“Oh my God!” says Janet, in a breathless voice. It almost sounds like she heard the news herself. Sometimes Janet can be a little over dramatic.
“It’s not that bad, right?” I say, trying to keep my voice calm.
“Are you crazy?” says Janet. “It is that bad. Whose is it? How did this happen? How did you get this one past me? I thought I had my eye on you.”
“You had your eye on me? What the hell does that mean?” I say, forgetting to whisper.
“Who are you talking to in there?” says my mom, apparently reappearing on the other side of the bathroom door.
“No one,” I say.
“What did you say?” says Janet. “How could no one at all impregnate you?”
“I better just meet you in person,” I say. “Can you meet me for coffee at our regular spot during my lunch break?”
“Sure,” says Janet, hanging up the phone right after that.
“I’m headed out,” I say to my mom, rushing past her so that she won’t have time to question me or my motives.
“You always have some problem,” says my mom. “You’re always rushing off somewhere.”
As I head out the door, I get a text from John, “Coming back to NYC this afternoon. Want to meet up?”
Ugh. I don’t know how to deal with John’s text right now. I can still see his perfectly tapered body and muscular shoulders, his perfect hair, not to mention his massive cock rock hard in front of me…that one night. I’ve waited so long to see him again. And now the problem with him being my employer is completely resolved. He didn’t seem to care. He blew my mind that day when he came down to the basement. But now there’s a whole new problem.
Wait, I say to myself, catching my swirling thoughts just in time. You don’t yet know that you’re pregnant with John’s baby. This might just be a fluke. After all, women miss their periods for all kinds of reasons, not just being pregnant.
I don’t respond to his text and put my phone away as I get on the subway.
The morning at work is normal as usual. Despite John telling Cindy to go easy on me, she’s about as strict with me as she is with everyone else. Once in a while, she gives me an easier chore to do, but other times she seems intent on showing me that she’s not going to give me special treatment just because I know the CEO.
“I’m headed out for lunch,” I say, to Cindy, who’s standing with her clipboard as always, watching all the other cleaners carefully.
“Just don’t be late, and make sure to clock out.”
“I always clock out,” I say.
Cindy rolls her eyes. She never believes her employees, no matter what. It seems to be one of her personal managerial policies.
“So what’s the deal?” says Janet, who’s already sitting down in the coffee shop, some insanely overpriced cold coffee drink in front of her.
“I missed my period,” I say.
“Oh my God!” says Janet, covering her mouth.
“I already told you that on the phone,” I say.
“I know, I know,” says Janet. “But it’s worse hearing it in person.”
“Come on,” I say. “Aren’t you supposed to be like playing the role of the supportive friend right now.”
“I don’t know how I can do that,” says Janet, starting to rearrange her hair. “This is bad. Really bad.”
“Wow,” I say. “You’re a lot of help.”
“Fine, if you want me to help you, then let’s go get you a pregnancy test. Or have you taken one already?”
I shake my head. “I haven’t done one yet. But do you think it’s really necessary? Maybe I should just wait longer and see what happens. I mean, who knows, maybe I’ll get my period later today…”
“Who did you have sex with?” says Janet, cutting me off.
“What do you mean?” I say.
“Why didn’t you tell me? Was it that guy at the party?”
I nod my head slowly.
“How could you?” says Janet.
“He’s really hot,” I say. “It had been so long. Plus, it had been a really, really long time for me…it was wonderful really.”
“I can’t believe it,” says Janet, shaking her head. “You didn’t even tell me.”
“Well,” I say. “I guess I’m going to have to be the responsible one. Let’s go get a pregnancy test and I can do it in the bathroom here.”
“Who is that guy, anyway?” says Janet, while we’re walking through the aisles of the pharmacy.
I’m full of nerves like I never have been before. I feel like I might pass out at any moment just from anxiety.
“He’s actually my boss,” I say. “He didn’t know it at the time, but he had just hired me…”
“You’re insane,” says Janet, simply, her face not reacting at all to the news. “How do you think you’re going to have your boss’s baby? This is just insane…”
“First of all,” I say. “I don’t know that I’m pregnant yet. And second of all…”
“Come on,” says Janet, dragging me from the cash register to the bathroom in the back of the store.
“I thought we were going to do the test at the coffee shop?”
“Who can wait for that?” says Janet.
She pushes me not so gently into a stall in the bathroom and tells me sternly to drop my pants and do the test.
“Pink is good, right?” I say.
“No,” says Janet, simply.
I come out of the stall and the world seems to be spinning beneath me. I don’t know what to do. I can’t keep calm now. I feel like I’m having an anxiety attack. Having a baby wasn’t in the plan for me… I was going to get myself an apartment. I was going to start dating John. I was going to go back to school…
“It’s going to be OK,” says Janet, becoming sweet and speaking to me softly and calmly. “It’s going to be OK, Sarah. Plenty of women have had babies.”
“Not their billionaire boss’s baby,” I say, before passing out. My vision goes blank. That’s the last thing I remember before waking up in the hospital.
“Well,” says Sarah. “You’re definitely pregnant. They ran an ultrasound on you while you were passed out.”
