Before the weekend was over, Logan knew he'd badly bungled his confrontation with Amanda. He wasn't ready to absolve her of guilt in the matter of the Daily Eats email, but that issue was overshadowed by his clumsiness in how he handled the announcement of the pregnancy.
For one critical moment, he'd been terrified at the thought of bringing into the world a child of his own seed who would need his love, a person who would plunge him into the morass of human emotions he had permanently forsworn. He didn’t want any claims on his emotions. Hadn’t he made that clear enough?
But the look in Amanda’s eyes at his response had been a dagger thrown deeply into his heart. He feared it might end up being more painful than the emotional pull of a child.
That didn't mean he was ready to forgive her for her betrayal. No matter how he sifted the news about the pregnancy, he couldn't imagine a scenario where she was innocent. Yeah, they'd had that one unprotected moment. But she'd initiated that encounter, and she'd been the one to slide over him without protection. His blood heated at the memory. But no matter how good the ungloved slide had felt, he hadn't lost his head. He'd been the one to stop and insist on the condom, not her.
He had to conclude that she wasn't on the pill as she'd said. If she had been, she wouldn't have gotten pregnant even with that one unprotected moment. If she'd lied about the pill, it was hard to avoid the conclusion that she might have been trying to trap him by getting pregnant.
That was an unforgivable betrayal.
He sighed, flipping on the CD player in the limo. A Debussy sonata wrapped around him, and he tried to lose himself in the music. But guilt hammered at him.
No matter how the pregnancy had happened, he had some level of responsibility. Of course, he intended to support the child and be involved in his or her life, but he feared that wouldn't be enough. He really couldn't simply walk away from the child's mother. Amanda was a strong woman, but she didn't seem to have a good support network. Her mother was already dealing with the sick sister and living in Denver, her best friend was in France, and Logan himself had just cut her off from her job and health insurance.
One fact was inescapable. Although she deserved firing for the Daily Eats email, he would have to arrange some kind of a job for her now that she was pregnant. He'd have to have a talk with Letty in HR and see what could be worked out.
With that decision made, he tried to clear his mind and attack Monday's work. He'd wait until mid-morning to call Amanda. She hadn't looked well on Saturday, and he hoped she was sleeping in.
***
Amanda had been up at dawn on Monday morning. By 7, she was in the office, talking to a tech about the email message to the Molloys. She didn't know if Logan would send a security guard to throw her out of the office, but she had to take the chance.
Unfortunately, the tech confirmed what Logan had said. The message had definitely been sent from Amanda's computer. Which meant someone had used her computer to send it.
The pieces of the puzzle swarmed around in her head. Her email would have had to be open. How did the person know what to say to the Molloys? Who knew enough about the Daily Eats deal and also had reason to try to create trouble for her?
She texted Rosie and begged her to come in early and meet her for breakfast.
"It would take balls to sneak into your office and type on your computer," Rosie said after hearing the story about the email.
"But it feels like a female thing to do," Amanda argued. "The sneakiness."
"Yeah, it would be easy to be trapped in an office. With the cubicles, you could hear someone coming and simply move on."
"Wait!" Amanda dropped the plastic spoon she was using to eat a carton of plain yogurt. "I surprised Phoebe in my office one day. She—"
"Phoebe!" Rosie slapped her hand on the table. "Who else? She's hated your guts since the first day."
"What did I ever do to her?"
"Attracted the boss," Rosie said wryly. "That's all it took to piss off a conniving bitch like Phoebe."
"I didn't—"Amanda cut herself off. She could hardly argue she