"You had something to do after work. Why are you being so vague? You tell me everything. So, do you care to share with your good ol’ friend? Stop making me have to try and guess."
I giggled. This was just like Jenna; she always had to know where I was. "I had dinner plans."
"Oooh, anyone I know?"
I let out a deep breath. "If you must know, I had dinner with Chase." We both grew quiet until I cleared my throat. "I did it." I couldn't hold back any longer.
"You did what?" she asked curiously.
After that afternoon at the coffee shop, and after my breakup with Roger, we had talked at great lengths about me asking one of our close friends to be the father of my child. I had been adamant at first, but she had been totally supportive and kept telling me to just go for it.
"I asked Chase to be the father of my child."
I heard a gurgle and a cough on the other end of the phone as Jenna choked on whatever it was she was drinking. "You did what?"
"You heard me."
"Well, what did he say?"
I let out a little laugh, remembering his face as I had asked him. "Well, it didn't go as smoothly as I thought it would. First, he sliced his hand open."
"What? No, I mean, what did he say to your question?"
"He said he would think about it."
"Oh my! And you told him everything, right?"
I let out a sigh. Perhaps if had I told him everything, his answer might have been different. "Well, if he hadn't been bleeding all over the place I might have, but no, I didn't. Do you think I should have told him everything?"
Jenna started to laugh. "Sophie, it may have helped your case if you had. Don't you think?"
"Perhaps. I don't know, maybe this really is a bad idea."
"Why do you say that?"
I laughed. "If you had seen his face, you'd be thinking the same thing. I can only imagine what the other guys would have said if I had asked one of them."
"Girl, you are crazy."
"No, I'm serious. I also keep thinking that if I had just gone in there with everything written down and in a true proposal style, he may have looked at the entire situation differently. Maybe more like a business deal."
"Perhaps if you had delivered all the goods, then he might have jumped at the chance. Listen, I've got to go. Matt just walked through the door. Call me later and we will talk, okay?"
"All right, night."
"Seriously, Soph, talk to him, give him all the goods."
"Good night, Jenna!"
I hung up the phone and turned the TV off. Shutting the lights off, I grabbed my cell phone and headed to the bedroom. I crawled into bed and lay facing the floor-to-ceiling window, looking at the lights of the city like I did every night. My mind was still running over everything that had happened tonight. Jenna was right. If I had given him all the details up front, perhaps his answer might have been yes. However, I was glad I had held back because he might have cut his hand off too. I giggled at the thought. I grabbed my cell phone from the side table and quickly opened a text message to Chase.
I typed feverishly at first, then decided to delete everything and began again. I couldn't just come out and say it like I was planning to. I had no clue where he was. He could have been behind the wheel of his car, God forbid. Besides, I didn't want him to get the information through a text either.
ME: Would you be able to meet me tomorrow for lunch. At the risk of sounding like those infomercials we used to watch as kids...but wait! There's more…but wait, there is more, and I want another chance to discuss this with you.
I blew out a breath and placed my cell phone on the table, closed my eyes, and tried to fall into a deep sleep.
6
Chase
I sat on the hood of my car and looked up at the dark sky in utter shock. I still couldn't believe what had transpired tonight. My best friend had asked me to be the father of her child. I shook my head and ran my hand through my hair. I glanced down to the bag of cold food that sat beside me, my stomach letting out a loud grumble. I wasn't sure if I was hungry or if I was going to be sick.
I let out a huff and pulled my phone from my pocket. I checked the last text I had received from Hunter and saw it was over an hour ago. I was just about to message him to find out where he was when a car I recognized pulled into the parking lot and in beside mine. I hopped off the hood of my car, grabbed the bag of food, and pulled the passenger door open on Hunter's car.
"It's about damn time!" I said, crawling into the front seat and pulling my seatbelt across my body.
"Yeah, well, Autumn needed help getting the kids to bed. It was bath night. It’s not like I can expect her to deal with them all on her own. What the hell happened to your hand?" Hunter questioned, staring down at my napkin-wrapped hand. "And what's wrong with your car?" he asked and nodded towards my vehicle.
"Nothing."
"You called me out here for nothing? What the hell you do to your hand?"
"Not for nothing. I had a little too much to drink, and this..." I said, raising my hand. "I cut myself while slicing a loaf of bread." I shrugged.
"Jesus," he muttered under his breath as he watched me place my leftovers bag between us.
"What?" I questioned.
"Leftovers? From the sounds of things, the portions are small there. Carter said he was still hungry when he left, and you come out with leftovers? Was it at least a good meal?"
I shrugged. "Honestly, I have no idea!"
"What do you mean you have no idea? You were just there for dinner."
"If you must know, the bag contains my meal. I couldn't eat. I totally lost my appetite after I cut my hand. Here, if you want you can take it home and share it with Autumn. She'd probably enjoy it," I said holding the bag out to him. I glanced over at my car and locked my doors with my remote fob.
I didn't even need to look at my brother because I could feel him staring at me as if I had lost my mind. "Are you feeling all right? You're acting strange."
"Can we just go?" Hunter continued watching me for a second, not saying anything. "Please?"
