The Baby Arrangement

“Lead the way,” Bree said.

As soon as they sat down, Bree contemplated her plate. Maybe it was the mixture of smells that caused her stomach to flip-flop. She obstinately picked up an empanada and took a large bite. The taste was delicious as long as she didn’t inhale. She put the rest of the savory turnover back onto her plate, thinking she’d try something else next. She chose a stuffed olive and that was a huge mistake. Before she could even take a bite she had to swallow, carefully controlling her gag reflex. She dropped the olive back onto her plate and stood up. “I need to go to the ladies’ room.”

Hannah pointed to the hallway where they’d just been. “On the right. Want me to come with you?”

Bree didn’t have time to speak—she just shook her head and took off before she embarrassed herself again. This time it would have been by throwing up in the middle of the restaurant.

* * *

NICK HAD BEEN keeping an eye on Bree from across the room. And not just because something was obviously wrong with her, though he would never admit that if asked. She’d made it clear on the island that she wasn’t interested in pursuing anything with him. Which made her anger over them living in the same city even more perplexing.

But people didn’t faint for no reason. Now, as she hurried back down the hallway to the restroom, he had a hunch—from her greenish complexion and her hand over her mouth—that she was about to puke her guts out.

He leaned down to whisper in his mom’s ear. “Mom, would you do me a favor and go into the ladies’ room to check on Bree? I don’t think she’s feeling well.” His mom had stayed by his side while they’d sampled the food.

She handed him her nearly empty plate. “Of course.” She gave him a questioning look. “You never answered me before. This woman is someone you know?”

He could hear her matchmaking gears turning. “She’s someone I met recently. I’m just concerned, that’s all.”

His mother nodded and left to check on Bree. She’d continue the interrogation later, he was sure.

“Hey, hero.” His cousin nudged him as he came to stand next to Nick.

He rolled his eyes at Pete’s teasing. “Knock it off.” He noticed Pete was alone. “Where’s your date?”

“She’s around.” Pete shrugged. “She’s just someone I met in line for coffee yesterday.”

Nick slowly shook his head. “You’re such a player.”

Pete chuckled. “Speak for yourself. Hey, I gotta say, that was a great way to get close to Bree. Sweep her off her feet.”

“She passed out, knucklehead.”

“Sure, sure. But now you’ve got an in. She owes you. Play on that when you ask for financial help.”

“Shh!” Nick looked around to see if anyone might have overheard Pete. “Keep your voice down.”

“But you’re gonna do it, right? You need help right away, so running into her tonight must be fate.” Pete urged, “Don’t wait too long. The restaurant’s in real trouble, you know.”

Nick knew it, but he didn’t want to ask Bree for help, period. Nick spoke quietly. “I told you, I have other ideas that I’m working on to bring in more money.”

“Maybe I should ask Bree,” Pete suggested. “You’re obviously too chicken to bring up the subject. Or maybe you’re too tongue-tied when she’s around.” He switched to a singsong tone. “You like her!”

“No!” The word came out louder than Nick had anticipated. He lowered his voice. “No, don’t ask her. I’ll handle it.” Which wouldn’t mean asking Bree for a loan, even if Pete took it that way.

Man, he had enough to worry about with the restaurant, and now his cousin wouldn’t give him a break on this loan idea.

Pete finally left Nick when Pete’s date came to drag him off to show him something. Nick stood by himself for a few minutes until his mom and Bree returned to the dining room. His mom gave him a look that said he’d been right about having her check on Bree, who had lost the green tinge to her complexion but now was beyond pale.

His mom turned Bree over to her friends, who had stepped forward en masse to help. They must not have seen how sickly she’d looked as she’d hurried out of the dining room.

“She’s probably got some kind of stomach bug,” his mother said to him when she returned to his side and retrieved her plate. “We’ll be lucky if we don’t all come down with it, too.”

“Are you blaming her for coming tonight?” That wasn’t like her.

“No, no,” she said as she swallowed her bite of food. “It’s not her fault. She said she was fine before she came, just tired. Smelling the food was what did it to her.” She took another bite of food. “You know, it reminds me of when I was pregnant with you.”

Nick stared at her, his heart suddenly beating at an alarming rate. “What do you mean?”

Mom shrugged. “I don’t know her situation, but with the fainting, nausea and actually losing her lunch, she could be pregnant. She has all the symptoms. I guess I should have asked her, but it’s a pretty personal question to ask a stranger.”

Nick couldn’t speak. His ears were ringing, and his own stomach had started doing somersaults.

Lucky for him, his mom was oblivious to his discomfort. She continued talking. “If she really doesn’t have a stomach bug, I hope it’s not food poisoning because we all might be the next victims. Then again, if she’s pregnant and doesn’t know it, then I hope it’s a nice surprise for her.”

