How to Have Your Boss's Secret Baby - London Casey Page 0,66

wild.

I swallowed hard and chased my thoughts away.

I had to face my mother. I had to face my old friends.

There was no way I could lie, tell them I didn’t know I was pregnant.

Oh, well, I went to this taco truck festival and just ate for like months on end and thought I had a taco belly!

My phone buzzed on the seat next to me.

I was on a text message thread with Connie and Jen.

Connie: Can’t wait to see you!

Jen: She’s finally coming home. Let’s keep her here!

Connie: You can’t get her out of the city. The men there are endless and hot and rich.

Jen: Oh, good idea. Maya - can you bag a rich guy?

Connie: One with two well hung brothers, please? ;)

Jen: Ugh. Don’t say that. If Ed reads my messages, he’ll get pissed.

Connie: :(

I didn’t reply right away.

Jen got involved with Ed against mine and Connie’s wishes. Then she got pregnant with Eddie and that was it. No matter what Ed did to her, she could never leave him. I knew there were times when he put his hands on her, but Jen never talked about it.

As for Connie, she had Ben and Brooke and then decided Rich wasn’t good enough for her. She kicked him out and he left for Florida where he promised to get a good job, send money back, and then eventually move them all down there.

Last I asked Connie, she never received a dime from Rich, and she prayed he would get eaten by an alligator.

That was my old hometown.

Small and full of drama.

And I was on my way back with my own version of drama.

The car stopped outside Connie’s house.

It was a small cape cod with two dormers, looking much like all the other houses on the street.

Connie was outside on the small front porch.

Ben stood at her side.

He was getting really tall.

He was going to be ten and was almost as tall as Connie.

Brooke poked her head out from the open door.

Little Brooke was eight.

And I was pregnant.

Hiding in the back of the car.

The windows were tinted.

Nobody could see me.

I had to get out of the car.

“I’ll open the door for you, ma’am,” the driver announced.

“No, you won’t,” I said.

I slowly started to open the door when I heard the sound of a growling muffler.

I looked back and saw Jen pulling up behind the car.

My heart raced even more.

I came here to see Connie and Jen.

Now they were both here.

Jen jumped out of her car and ran to my car.

“Oh, shit,” I whispered.

It was too late.

She ripped open the door. “Look at you. Little Miss Fucking Fancy. Getting a ride like this from the…”

Jen looked down at my stomach.

I moved my feet from the car and stood up.

“Maya,” Jen said.

I ignored Jen and looked at Connie.

Even from her distance she could see that I was pregnant.

Her eyes went very wide.

Ben pointed and I heard him ask, “Whoa, is Maya pregnant?”

Connie swatted at Ben’s shoulder and told him to go inside.

I looked at Jen and I smiled. “How are things here?”

“Maya… you’re pregnant…”

“Oh, this?” I asked. I touched my stomach. “I just had a really big lunch today.”

Connie tossed some real and fake sugar packets to the table.

The kitchen was small and smelled like last night’s spaghetti sauce.

“Is half and half okay?” she asked me.

“Of course it is,” I said.

“She thinks you drink some fancy nut milk or something,” Jen said.

“No. I’m not that bad yet. And how do you milk a nut?”

I smiled.

Jen raised her eyebrow and pointed to my stomach. “Looks like you figured that out.”

I gasped.

Connie snorted. “Oh, jeez…”

“What?” Jen asked. “Are we going to sit here in suspense all day? You’re fucking pregnant, Maya. Talk about milking a nut or two…”

“I said I would explain everything,” I said.

“So, explain,” Connie said.

She slid a box of grocery store donuts across the table and sat down next to Jen.

She moved a stack of crooked mail out of the way.

Everything about the house screamed home even though it wasn’t my home. And this town wasn’t my hometown anymore.

“So, I kind of met someone and… you know…”

“Oh, no, no, no,” Connie said. She waved a finger at me. “You’re not going to beat around the bush here. Not after what Jen and I have been through with pregnancies. We want the truth.”

“Okay,” I said. “Fine.” I had a chance to tell the actual truth. Finally. “I went on a trip with my boss and we both got drunk and decided to