“So, what are you planning to do with it…the baby…the fetus,” he spluttered.
“I’m planning on keeping it. What you want to do is up to you.”
“What I want to do,” he said slowly. He nodded to himself and started pacing the kitchen. I could see this was going to take awhile, so I pulled out a chair and flung my bag on the kitchen table as I sat. I pulled out my phone and checked my emails, responding to a few from my family and friends. Then I took out a nail file and filed down my fingernails. They had been getting too long and were starting to bother me when I pulled on the latex gloves at work. When he was still pacing after that, I pulled out my buffing block and finished off my nails.
A half hour had passed and he was still pacing. I was getting hungry. My shift had just ended before I came here and I was tired and ready for food and my bed. But this had to be talked about at least a little bit. I stood and walked to his fridge, pulling out some ingredients to make dinner. He didn’t even seem to notice. I was only going to make spaghetti, but glancing back at him, I figured I’d better make some meat for him. Guys weren’t generally just carb lovers.
Another half hour later, I had spaghetti and Italian sausage plated and sitting on the table. Eric was still pacing, muttering to himself and lost in his thoughts. I started eating, studying him as I chewed my spaghetti. He was very handsome, not at all someone I would normally go for. Not because he was hot, but because he was obviously neurotic. I just wanted a nice, normal man. Was that possible? Did they even exist?
I shook my head and went back to my spaghetti. By the time I finished, I was getting a little irritated. If women waited for men to solve all the world’s problems, we would die before they came up with a solution. I stood and walked over to him, tapping him on the shoulder. He turned to me, his eyebrows pinched in thought.
“Yeah?”
“Are you done?”
“Done?”
“You’ve been pacing the kitchen for an hour and a half. I made dinner for you, and while it’s been fun to watch you wear a hole in the floor, I’d like to go home at some point tonight. So, would you like me to come back later or are you ready to talk about this?”
He glanced at the plate on the table and then back at me. “You made dinner?” He looked around the kitchen. “When did that happen?” he muttered to himself.
“Alright, well, this has been fun, but you’re obviously still processing all this, so I’m gonna go.” I grabbed a pen and paper from my bag and wrote down my name and number for him. “Call me when you’ve figured out…whatever it is you’re trying to figure out.”
I turned to go, but he grabbed onto my arm, stopping me in my tracks. “I’ve figured it out. Please, sit.”
I pulled out the chair again and plopped down, ready to hear this brilliant idea he came up with.
“You’re a man. I’m a woman.”
I rolled my eyes. “I think you’ve got that backwards.”
He frowned and bit at his lip. “That came out wrong.”
“I got that much.”
“What I meant was that a woman and a man will naturally follow their base instincts. It’s a subconscious urge that’s directed by primeval, animalistic motivations. It’s self-serving, and unfortunately, selfishness is one of the base instincts that’s ingrained in the human psyche.”
I rolled my eyes, wondering if his scientific explanation was over.
“Our base instincts are the core of our very being. The foundation in which we relate to our most tangible desires. Obviously, we all desire love and meaning. Which for some could be just a taco, but in our case was more primitive. Ours was based on hunger, fear, love…”
He paced the room some more and I wondered why the hell I had chosen to sleep with this man. How was this the father of my child? Was he going to lecture our child about everything too? I was starting to see less of the sexy man that I fantasized about and more of a professor that was about to hand me a D on my psych paper.
“In short, our emotions are more direct and visceral. We use less of our minds, our control.”
“So, you’re telling me that we fucked because we wanted to and didn’t have any control over our bodies, but we shouldn’t be ashamed by this because we followed our base instincts?”
He nodded sharply.
“Where did you come up with that? Psychology Today?”
He shook his head and held out his phone. “Wikipedia.”
I stood, sighing and throwing my bag over my shoulder. “It took you an hour and a half to come up with that?”
He frowned at me.
“Thank you, Freud, but I already figured that out.”
“Where are you going?”
“Home. I worked all day and I’m tired.”
“But we haven’t finished talking.”
“When you have a solution, give me a call.”
“I do have a solution. We’re going to get married.”
I stopped and turned back to him, my mouth gaping. “Excuse me?”
“Katherine, it only makes sense. We’re having a baby. A baby needs a stable, loving home and we can provide that. I won’t have my child raised as a bastard.”
“And I won’t have my child raised listening to lectures on our base instincts. This isn’t a solution.”
“Yes, it is. You’ll need help with the baby and I can provide a stable home. I already have the house and I have a successful business. I can provide for both of you.”
“I have a townhouse and I have a steady job. I don’t see the difference.”
“Look, we did things all backwards here. A man and a woman are supposed to be married before they have a baby. We can rectify that now. We’ll just go to the courthouse and get married. Our child will have two loving parents and everything will be fine,” he said with a nod.
