it in case he’s an asshole about it, so you can be prepared. Legally, he has to support the baby, of course. But that doesn’t mean he can’t be sneaky.”
“He didn’t seem like an asshole.”
Charlie shook her head as soon as she heard her own words. She didn’t know anything about Rhys, not really. She knew he worked in I.T. and that he had a low, mellow voice and that when he looked at her he made her feel as though she was the center of the universe. But she didn’t know his last name, and she didn’t know what his childhood had been like, if he had siblings, what his politics were, if he was religious, if he was good or bad with money, if he was loyal or kind or generous…
She felt sick as the full import of her own thoughts struck home. She’d made a baby with a stranger. For the rest of her life, her world and his were going to be inextricably entwined. And she knew nothing about him.
“I need to work out how to contact him,” she said, forcing herself to focus on the practicalities of the situation.
“Do you remember his address?”
Charlie thought for a moment, but her mind was blank. She’d been so focused on getting inside Rhys’s apartment that night that she hadn’t paid much attention to anything else.
“No. But I think if I went over there and walked around I could probably find the apartment block again.”
“Okay. Then I guess it’s a matter of hanging around till he comes home,” Gina suggested.
The idea of lurking in the street to confront the father of her child felt incredibly sordid and sad to Charlie, but she was well aware that she didn’t have the luxury of being proud at this point. Not if she wanted her child to know his or her father.
And she did.
“I don’t suppose you remember the name of his company at all?” Gina asked.
Charlie frowned. “It was something to do with an animal. Right?”
Gina shrugged apologetically. “Sorry. I remember him mentioning it once or twice, but the details didn’t stick.”
Charlie’s frown deepened as a memory tickled at the back of her mind. It was something to do with his apartment. Something she’d seen there. A business card? Something to do with a logo or writing or something…
She shot to her feet suddenly. “My bag. I need my bag.” She glanced left and right but couldn’t see it.
“Where do you usually leave it, creature of habit?” Gina asked.
Charlie turned on her heel and almost ran into the bedroom. Her bag hung by its strap from the inside door handle. She grabbed it and returned to the living room. Without looking at Gina, she emptied the contents onto the coffee table. A handful of spare change rattled onto the glass, a couple of sticks of chewing gum, three pens, a small memo pad, her wallet, a pair of sunglasses, a couple of hair ties…and a small, crumpled ball of paper.
She snatched it up.
“Share, please. What is it you’re looking so excited about?” Gina asked.
“I wrote him a note before I left. But the first one was no good, so I threw it into my bag and wrote another.”
“Only you could write two drafts of a morning-after note,” Gina said fondly.
Charlie found an opening in the ball and used her thumb to tease it wider. Gina leaned forward as Charlie smoothed the piece of paper flat on the table.
Charlie closed her eyes with relief when she saw the graphic in the top right corner—a soaring falcon, with the name Falcon I.T. and two phone numbers printed beneath it, as well as a street address.
“That’s the easy part sorted, then. Now you just have to ring him and tell him the big news.”
Charlie’s stomach tensed. Whether she liked it or not—whether Rhys liked it or not—they’d made a baby that night eight weeks ago. He needed to know he was going to be a father, and she needed to know what kind of man he was.
“Couple more hours and he should be at his desk,” Gina said.
“I don’t think it’s the kind of conversation you have over the phone. I can’t call out of the blue and tell him something this big.”
“What are you going to do, then? Go over to his office and tell him in person?”
Charlie thought about it for a few seconds. “Well, yeah. I guess I am.”
“Man. You have balls of steel, my friend. I would totally make a