Hunter didn't argue. Instead, he revved the engine and put the car into reverse and sped out of the parking lot. We had driven about two blocks and were stopped at a stoplight. He was tapping his thumb on the steering wheel and watching a lady walk across the street when he cleared his throat. "Care to talk about it?" he asked once the light turned green and he started driving through the intersection.
I threw my head back against the headrest, and with my eyes closed I mumbled, "Sophie wants to borrow my sperm." I blew out a breath and tried to calm myself down, but the car came to an abrupt stop, and a horn blared out from behind us. "Hunter, what the hell!"
"Sorry about that, but did I hear you right?"
"Yeah, you heard me. Sophie, she wants a baby, and she asked me to father the child." I still couldn't get her voice out of my mind—or the look on her face as she had asked me. The beginning of the night she had been so distraught, but once she asked me, she had appeared to be confident yet completely hopeful that I would do it.
"So like you'd whack off in a cup and pass it over to her?"
"I guess so. I haven't a clue. I cut my hand, and, well, then I started drinking, and the rest of the night went to shit. I could barely even remember my name let alone have any type of real conversation on the matter."
Hunter let out a loud laugh. "That's fucking awesome. So what did you tell her?"
I sat there trying to remember exactly what I had said. All I could remember was the look on her face, the look that I had let her down. There had never been another time in my life that I had remembered ever seeing her face look like that when it came to me. It haunted me. I cleared my throat. "I didn't say anything. I couldn't. I was so shocked that, no matter how much time had passed, I could barely put two words together. Once I gathered myself together enough, I told her I'd think about it. She left looking so defeated."
"Well, you could always negotiate. I mean, you
do practice contract law. It's a sterile transaction, right? So slap a contract together, have her sign, and be done with it. I mean, seriously, this is simple. You're making it more difficult than it needs to be. Look at it logically."
"Can you pull over?" I mumbled, undoing my seatbelt, and reaching for the door handle.
"Pull over? What the hell for?"
I couldn't wait. Instead, I rolled down the window and stuck my head out, throwing up right down the side of Hunter's new BMW. My stomach was still swirling as I pulled my head back in the car and put the window up. "Sorry about that. You might want to drive through that car wash over there," I said, pointing to the one across the street. "I'll pay."
"Damn right you'll pay. Jesus, Chase, this is a brand new car."
"Sorry, man."
Hunter began laughing. "It reminds me of when we were younger."
Hunter pulled into the car wash, and we sat in utter silence as we drove through. I sat facing straight ahead, focusing on the movement of the brushes as the whole night played out again in my mind. "Perhaps you should eat something?" Hunter said, pulling back out onto the street and continuing to make his way towards my condo.
"I'm really not hungry."
"All right, so, what did she say exactly? I need all the details."
My phone vibrated in my pocket. I let out a breath, pulling my phone out and looking at the screen.
"Fuck me," I murmured, shoving my phone back in my pocket.
"What?" Hunter asked, pulling into the parking lot of my condo and putting the car into park.
"That was Sophie."
"And?"
"She wants to have lunch with me tomorrow. She says there is more, and she wants to discuss it with me in person, and I think I'm gonna be sick again," I said, opening the car door and crawling out just in time to toss my cookies on the edge of the parking lot.
Hunter chuckled and rolled down the car’s window. "Here, don't forget your food," he said, holding up the bag.
"Keep it. Thanks for picking me up." I held my hand over my stomach and waved. Once he pulled from the parking lot, I walked to the main entrance, punched in the security code, and headed up to my condo.
7
Sophie
I'd woken early after a rather restless night of sleep. I had tossed and turned, constantly checking to see if Chase had answered my text – he hadn’t. I'd rolled out of bed before my alarm with a bad headache, a bad case of bed head, and practically everything in my body aching. I took a hot shower, popped two pain pills, and got ready for work, leaving the condo with bagel and coffee in hand.
I took my usual route to my office and decided to make a pit stop down by the waterfront. I parked the car, grabbed my coffee, and took a walk down the pier. I needed to try and forget what had happened last night before I got into the office. I would never be able to get through my day, if my mind wasn't clear.
I sat down on a bench, sipped my coffee, and watched the boats leaving the harbor. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, the birds chirping, and I took in a deep breath of fresh morning air. While I sipped on my coffee, I watched couples walk along the water's edge, holding hands. I smiled to myself, and once my cup was empty, I got up and made my way back to my car, glancing at my watch.
I pushed the heavy door open and walked into the lobby of my office. I was surprised to see the waiting room as full as it was. I had figured it would still be quiet at this time, and that was when I saw one of my clients was sitting waiting for me. I glanced at my watch as I made my way to my office, and then up to the clock on the wall, and realized my watch had stopped. The place was packed because I was the one who was running late. Almost forty minutes late, to be exact. Certainly not the way I wanted to start my day.
I set up my computer in record time and pulled the client file and immediately called them in, apologizing profusely.
A lot of conversation and two hours later, I walked back into my office and picked up the client file that still remained on my desk. That made two appointments down, and even though the day started out rocky, I was feeling surprisingly good, and then I looked to the stack of files that sat on my to-be-done pile. A surge of stress ran through me, and I shuddered at the thought of all I still had left in front of me for today.