This man thought he had it all figured out, but he was forgetting one thing, we barely knew each other. I wasn’t so naive to think that every marriage was based on love, but I believed that it should be. A baby was no reason to get married. He had the right intentions, but it would be a disaster.
“What about love?”
“What about love? I’m just trying to do what’s best for our child.”
“What’s best for our child or what’s best for you?”
“What are you talking about?”
I sighed and ran a hand across my forehead in frustration. “It’s pretty obvious that you do things a certain way. You like everything to be in order, and that’s fine, but I’m not going to marry you just so that it looks good to others.”
“That’s not what I’m suggesting. This is just what people do. It’s the right thing to do. A child needs a stable home life. With us living together, we can give this child that.”
“Not if I stab you,” I muttered.
“What?” he asked, obviously not hearing me.
“I don’t want to marry someone because it’s the right thing. I want to marry someone because I love him. What you and I had was a good night of fucking.” I tilted my head in thought. “At least, I think it was good. Frankly, I was a little wasted. How do you even know that we would be compatible?”
“I can pretty much guarantee that we wouldn’t be if I remember the bar correctly,” he muttered.
“Then why would you even suggest it? I’m going to go home now and I’ll call you to let you know what’s going on with appointments and whatever.”
“That’s it?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean-” he shook his head and swore. “I mean that we’re going to have a baby and you’re just walking out of here. It feels like we should be doing something. Getting prepared or…I don’t know. Something.”
“We have nine months until this baby comes. There’s plenty of time for planning. We don’t have to solve everything tonight.”
I kind of hated leaving him. He looked so lost and it made me feel bad for him. I had a next step. I had to get vitamins and start looking after myse
lf better. I would have to start looking into what I needed to do to my townhouse to prepare. He just stood there with his hands shoved in his pockets like he didn’t have a clue what to do.
I snatched his phone and called myself, then handed it back to him. “I’ll call you, okay?”
He nodded and I got in my car, leaving the man to brood in silence. There was nothing I could do for him right now. It was exactly like he said, we probably wouldn’t be compatible and pretending that this was more than a one night stand gone wrong wouldn’t help either of us.
Eric
I sipped my coffee on the front porch as I stared out at the countryside. It was peaceful out here, and that gave me time to think about my current predicament. A baby. God, I was so fucked. I wanted a wife and I wanted kids, but I never planned on having them like this. This was just fucked up.
A car pulled in the driveway and I sighed. Robert was here early for a Sunday. He was never up before eight on the weekends, so this made me nervous. It was barely six-thirty. He was dressed down today, wearing only jeans and a t-shirt instead of his usual suit.
“I see you lost the suit. Did you get fired?” I asked.
He climbed the steps and sat down in the chair next to me. “No, asshole. I’m here to do your fucking job.”
“Which would be?”
“Find you an assistant.”
Shit. I had forgotten all about that. “On a Sunday?”
“I couldn’t get the day off yesterday, so I set up some interviews for today.”
“You need me there?”
“Why the fuck would I need you there? I’ve gotten this far without you. I’m pretty sure I can handle the rest on my own.”
“You’re pissy this morning.”
“Yeah, well, I had to get up at the ass crack of dawn to get here in time to help your sorry ass out.”
“Any good candidates?”
He ignored me, just sat there staring off in the distance.
“Hey, did you hear me?”
He rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. “Look, there’s a candidate, but I’m not sure how good she is. But I want you to give her a chance.”
“And why the fuck would I do that? I need someone to make my life better, not worse.”
“It’s Anna.”
“Anna? Anna who?”
“Anna Richards.”
“Who the fuck is that?” The name sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place it. Anna- “Anna, as in your high school girlfriend, Anna?”
A guilty look crossed his face as he shrugged and looked away. “Yeah.”
“Why the hell would I hire her? Is she even qualified? Doesn’t she work at the gas station?”
“She had some trouble finding work.”
“She’s been there for the last ten fucking years, Robert. Does she have any experience working in an office?”
“Look, she may not be the most qualified, but I need you to do this for me, no questions asked.”
I choked out a laugh. He was insane if he thought I was going to leave my office in the hands of someone that didn’t know how to run it. “No. I need someone that can organize the office. I can’t just let anyone in there and have them fuck it up.”
“She’s been taking classes at the community college. Mostly computer classes. She at least knows how to work a computer.”
“I know how to work a computer, asshole. I need someone that can run an office.”
“She’ll learn.”
“The answer is still no.”
“Look, you need an office manager and she needs a job. She’s a hard worker.”
“What are my other options?”
“Well, Mrs. Cranston came in and applied for the job.”
I cringed and shook my head. “Who else? There has to be someone more qualified.”
He sighed, running his hand across his jaw. “You said you would do me a favor-“
“No, you coerced me into giving you that.”
“And I’m calling up that favor now. Look, I’m asking you to give her six months to figure shit out. If it doesn’t work out, then I’ll figure something else out.”
