The Baby Arrangement

* * *

NICK WALKED TO his car in the parking garage several blocks away. He’d wanted to speak with Bree’s friends about her possible pregnancy, but how did you bring that up?

Did you just come out with it? Hey, so is Bree pregnant or what? Yeah, that would have gone over well. And what if she wasn’t? He’d have sounded downright stupid. He didn’t even know how much they knew about what had happened between Bree and him.

He got into his car, wishing he had some way to contact Bree.

At least now, with Roxie’s proposal to use his bar for teaching, he not only had an extra source of income but he might even run into Bree once in a while.

* * *

NO SOONER HAD Bree exited the Uber car, entered her building and pushed the elevator button for the seventh floor, than she began receiving text messages from her girlfriends.

Make it home okay? came from Roxie.

Do you need anything? was Amber’s text.

And then Hannah, Feel better. Call if you need me.

Bree would have been annoyed at their concern if she didn’t love them so much and know they were merely worried about her.

Privately, she was becoming a little concerned herself. She’d never fainted before. Ever. She didn’t count what had happened when she got her foot stitched. She hated needles with a passion. She shivered involuntarily.

But this hadn’t just been a little dizziness. It had been full-out, almost-drop-to-the-floor—if not for Nick—passing out. Followed by throwing up the few morsels she’d been able to eat.

She must have some kind of bug. There was no other explanation. Maybe something she’d picked up while on their island vacation. Although none of the others had come down with any type of illness.

Bree sent a group message to her friends saying she was fine and that she was going to bed early. By the time she’d stripped off her dress and heels, slipped on a nightshirt, brushed her teeth and washed her face, she realized it wasn’t even eight o’clock. But her body felt like it was midnight.

She crawled into bed, glad her stomach had finally settled down. She was positive she’d be awake before the sun came up, so she didn’t set her alarm. Even though tomorrow was Saturday, she wanted to get into the office bright and early to get some work done with few interruptions.

The next morning, Bree awoke to the sun shining into her bedroom. She sat up, trying to remember what day it was and why she’d been sleeping during the day. Then she remembered going to bed very early last night. She must have been really tired if the sun was up before her.

She turned her alarm clock toward her. “Eleven o’clock!” She felt her eyes nearly bug out. “This must be a joke.” She grabbed her cell phone from her nightstand and checked the time. Exactly the same. She’d slept for fifteen hours.

“How could that be?” she said aloud as she got out of bed and headed to the bathroom. She was normally lucky to get six hours a night. That was all she needed to function. She couldn’t even remember sleeping longer than seven hours while in college.

She showered and dressed in jeans and a sweater since there would be no meetings with clients. She needed to catch up with her never-ending email and review the financial statement she’d been avoiding.

No matter the weather, she preferred to walk to her office, stopping at the coffee shop on her way. Today was no different although, since she’d returned from vacation, the smell of coffee had gone from soothing to distressing. She ordered her usual yogurt parfait with chai tea instead of the espresso she used to order.

She was about to walk out of the coffee shop with her combination breakfast and lunch to go when a woman about Bree’s age suddenly doubled over in what appeared to be pain.

“Are you okay?” Bree asked her, setting her things down on a nearby table so her hands were free. Except for a man at a back table with his nose in his computer, she and the woman and the two employees were the only ones in the coffee shop.