I groan.
“It’s going to be OK,” says Janet again, which only makes me groan harder.
I take the pillow and push it over my face.
I can’t believe it. I just can’t believe it.
“They say the baby’s going to be healthy and there’s nothing wrong with you medically at all,” says Janet. “You just had a garden variety panic attack. Happens to a lot of women when they find out they’re pregnant, apparently.”
“OK,” I say.
Inside, I’m trying to talk myself out of this anxiety, by saying things like “It’s ok, Sarah. You can do this. You’ve been through harder stuff than this before. You can get out of it. You can beat this.”
“First thing’s first,” says Janet, speaking to me in an annoyingly motherly tone, as if she knows exactly what I need to do and how I need to do it. “You need to tell the father.”
I shake my head.
“Why in the world not? Why wouldn’t you tell him? After all, if he’s really a billionaire…”
“He is,” I say. “He’s the CEO at the place I work at…”
“OK,” says Janet. “That’s good. He can help you with the expenses. Do you have any idea how much it costs to have a baby?”
“Why did I have unprotected sex while not on birth control?” I say, groaning again.
“Yeah,” says Janet, looking at me severely. “Why did you do that?”
“He’s just so hot…” I say. “I’ve never met anyone like him.”
“Well then maybe you should tell him that and tell him you’re going to be carrying his baby.”
I shake my head again.
“Why the hell not?” she says.
“I just wanted to have a normal dating experience with him,” I say. “I just want to take it slow and see where things went. I wanted to be normal for
once… I met a nice guy and I don’t want to ruin it with this baby stuff.”
“This is totally crazy,” says Janet. “He could really help you out financially. You might not even have to work after this… You’ll never have to work as a cleaner again, don’t you realize that?”
I shake my head. “I don’t want his money,” I say. “That’s not why I like him. I really like him for who he is, not because of his money… And he’s undoubtedly got women fawning all over him all the time for his money. If I tell him this, he’s just going to think I’m just like everyone else. He’s going to think I’m just after his money…”
“So what?” says Janet. “He’ll be legally obligated to give you some money and then if he has a big problem with that, you can find someone else…”
“I don’t want anyone else,” I say. “I want John.”
Janet just looks away, towards the window, while shaking her head. She looks completely exasperated.
But while having this conversation, my anxiety is actually diminishing. I can do this, I tell myself.
All I have to do is not tell John that I’m pregnant. That way I can continue to date him. And then, when things are developing really nicely between us, I’ll drop the news. Or maybe I’ll never have to tell him. Even now, I realize that sounds completely crazy. How can you never tell a guy you’re pregnant with his child, especially when you’re dating him? But with my currently scrambled brain that’s riddled with anxiety… it all makes sense somehow.
John
I’ve been waiting a month to get back to NYC and I’ve been unusually excited about it. Normally, I’d be completely bored and bitter about the prospect of returning to the city where everyone just wants a piece of me. But this time there’s Sarah, who doesn’t seem to care that I have money.
Our texting conversations have gone great. They’re perhaps more flirty than normal pre-date texts where people try to act all suave and not-interested. That might have something to do with the fact that we’ve already had sex. And now just any sex, but hot passionate sex in the middle of the night in a barn in the Hamptons. I still think about that night, and I doubt I’ll ever forget it, whatever happens. Sarah’s naked body still glimmers in my mind’s eye.
I’m strangely nervous when I pick up the phone to call her.
“So I’m back,” I say, not bothering to mince my words or say something cute.
“Good,” says Sarah. “I’d love to get together.”
“What about tonight?” I say. “It’d be nice to take you to a real dinner. Something nice. Something you haven’t had before.”
“There’s just one little problem,” says Sarah.
Oh no, here it comes. I’ve been waiting for the other shoe to drop, so to speak. Everything has just seemed too perfect with her, so it would make sense that there’s going to be some huge problem coming up.
“What is it?” I say, trying to keep my voice even. “You can tell me. Whatever the problem is, I know we can come up with a work around. I have a lot of contacts in the city, you know. We can handle anything.”
She pauses for a moment and I hold my breath, waiting to see what she’s going to say.
“It’s nothing huge,” says Sarah. “It’s just that we never talked about me working for you.”
All that build up for nothing.
The tension breaks and suddenly I burst out laughing.
“Honestly I forgot all about that,” I say. “It honestly hadn’t even crossed my mind once.”
“It was hard for me not to think about,” says Sarah. “After all, I work in your building every day, and have been working there since you left.”
“I bet it’s a lot of fun,” I say. “Cleaning the floors and everything sounds like a real drag. Why don’t you let me promote you to something better. You could have your own office or cubicle or whatever you want. Maybe even your own bathroom.”
“That won’t be necessary,” says Sarah, cutting me off somewhat curtly. But I’m impressed with her—she really doesn’t want financial favors from me, that’s clear enough. “I always make my own way. I’ve got a whole plan on working my way up…classes…and all that.”
“That’s great,” I say. “I was just offering. But I really respect that you want to do it all yourself.”
“Thanks,” says Sarah. “I just didn’t want things to be weird between us…you know, if we’re dating and also you’re my boss.”