“What am I missing here? Why do you need this so bad? Do you have a thing for this woman still?”
“Look, when I left town, I was shitty to her. The way I left things…I just need this favor.”
I looked at my brother and tried to figure out what the hell was going on, but he had a good poker face. He wasn’t going to tell me shit unless he wanted to. But this was obviously important to him. He wouldn’t be asking me like this unless he really needed this.
“Fine, I’ll give her six months, but I’m serious, I’ll fire her if she doesn’t do the fucking job.”
“That’s all I’m asking, man.”
“Shit.” I leaned back in my seat, a little pissed right now. I didn’t want to take the risk right now. I had too much other shit on my mind and I needed the office to run smoothly, but I couldn’t say no to my brother. I knew I was going to regret this, but family came first, and you didn’t say no to family. “Don’t make me regret this.”
I walked into the office Monday morning, still reeling from the bomb Katherine had dropped on me. I was fucked up all through the end of last week and the weekend. Everyone knew something was wrong with me, but I just ignored everyone and pretended that I was totally cool. It didn’t go over so well. Luckily, Andrew had better things to do than out me to my brothers. I just needed a little time to figure shit out. I needed to know how to talk to Katherine and make this work.
First though, I needed to figure out this shit with my new office manager. She should be here by now. I had to get out on my newest job site and check in with the guys. At the rate this morning was going, I wouldn’t be running on schedule today.
The door to the office was flung open and Anna walked in, trying to grab at the door as she ran into the office. Her bulky purse was flung over her shoulder, looking like it was weighing her down. Her dark brown hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail, making me wonder why she even bothered pulling it up. It didn’t look like she had put in too much effort. Her clothes weren’t professional, but that didn’t really matter in this office. We were a construction company, not a bank.
“You’re late.”
“I know. I’m so sorry. My car wouldn’t start this morning and I had to catch a ride.”
I didn’t say anything as I glanced at my watch. “Alright, for today, I just need you to organize the office. The filing cabinet is over there.” I took her through the computer and showed her how I organized everything. “After the office is organized, I’ll have the office number rerouted from my phone to here. But for now, let’s just get this shit organized. If there’s anything important for me, put it in this box,” I pointed to my inbox. “Any questions?”
“Yes, where’s the coffee?”
I looked at her in surprise. “The coffee?”
“You have a coffee maker, don’t you? Isn’t that a standard item in most offices?”
“Uh…well, I’m never here, so I always pick up coffee on my way.”
“What about donuts?”
“Donuts?” I asked in confusion.
“You know, yummy goodness that you eat for breakfast? Although, I’m not against having it for a snack or a light lunch.”
“I don’t…”
She rolled her eyes and sighed. “Fine, no yummy goodness and no coffee. I can do this,” she said under her breath.
I was confused. Was the woman actually demanding that I have coffee and donuts for her every morning? It was her first day on the job. I checked my watch again, and sighed. I was late.
“Right, I check in every morning, but I don’t usually come back here at the end of the day. If you need to contact me, here’s my number,” I said, scribbling it on some paper. “Any questions?”
“Yeah, how have you run a business without an office manager up until this point?”
“Easy, I just shift everything from this pi
le,” I pointed to the big stack, “to this pile.” My hand rested on an even larger stack on the other side of the computer. “All the bills are taken out and paid, but everything else just kind of adds up.”
“This should be fun,” she muttered under her breath.
“Well, I can find someone else for the job if you’re not up to it.”
She looked up at me with a smirk. “I think I can handle it.”
“Good.”
I turned on my heel and walked out before I snapped at her. I was pissed that Robert had put me in this position, but I was even more pissed that she didn’t have outstanding qualifications. I just needed something to go right today. I walked out of the office and headed to my truck, grumbling to myself the whole way. This was going to be a disaster and I knew it.
I was only halfway to my first job when she called. Rolling my eyes, I tried to answer nicely. “It can’t be good if you’re calling me already.”
“I’m locked out of your computer. You gave me the wrong password.”
“No, I didn’t. I wrote it down for you.”
“And I entered it exactly as you wrote it,” she shot back.
“Then try again.”
“I can’t. I’m locked out.”
“Then find someone that can get you back in.”
“I would, but I can’t get online to look up anyone that works with computers.”
“Then use your phone.”
“I don’t have a smartphone, jackass.”
I pulled over on the side of the road, my jaw clenching in anger. “What the fuck did you just say?”
“Not everyone has a smartphone. I don’t have one.”
“Did you just call me a jackass?”
“Well, if the shoe fits.”
“Did you not want the job? Because I can find someone more qualified.”
She snorted. “Good luck with that. Nobody else would touch this place with a ten-foot pole.”
I clenched my jaw in irritation. Fuck, I already hated this woman and she had only worked in the office for a half hour. “Look, just figure it out. I’m trying to get out to a job.”
Maintenance Required: A small town romance (The Cortell Brothers Book 1) Page 5