"Hey, girl. I'm on my way to refill my cup. Did you want a coffee?" I heard Carol ask as she stopped just inside of my door. She leaned against my door, looking over to the corner of my desk where my work sat. "Looks like you might need one, considering your workload today."
"That would be wonderful, and I have a feeling that I will be taking half this stack home. I just spent an hour with Mr. Leeman and Mr. Sage. Oh, and did you know that Mr. Sage does not like it if you are late," I said, rolling my eyes.
"Ah, yes, Mr. Sage. Say no more, my dear. That alone calls for one strong cup of coffee that you should have had prior to the next appointment." We both laughed as she reached for my cup, and then carried on down the hall.
I walked around and sat back down in my chair and opened up the next file that sat on top of the pile. I was going over the notes from our last meeting when Carol set the cup of coffee on my desk. "Thank you! You're a saint," I said, letting out a breath and smiling up at her.
"No worries. Good luck with the rest of your day. I have a boardroom meeting I have to get to."
"Have fun with that."
"You betcha." Carol winked and disappeared from my office.
I glanced at the clock on my desk and went back to reading over the file. I was glad to see I had a few hours before my next meeting, which meant I had plenty of time to get prepared, I thought to myself. I took a sip of coffee and began reading over the client file in front of me.
A good twenty minutes had passed, and I had just gotten deep into file when my cell phone vibrated across my desk, causing me to jump. My heart sped up a little when I saw Chase's name on my screen. As I answered, my stomach did one of those excited but nervous little flips.
"Good morning." I did my best to keep my voice upbeat. I didn't want Chase to think I was nervous to talk with him, but the truth was, my heart was pounding out of my chest.
"Morning. I'm sorry to bother you at work, but I got your message and was hoping that perhaps you still wanted to meet for lunch today."
I glanced down at my watch, and then to my schedule, noting I had time between eleven and one free. "Yep, how is eleven?" I questioned.
"Eleven works fine."
"Where did you want to meet?"
"How about The Manor House, and would you be able to do me a favor and pick me up on your way?" He chuckled.
I frowned. He'd had his car last night. I'd seen it. "Sure. Your car in the shop?"
Chase let out a breath. "No, it's still at the restaurant. Hunter came and picked me up last night. I was in a little bit of shock, not to mention I'd had too much to drink, and my best friend left me high and dry."
I let out a little giggle. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that. Guess I will see you in an hour or so."
"Sounds good. Oh, and, Soph, I'm looking forward to finishing our little talk today."
"Yes, of course. I'll see you soon." I hung up the phone and did my best to ignore the funny feeling in the pit of my stomach as I tried to dive back into the file in front of me. My stomach rolled in anticipation of talking to Chase, and I found it harder to concentrate the more I tried. After ten minutes, I grabbed my legal pad and jotted down some things I wanted to make sure I brought up to Chase. I wasn't about to blow another chance with him. I needed him to realize that I was serious about this.
I saw a few drops of rain on my windshield as I pulled up outside of Malone Law. Chase stood on the sidewalk and waved when he saw my car pull up. He looked just as tired and worn down as I felt. I waved as he approached my car, my stomach doing that anxious little flip again. To say I was nervous was an understatement. Since he had called, I had been absolutely useless at work, and even working on the list of things I wanted to mention to him h
ad been of no help. I quickly tucked the legal pad between my seat and console so that he couldn't see it when he climbed in.
He opened the car door and climbed in, doing up his seat belt before he turned and looked at me. "Hey! How are you?" he mumbled, giving me a nervous smile.
"I'm okay. How are you?"
"Okay." I swallowed hard and pulled away from the curb and headed towards The Manor House. Chase was oddly quiet on the drive, looking out the window as we made our way the five city blocks to the restaurant. I pulled into the parking lot and right up beside Chase's car and cut the engine.
We walked side by side into the restaurant, neither of us saying anything. The tension between us was unbearable, and all I kept thinking to myself was that I was the one who had created this tension. Me and my silly ideas.
Within ten minutes, we were seated at the back of the restaurant, bread basket sitting between us on the table, while the waitress was waiting to take our drink orders.
"I'll have a soda water with lemon," I said, looking to Chase.
"Crown and Coke." He coughed into his hand.
"Um, how about just a coke? I don't want a repeat of last night." I giggled.
Chase rolled his eyes and dismissed the waitress. As soon as she had walked away, he looked over to me. "I'm fine, you know. I'll be fine." He opened the menu in front of him.
I stuck my head into my menu and sat staring at the page, the names of the dishes eventually all blurring together. I was beginning to doubt if I could indeed go through with this whole thing again, after what had happened last night. I sat there trying hard to find something that I wanted to eat, and that was when my worst fear entered my mind. What if he said no? I really didn't know how I would react to that answer.
Chase slapped his menu shut, causing me to jump and draw my attention to him. He reached for the bread, but I quickly swatted his hand away. "Let me." I grabbed the knife from the table and took the bread, cutting it into pieces.
"How is your hand anyways?" I asked.
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