“Don’t worry, Savvy,” Ellie said in a soothing voice. “We’ll figure this out.”
I shuffled into the kitchen to get a glass of water. “They said I can ask someone from the office to verify that I was there at the time the purchase was made. I’ll ask Sam. It had better work, or I am totally screwed, especially since I didn’t get the promotion to account manager … thanks to Madison and herexpertly timed balloon delivery.” My voice dripped with bitterness.
Ellie frowned as she followed me into the kitchen. “You don’t think …?” She looked at me in a way that told me we were both wondering the same thing.
“That these charges could be Madison too? Yeah, I thought about that. And what about last night? How did she know I would be at the High Note? Am I supposed to believe that was a coincidence? And if she did know I’d be there, does that mean maybe she’s also the one who set up that pervert Rob from the app?”
Ellie shook her head in disbelief. “I can’t believe she would do something like that. I mean, that goes way beyond being jealous. It’s insane.Luckily you took him down with that swift kick, and then the bouncer jumped in, but what if he had fought back?”
“I agree. I just don’t see how so many coincidences could happen in such a short amount of time.”
Then I remembered the anonymous threatening texts I’d received the night before. “And wait ‘til you see the creepy messages I got last night.” I took my phone out of my robe pocket to show her—but when I opened my messages, they were nowhere to be found.What? Where are they?
I scrolled and scrolled, then checked my recently deleted items folder, but they were gone—almost like they’d never existed. I looked up at Ellie, frowning. “I don’t get it—they’re gone.”
“What do you mean?”
“After you passed out, I got a couple of texts from an anonymous number. One said I don’t deserve my baby, and other said ‘maybe someone should teach you a lesson.’ It was really freaking disturbing.”
“Jesus. Do you think that was Madison too?”
“Well, who else would it be? She just spent the night telling me, in front of all my friends, what a crappy mother I’m going to be.”
“And now you can’t find the texts?”
I sighed and looked back down at my phone. “I don’t get it.” I trudged back into the living room and flopped down on the couch. “I should probably talk to Max about all this. But I really don’t want to stir up more drama.”
If I did tell him, would he even believe me? He’d admitted Madison could be intense sometimes. Even jealous. But credit card fraud? Catfishing? Would he be willing to believe his sweet girlfriend was capable of such extremes?
Ellie sat down next to me and put her hand on my leg. “Tell you what—let’s get dressed and meet Jenna at the farmer’s market. We’ll have a nice day and forget all about Madison. Wanna see if Jenna wants to go see a movie later? That new rom-com came out—the one we saw the commercial for that looked good.”
I crushed Ellie in a side hug. “I would love something to take my mind off all this.”
Thank God for friends.
Ellie, Jenna, and I were sitting in a booth at a restaurant by the movie theater a few hours later when it happened. I gasped.
Ellie’s and Jenna’s eyes snapped up and searched my face with concern as my hands flew to my stomach.
“Savvy? Are you alright? What’s happening?”
My eyes bloomed with tears. “Oh my God.” I looked up at them, still clutching my belly. “I think I just felt the baby kick for the first time.”
Ellie squealed with delight and came around to my side of the booth. She squeezed in beside me and put her hand on my belly. I guided her hand to the spot where I’d felt it.
It took a few moments before I realized Jenna was sitting there across from us, silent, a tear winding its way down her cheek.
“Jenna? Are you okay?” I reached my hand across the table toward her.
As if she hadn’t realized she’d been crying, Jenna startled and wiped away the tear. “Oh—yeah, of course. I’m fine. I’m totally fine.” She tried to smile, but it looked forced.
“Are you sure? Is anything wrong?” Ellie asked.
“Yeah, I’m sure.” The pitch of her voice sounded higher than usual. “I’m happy for you. That’s so exciting! Stupid pregnancy hormones just make me so emotional sometimes.”
The baby didn’t seem to want to kick again. Ellie moved back to the other side of the table.
“Well, enough fussing about me,” I said. “Tell us, Jenna—how have you been feeling lately? How’syourlittle peanut?”
