a partner. Or a family. I'll be doing this alone. Well, I can tell Ethan, but after what he tried to accuse me of before - using a baby to get money or whatever out of him - I'm hesitant. Besides, if I tell him about the baby, I'll be giving him the key to my life. He'll be in it, but he won't be mine. It will be just like that stupid contract, except without the Swiss chalet.
No, I'm not going to tell him. I'm going to do this alone. It will be doubly hard but I'll be fine. Right?
The other bad news is that I don't know much about pregnancy. I never asked my mom about it - I sure wish she was here right now - but I guess I can Google that. Also, I currently have no job and no place to stay. Well, I guess I should start looking for an apartment here in Seattle more seriously.
The good news? I have some savings. Sure, I've been saving to travel, but if I'm going to have a baby, I have no choice but to spend for it. Maybe I won't be working for a while before and after the baby is born, but when I eventually look for a job, I'm sure it won't be that hard to find one. I have an impressive resume, and I know I'm efficient.
What else? I have an old friend here in Seattle who's a doctor. She can help me.
One last thing. I'm pregnant. I'm having a baby. I'm finally no longer going to be alone. I'm going to have someone I can call my own, someone who will be my family. Just thinking about all the Christmases and birthdays we're going to spend together, all the places we'll travel to, all the fun things we're going to do together, makes me smile.
I love my child already.
Of course, that's only if I'm pregnant, which I'll find out for sure in a bit.
Finally, I reach the hotel. I board an elevator up to my floor and hurry down the hallway. I'm going to go straight to the bathroom and take the test right away. At least, that's my plan, but the moment I open the door to my room, everything falls apart.
Ethan is standing by the bed.
Ethan. In the flesh. In one of his impeccable suits.
I feel like pinching myself. I'm not dreaming, am I? I know I've been having dizzy spells. Am I having hallucinations too now?
"Stella," Ethan says my name and my heart leaps.
Okay. So he's not a hallucination. But that doesn't explain why he's here in front of me right now. Isn't he supposed to be in Chicago running his company?
"How did you get here?" I finally find my voice, though I can't seem to keep it from trembling.
How did he even know I was staying here at this hotel?
"I went to your apartment but you weren't there. Your friend Jess said you went back to Seattle, so I came here. Miller helped me find out where you were staying and booked a room for me here. When I arrived, I asked the manager if I could kindly get a spare key to your room."
"You mean you paid the manager?" I ask.
"No. But I did promise him some tickets to a Seahawks game."
Isn't that the same thing?
"Fine. But why are you here?"
"I thought I just told you the reason why," Ethan says.
He did?
He walks towards me. "I'm here because you're here, Stella."
I take a step back and lift a finger. "Don't come any closer."
He stops.
"Now, tell me again why you're here, because the answer you gave me doesn't make sense. There's no reason you should follow me here. I'm no longer your employee."
"You can come back to the company if you want."
So he's here to ask me to take my old job back? Why? Because he can't find another assistant who can do it as well?
"I don't want to."
"Then don't. But I'm going to bring you back with me anyway."
My eyebrows arch. What? That makes even less sense. Has he gone mad since I last saw him?
"What do you mean?" I ask him. "Are you saying that the baby contract was your way of asking me nicely, and since I turned you down, now you're going to kidnap me and force yourself on me?"
"No," Ethan answers as he takes another step forward. "I'm asking you to come back."