* * *

“THERE’S SOMETHING WRONG with Bree,” Roxie told Amber and Hannah after they practically forced Bree into an Uber to get her home. Trying to get her to agree to one of them accompanying her had been impossible.

They stood on the sidewalk outside the restaurant watching the car drive away. The cold rain had stopped, but everything was wet, and there was a chill in the air.

Hannah nodded, her expression serious as she rubbed her hands on her upper arms. “I know. She hasn’t been right since we got back from vacation.” She cocked her head. “Do you think she might have picked up a tropical virus or something?”

Amber scowled. “I don’t know. I guess that’s possible.”

“We should probably get her to see a doctor,” Hannah added.

Roxie frowned. “Like she’d ever take our advice.”

“True,” Amber agreed.

“But we should still try.” Hannah’s empathetic side was showing. “This has been going on for too long. I’m worried about her.”

“Me, too,” Amber and Roxie said at the same time.

“What if it’s a parasite?” Hannah shivered.

“Ew!” Amber scrunched her face while Roxie shuddered at the idea.

“Let’s go back inside,” Roxie said, feeling the chill through the thin sleeves of her dress. “Bree will want a full rundown of the event later.”

“You’re right,” Amber said as she took a few steps and reached for the door handle.

As Amber was opening it, she saw Nick heading to the exit. Roxie had to admit that he was one fine male specimen. Not that Roxie was interested, but he was perfect for Bree. If only she would stop working so hard and give herself a chance for fun.

“Where’s Bree?” Nick exited the restaurant, and Amber closed the door when none of the women moved to go back inside.

“She went home,” Hannah told him. “She wasn’t feeling well.”

He nodded. “I know. I was there.” His demeanor was no longer calm and confident. “You let her drive herself?”

“No,” Roxie said, annoyed that he’d think they’d allow Bree to do that after she’d fainted. “She went by Uber. I’ll drive her car home.”

“I need to speak with her,” Nick said. He pulled out his phone. “What’s her address?”

“Whoa!” Amber stepped forward when she heard his request. “We don’t give out personal information.”

Nick nodded slowly. “I understand. But this is important. I need to ask her something.”

“Whatever you need to ask her will have to wait until she’s back in the office.” Roxie narrowed her eyes. “Unless you have her cell phone number?”

“No.”

Roxie shrugged, not surprised that Bree hadn’t given him her number. She was adamant about never allowing herself to be distracted by romantic relationships. “I guess you’re out of luck, then. Try her at work.” She pulled a business card from her purse. “Call the main number and ask for Bree.”

Nick didn’t seem happy with his limited choices, but Roxie couldn’t help him any more than she already had. She had a sudden idea, of which the benefits might be twofold. BeeTee was looking for a venue and it might help push Nick and Bree together. “You have a restaurant, correct?”

“Yes,” Nick said slowly with a definite hint of suspicion. “Why?”

“It has a full bar?”

He nodded.

“Great. We’re looking for a place to hold bartending classes. Would you be interested in us ‘borrowing’ your bar?” She paused. “We’d pay you, of course.”

Nick seemed to consider the idea. “It would have to be on Mondays when the restaurant is closed.”

“That’s perfect!” She was excited about moving forward with Bree’s idea from vacation. “Can I come by to check it out, maybe during the midafternoon lull on Saturday or Sunday? Then we can figure out the details and I’ll have a contract drawn up.”

“Sounds great.”

“Hey, what’s going on out here?” Pete exited the restaurant and joined the group, his flavor of the week clinging to his arm. “I wondered where you got to,” he said to Nick. Pete looked directly at Roxie and said, “Hey, Rox. How’s it goin’?” He had the nerve to punctuate his question with a wink.

“Peachy,” she said.

“Okay, then.” He looked at the woman on his arm who, on closer inspection, appeared to be even younger than Roxie had first thought. “Ready to go?”

The girl bobbed her head, and Pete tipped an imaginary hat to Roxie before he and his date headed in the direction of the nearest parking garage, where he’d probably left his car.

The three women looked at Nick when he said, “Please, are you sure you can’t get in touch with Bree for me tonight?”

“She needs to rest,” Hannah told him.

“But tomorrow’s Saturday. She won’t be in the office, will she?”

Roxie chuckled. “She will be unless she’s tied down or she’s too sick. She tends to work seven days a week if no one stops her. That’s why we insisted on a working vacation on the island.”

Nick rubbed his bearded cheek as if considering his options. “Okay. I guess I’ll try her at the office in the morning.” Nick said goodbye and went on his way.

He sounded resigned, but Roxie didn’t honestly think that would be the end of it.

* * *

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.

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