"You do not." Terry laughs, smacking my leg. "You're being ridiculous."
"Okay, maybe I am." I sigh and push the throw pillow to my chest. "I just don't know how to bring it up. Do I sit him down and go, ‘Hey, remember the night you don't remember? Well, surprise! That one night led to a baby and you’re a daddy.’
"That's a start. Rip the bandage off."
I groan and take another large gulp of my wine. "I'm scared. I don't know this man. What if he wants nothing to do with Matty or refuses to believe me and then he fires me? Shit. I'm not sure which would be worse."
I need this job. Liam Morgan has the power to blacklist me if he wants to. I could end up back at my parents just as I'm starting to make it on my own.
"He’d be stupid to fire you. Listen, the worst thing he says is he doesn't want to be part of Matty's life. At least you wouldn't have to keep wondering what if. This is your chance."
"I spent months after I found out I was pregnant trying to find out who he was with no luck. Now I'm back in the city for a month and I found him.” I sigh and pick the lint off the pillow. “I guess I’m still trying to process that I’m not dreaming because I never thought this would ever happen."
Terry reaches over and pinches my arm, making me yelp. “Nope, not dreaming.”
“Geez.” I rub my arm. “Did you have to do that so hard?”
“You’re fine.” She waves off and picks up her glass of wine. “I can’t believe you didn’t google who you were working for.”
“I didn’t think about it. River called me Sunday night and asked me if I would be interested in a job. It all happened so fast. Never in a million years did I think it would be him.” I throw myself back against the couch. Now, I wish I did better prepare myself, instead of walking in blindly when I came face to face with Matty’s sexy as sin sperm donor.
“All I can say is, the longer you wait to tell him, the harder it will be."
"I honestly don't know how to go about this. I never thought I would be faced with this moment. Now that it's here I'm terrified it could all blow up in my face. Not just for Matty, but my job. It would be so much easier if he remembered at least my face, but to him I'm nothing. I can't even say I'm a notch in his belt.”
"I thought you said if you were to ever find Matty's father you would tell him. Now that you have, you’re stalling."
"Wouldn't you? I was supposed to meet him on a whim, not be working for him. This shit only happens in movies."
"Or twisted romance novels."
"I guess I'm starring in both. Soon I'll be a lifetime movie premiere."
"Nah girl. We will spice this shit up to Passionflix level for you. But seriously, for all that to happen you need to tell him. At the end of the day, if he says no then you can move on and find someone so much better that will step up to the plate. Be a loving husband to you, an amazing stepdad to Matty, and then make some more cute babies with you."
"I love your plans."
"I miss the Holly that had them."
The universe is officially testing me. Nicky, the person who watches Matty for me while I work, called me at five this morning to tell me she would be unable to watch him because of a family emergency. There is no way after only three days on the job I can call off, not when I have four floors of measurements and drawings to do; so there’s only one thing I can do. Bring Matty with me.
And hope no one sees him.
I manage to get the CEO’s mini me into the conference room, unnoticed. Liam has let me set up shop in this room as my personal studio for the time being, since I have yet to set up my own. It’s what I’m hoping to do with my earnings after this job if everything goes smoothly. I haven’t worked up my nerve to say anything to Liam about him being Matty’s father. Not that I’ve seen much of him over the last couple of days, though I swear sometimes I see him lurking outside the conference room.
I set Matty up in a little cave nook under the table covered around with boxes and furniture, and hand him my phone while I work on some CAD designs for the new executive offices.
I’m clicking away on my laptop when a hand grips my shoulder, making me jump in my seat. "Shit."
“You’re always so jumpy, Ms. Jenkins.” Liam chuckles. I'm glad he finds it funny to always scare the bejeezus out of me.
"You always startle me."
"My apologies." He grins putting his hands to his chest.
"Can I help you?"
"I got this funny text from you.” He holds up his phone. “It has a bunch of letters, so I thought I would come to you to decode because it's not a code I've ever seen before." He shows me the text with a hundred different letters and emojis.
Crap. I glance under the table where I forgot Matty is playing with my phone. Peeking between the boxes I can see his little finger is smacking at the screen.
Of all the people you text little man, it had to be him?
I shift my chair to the right to try and hide Matty. "Um…it was just a pocket text. Sorry about that."
"That's a lot of letters to pocket text." Liam’s eyes drift down my body. "And by the looks of it, you don't have any pockets."
"You see…" I'm cut off by a light thud as an empty box goes toppling to the ground.
Matty’s tiny hand lands on my calf and his dark curls pop up from under the table. "Mama, video,” he says, waving my phone around. “No work.”
"Well, who do we have here?" Liam bends down to Matty's level. Matty's eyes go wide staring at Liam with intense curiosity. I'm surprised when Matty makes no move to hide behind me because of the new person in the room. Instead, he crawls closer.
"This is Matty." Your son! My subconscious screams so loud, the words tumble out of my mouth. Thankfully they come out jumbled.
"What?" Liam turns to glance at me, just as Matty places his hands on Liam's knees to help him stand.
"Matty, my son." I clear my throat, as my anxiety rises from my belly. "The person who usually watches him was sick and didn't tell me till this morning. I couldn't find anyone else, so I brought him in. I hope that's okay."
"It's fine. I didn't know you had a son."
Yeah, I know because if you did we'd be in a whole other predicament.
"How old is he?”
“He’s two.”
“Hey, Matty, I’m Liam.”
"Li-um," Matty says with his toothy grin and touches his face. "Li-um," he repeats happier and it makes Liam laugh.
"Close enough, buddy." Liam ruffles his hair.
My breath hitches seeing the pair so close together and practically bonding.
Will Liam see how much they look alike?
"I have Elmo." He pushes himself between Liam's legs and starts talking a mile a minute.
Most of it is not intelligible as he points to what he was playing on my phone. I’ve never seen Matty instantly light up so much with anyone besides me and my parents. Matty is a hide and runner, not a talk and hugger and if I wasn't in the middle of having a panic attack, I would be doing a lot more oohing and awwing at the visual in front of me because this never happens.