not having it.

  “Well, here’s the test whether Rita can keep a secret or not,” I say looking over at my best friend. She nods, both of us hoping for Rita’s l
oyalty.

  ~.~

  The next night, Jason tells me to dress up because he wants to take me out on a date, so I choose a yellow strapless summer dress with sandals that tie around my ankles.

  “Holy fuck, April!” Jason nearly yells when I come out of the room. I feel all warm and fuzzy inside while his eyes travel up and down my body.

  “What? This ol’ thing?” I giggle, swaying my hips as I walk across the room and into his arms.

  “Tell me you have panties on under this,” he says, running his hands up my thighs to make sure.

  “I do, but I can remedy that if you want,” I say seductively, pulling him to me by wrapping my hand around the back of his neck.

  “Take them off,” he says, pulling back away from me. “Better yet, let me take them off.”

  I can feel the tingling between my legs as he drops to his knees, tucking his head under the skirt of my dress. He then pulls my panties down my legs, going in for a kiss.

  “Step out of them.” After he pulls them away from my shoes, his hands cup my ass, and his tongue licks up the inside of my thigh to my bare lips. My body shudders at his mouth’s caress, and when he uses his fingers to open me wider, my knees go weak.

  “Holy, hell, Jason,” I whisper, holding his dress covered head, pushing him deeper between my thighs.

  I pray I can remain standing as he burrows his tongue into me, lapping and slurping as he continues to molest me.

  “Oh, shit,” I say, as I give over to the sweet sensations.

  “Come on, April,” he says before attacking me again, fucking me with his tongue.

  “Oh, shit,” I say again, releasing into this mouth, steadying myself by holding onto his shoulders. He continues to play with me while I ride out an exquisite orgasm.

  “There,” he says, giving me one last stroke of his tongue and patting my bare bottom. “My work here is done.”

  “Go clean up, but leave the panties here,” he says, getting up from his knees. “We need to get a move on.”

  Once we pull the car up to valet parking at the restaurant, he walks around to open the door for me. I check and find that we’re alone, so I give my man a peep show by lifting my skirt and parting my legs as I step out of the car.