“Way to be stubborn, Rae. Fine, Hemsworth. Fall or Summer?”
“Summer.”
“Indy or New York?”
“Indy.”
“Do you want this baby?”
“Yes.” I gasp over the realization that hits me. “Did you just Phoebe me into making my answer for me?”
“Yes, but clearly it was something you already wanted if you made the decision that easily.”
I sigh, wishing she were here. “Is it bad that I’m still terrified?”
“No.” Bea’s voice is firm. “You’re in a foreign country, all by yourself, and going to have a baby. I’d be worried if you weren’t terrified. Are you going to tell your parents?”
“Kinda have to. It’ll be quite the shock if I go home next year with another person in tow.”
Bea’s laughter through the phone settles me for the first time in hours. “I can only imagine if I did that to my mom. She’d smack me upside the head and then declare herself the best grandma out there.”
“I only hope my parents take it well. I mean, not exactly great that I got knocked up by my boss on the first night in town.”
“Maybe you leave the part out about how you got knocked up. Pretty sure they know how babies are made.”
“Oh God.” I rub my forehead, listening to everyone walk around me. “I have no idea how I’m going to tell Leo. What if he fires me?”
“It’d be pretty shitty if he fired you. But based on everything you told me about him, he might surprise you.”
“I miss you, Beatrix. Any chance you can come teach English in Australia?”
“Might be hard. Any chance your boss wants the company to learn Spanish?”
“Well, if anything, you’ve made me feel marginally better tonight.”
Bea scoffs through the phone. “Glad it was only marginally. Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Are you at least a little bit excited about having this baby?”
Till this moment, every emotion fighting for space in my head has been overpowered by dread and panic. But now that Bea asks it, am I excited?
I want this baby. Sure, it’s going to be hard doing this while in another country with no one to support me aside from my elderly neighbor and my boss. Jessica and I go out for happy hour every now and then, but does she really want me latching on to her for the next ten months?
All that aside, I think of having the baby. Of getting to hold him or her in my arms. Of that happy newborn smell I remember from my nieces and nephews. It’s going to be hard, but it’ll be so worth it.
“Yeah, I am excited. Can you believe I’m going to be a mother?”
“You’re going to be the best mom out there. I just know it.”
I just hope her faith in me isn’t misguided, and I don’t screw up the most important thing to ever happen in my life.
Chapter Eight
Leo
“Do you have a minute?” Reagan’s knock at my office door drags my attention away from another mindless financial statement that I have to review.