“I may have interviewed you,” I say. “But Cindy’s really your boss. And I doubt she’s going to listen to me no matter what I tell her. That’s one of the reasons I hired her—she’s really tough and gets the job done.”
Sarah laughs, her laugh sounding beautiful even over the cell phone connection that could use a little to be desired. “That’s for sure,” she says. “I’ve certainly noticed.”
I laugh too. “It’s hard to avoid noticing Cindy’s personality,” I say. “Anyway, I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you that night…”
“Yeah,” says Sarah, laughing. The tension is broken and it feels good to be more relaxed. “I was wondering when you would notice.”
I laugh again. “I guess I was just taken aback by your beauty,” I say. “I was completely stunned. Shell chocked by how beautiful you were.”
“You mean how beautiful I am,” says Sarah, chuckling.
“Yeah,” I say. “That’s what I meant. Anyway, it doesn’t bother me that you’re a cleaner for my business. I mean, I do employ a lot of people and all that. I have to say, it’s refreshing that you’re not into me for my money. Most women would jump on the opportunity to get their own office and a big salary.”
“I’m not like that,” says Sarah.
“I noticed,” I say. “Anyway, if it gets more serious between us, we can fill out a employee relationship form, but I wouldn’t worry too much about it. After all, I’m the head of the whole company, so I can kind of do what I want there. Anyway, should I pick you up at 7 tonight? I know a good place we could eat at.”
Sarah hesitates for a moment, and I’m not sure why. But in the end she says yes and we say goodbye and hang up our phones.
I stare at the wall for a moment with a smile on my face. I knew I liked her from the moment I saw her, and now I have a feeling that this is really going to go somewhere serious, somewhere special. There’s just something about her that I can’t describe.
I look down at my pants and notice that I’ve got a hard on just thinking about her. The bulge is quite large in my pants and my cock feels as hard as it’s ever been. It’s amazing the way a woman like Sarah can do that to me—get me so hard without even being in the same room as me.
Well, I think to myself, this hard on will just have to wait until tonight, where hopefully I can “reconnect” with Sarah the way I’ve been hoping to.
But no more unprotected sex, I think to myself. As good as it feels, and as much as I want to do it, I don’t want to take any more risks. That was pretty irresponsible of me that night. So tonight I’ll make sure I bring some condoms with me. Not that I’m expecting sex, but it’d sure be a welcome surprise. I haven’t been with anyone the entire month I was in California. I haven’t been with anyone since I met Sarah, which is definitely the longest time I’ve been without sex since…well, since I was about 18.
That may sound unbelievable to some, but even before I was rich I never had any problems picking up women. Sometimes I don’t even have to make a move. The women just come up to me. Some of them have told me there’s just something about my presence that draws them to me.
I whittle away the rest of the day. The hours go by much, much too slowly.
When the time comes, I deck myself out in a suit. I usually never wear suits. But Sarah’s worth it. She’s more important than any business meeting, that’s for sure.
I plug her address into my phone, and cringe when I see which neighborhood she’s in. She certainly doesn’t live in Manhattan, that’s for sure. And actually her neighborhood is a place I’d really
think twice about if I was walking alone at night. And I’m a pretty big guy and I’m no slouch at hand-to-hand combat either.
I take one of my sports cars out of the garage at my penthouse and cruised through the Manhattan streets. I’m used to scoping out the women as I drive. A lot of them like to look and see who’s driving such an expensive sports car. Normally I’d be rating them and admiring their bodies. But strangely, none of them hold any interest for me right now. All I can think about is Sarah and seeing her again.
I double-park the car on Sarah’s street.
I stand in front of her house and gaze up at the dilapidated row homes. This part of the city looks so dismal, so bleak and grey. That’s what poverty does to an area. There’s hardly anything living or green on the whole block. Down on the corner, there’s a white cross in the ground, probably signifying where some poor young person was gunned down. This isn’t a place I want anyone I care about living, I think to myself. Then again, I remind myself, aren’t I getting ahead of myself? I just met Sarah, basically.
But, no, there’s something else. There’s something special between us already.
I can almost feel or sense that she’s near me, even though I can’t see her. She’s probably upstairs putting the finishing touches on her makeup.
I look up again and this time I see her. It looks like she’s standing in the bathroom window, adjusting her earrings.
Even though I have a picture of her on my phone, and I have her image basically tattooed in my memory, seeing her in person is enough to make me catch my breath again and make my heart leap in surprise.
Somehow, she notices that I’m looking at her, and she looks down. We smile at each other.
I head up the steps and ring the doorbell.
“Coming,” says a shrill voice that doesn’t sound anything like Sarah.
“Hello,” I say. “I’m John Clark. Is Sarah here?”
“One minute,” she says. “Won’t you come in?”
The situation doesn’t make sense for a moment as I enter the cramped house. There’s stuff piled high in every possible location. I haven’t been into a home this dilapidated or stuffed for a long, long time. Not since before I became very rich. For a moment I wonder if this woman is her roommate?
Running Back's Baby: A Secret Baby Romance Page 22