If We Were Perfect - Ana Huang Page 0,102
the difference. Alina was thriving at work, dating for fun instead of being laser-focused on finding the “right” husband, and she looked happier than Olivia had ever seen her.
Olivia gave up on trying to dissuade her sister from joining her at the ultrasound appointment. “Fine. Meet me there,” she grumbled with affection. “I’ll text you the address. Now, I need to get back to work so I can afford the mountain of diapers in my future.”
Alina hadn’t left for more than a minute before Lizzy knocked and poked her head in. “Michael wants to see you in the conference room.”
Olivia’s brows furrowed. “Do we have a client meeting?”
They only used the conference room for client and staff meetings, and they didn’t have the latter scheduled for today.
“He didn’t give any details, but he said it’s urgent.”
“All right.” She sighed. She’d hoped for extra time to review her notes before her three o’clock meeting, but she guessed that wasn’t happening. Luckily, she’d already done the bulk of the preparation yesterday.
She followed Lizzie to the conference room. The office had emptied for lunch, and—
“Surprise!”
Olivia’s jaw unhinged when she saw her co-workers crowded around the large mahogany table, beaming. Michael, Cassidy (now a VP), Logan (who, unfortunately, still worked at PHC but who’d toned down his snark given Olivia was now his boss)...they were all there. Some wore party hats; others held balloons. A giant white, pink, and blue cake sat in the middle of the table, along with soda, chips, and assorted other snacks.
Her heart picked up pace. How did they find out?
She’d been so careful about hiding her pregnancy, but everyone looked happy—except for Logan—and they were throwing her a party, so maybe she’d agonized over the announcement for nothing.
“Who told you?” she blurted.
Her colleagues exchanged glances.
“What?” Cassidy spoke for the rest of the group.
“Who told you I was pregnant?”
You could hear a pin drop.
Michael’s eyes widened while Cassidy’s mouth fell open. A quick look around the room confirmed they weren’t the only ones with that reaction.
Dread slithered into Olivia’s stomach at their obvious shock. Shit. They hadn’t known, but then what was—
“No one.” Logan snorted, quickly masking his smug satisfaction with a fake smile. “This was your belated surprise birthday party.”
“We didn’t celebrate a few weeks ago because of the Haldern-Pacific deal,” Michael explained.
“Oh.” Olivia didn’t know what to say. Of all the ways she’d imagined announcing her pregnancy, dropping the bombshell by accident to her entire office hadn’t been one of them. She might as well have hit reply-all to an email with a photo of her sonogram. She let out a nervous laugh. “Well, surprise! I’m pregnant.”
Fuck it, the secret was already out. Time to embrace it and take the consequences as they came.
More silence.
Cassidy was the first to break it. She ran around the table and hugged Olivia; she’d grown a lot better at showing physical affection over the years. “Congratulations! That’s amazing.”
The dam broke, and Olivia was soon inundated with more hugs and congratulations. They all looked genuine except for Logan, who sulked in the corner, and Olivia gradually relaxed.
This wasn’t so bad.
Michael was the last to approach her. After some small talk, he said, “You may already know this, but we updated our parental leave policy last year. More paid time off, plus flexible work arrangements after you return to the office. Take advantage of them—you’re only a new parent once.”
“Thank you,” Olivia said with a touch of wariness. She examined her boss’s face for any signs he was upset about her pregnancy, but she couldn’t find anything amiss.
“I mean it. Don’t be afraid to use all those benefits. It won’t affect your career trajectory here.” Michael cleared his throat. “There’s a...stigma against expecting parents in certain parts of our industry, but PHC has always prided itself on being forward-thinking and inclusive.”
Olivia guessed the greater female representation on the board and roster of partners helped, too.
“I appreciate that,” she said. “I’ll definitely keep it in mind.”
“Please do. My daughter works in finance, too,” Michael added. “Hedge fund. Refused to take my advice and go into private equity, but what can you do? I know how hard it was for her when she started out. It’s still hard, even though she’s a senior executive now. But you take it one day at a time.”
Olivia murmured her agreement.
In an ideal world, Michael would promote female-friendly work policies even if his daughter didn’t work in finance, but she’d take her wins where she could find them.
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