If We Were Perfect - Ana Huang Page 0,101

night—the handcuffs Tamara bought her as a gag gift one Christmas came in handy—but it was better not to alarm her assistant too much.

Lizzy sighed. “Fine. Deprive me of my opportunity to live vicariously through you.”

“You’ll survive.” Lizzy was in no way hurting for excitement. She’d once come back from vacation engaged to a duke—only to break off the engagement two weeks later when she found out he had a kid and estranged wife he’d failed to tell her about.

Olivia walked into her sprawling office and draped her coat over the arm of the couch. “How does it feel?” she quipped.

Alina spun one last time in her desk chair before standing up. “Great. That’s an excellent chair. Ergonomic, sturdy, comfortable. Adjusted to the perfect height.”

“It better be. It cost $500.” Olivia laughed and hugged her sister. “What are you doing here? Don’t tell me the clinic succeeded in wooing you after all.”

Alina had been close to signing a contract with the private San Francisco clinic that had wanted to hire her as their anesthesiologist three years ago, but a Chicago clinic had swept in and outbid them at the last minute.

“Not yet.” Alina grinned. “I was in L.A. for a conference and took a quick trip up to see my little sis. How is my niece or nephew doing?”

Olivia flinched. “Shhh!” She closed the door to her office and peered out the window to see if anyone had overheard. The only person nearby was Lizzy, who was busy unboxing her podcast mic. “People will hear.”

“Why? What’s the big...oh.” Alina’s eyes grew round. “You haven’t told them yet.”

“No.” Olivia rested a hand on her stomach, her anxiety battling with joy and excitement. Her doctor had confirmed it a month earlier: she was pregnant. Eight weeks along, to be exact. She wasn’t showing yet, but it was only a matter of time.

Personally, Olivia was over the moon. Professionally, she was nervous as hell. As far as Wall Street firms went, PHC was pretty progressive, especially since it’d added a woman (finally!) to its board of directors last year and promoted another to partner. But the stigma against pregnant women still existed in the industry, and Olivia had heard too many horror stories about expecting mothers who were treated poorly after they announced their pregnancy and demoted after they returned from maternity leave. Some of them got fired during maternity leave.

Olivia knew she couldn’t keep her pregnancy a secret forever, but she was dragging out the announcement until she could come up with a solid backup plan in case things went sideways.

“Do you really think they’ll freak out?” Alina asked.

“I don’t know. Other than Michael, I’m the highest-ranking person in this office, so they won’t say anything to my face, but I’m not sure what to expect from HQ.” Olivia shook her head. “I’ll figure it out.”

She’d come a long way since her first summer in California. She was now a director at Pine Hill Capital—one step above the vice-president, and one rung below Michael’s managing directorship. He’d ceded most of the day-to-day management in the San Francisco office to her, and rumor had it he was planning to retire in the next few years, which would leave an MD spot open.

Olivia already had her eyes set on it. She wasn’t obsessed with becoming managing director the way she’d been obsessed with becoming vice-president, but she still had goals. Her dreams of conquering Wall Street hadn’t vanished just because she’d struck a healthier work-life balance.

“I’m sure you will.” Alina’s eyes twinkled. “So...you have your first ultrasound today?”

“Yes.” Olivia narrowed her eyes. “Is that why you came here? So you can tag along to the ultrasound?”

Her sister was the picture of innocence. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Bull. Shit. You’re as bad as Sammy’s family.” Olivia planted her hands on her hips. “Do you know who’s already coming with me to the sonogram besides Sammy? My mother-, father-, brother-, and sister-in-laws and my entire book club, plus a group FaceTime call with Farrah, Kris, and Courtney. I swear the sonographer is going to kick me out.”

“Great. That means one more person won’t make a difference,” Alina said, ignoring the last part of Olivia’s statement.

It took time, but after she got out from under Eleanor’s thumb, Alina had relaxed and blossomed into the warm, loving soul Olivia remembered from her early childhood. Alina and Eleanor still kept in touch—barely—but her sister no longer let their mother run her life, and it’d made all