I laugh puffs of air out my nose. “There was nothing haphazard about it. It was fucking amazing. The best.”
Her head tilts and her nose crinkles. “Really?”
“Yeah, really.”
She nods, seemingly impressed with herself. “Well, that’s good to know, because it had been a long time since I’ve done it.”
Inside, I’m beaming. I inch even closer, and my chest touches her breasts. “Just how long are we talking?”
“Since before my divorce. So… eighteen months?”
I can’t hold in my triumphant smile.
“Don’t get cocky,” she says. “You and your gravity-challenged towel caught me off guard.”
I go over our entire conversation, tilting my head in mild confusion as the details come together. “Something’s not adding up. You said you didn’t sleep with the clients. But you also said you got pregnant with Amelia your third year in college.”
She looks sheepish again. “Yeah, okay, I did sleep withoneclient. So technically, I did break the law. But in my defense, I fell in love with him. He was a repeat client I’d gone out with a dozen or so times. He said he was too busy to date, but had to attend a lot of events, so it was easier that way. He was classy and charming and treated me unlike any of the others. Like I really was his date, and not someone hired to play a part. I just got way too caught up in the façade.”
“And he’s not in your life at all?”
“Not since the day I told him I was pregnant.”
“But he pays child support, right? Oh, so that’s where you get your money. He was a rich client.”
Her head shakes. “He wasn’t rich. His parents were. A week after I told him and he totally ghosted me, I was contacted by a lawyer who presented me with a fifty-thousand-dollar check and an NDA.”
“Shit, really? They made you sign a non-disclosure agreement?”
“They didn’t make me. But I was informed that since he didn’t have assets in his name, I’d be hard pressed to get much in the way of child support. Let’s just say they made it clear it would be in my best interest to take the offer. So, I took the money with the express agreement that I was never to contact him, go after him for child support, or even put his name on Amelia’s birth certificate.”
“Fifty thousand must have seemed like a lot to a broke college student.”
She scoffs. “If I’d only known then how expensive having a baby would be without insurance.”
I raise a brow. “You weren’t on your dad’s?”
“He worked for a smaller church at the time. They weren’t required to offer it to him. Not that I told him I was pregnant. He didn’t know about Amelia until she was born and I called him from the hospital.”
“Wow.” The things she’s been through in her twenty-four years have me truly astounded. “I’m sorry you had to go through that alone.”
She shrugs. “I had a few friends from school who showed up for me from time to time. But they were still students and I wasn’t, so we grew apart.”
“So the money didn’t last long. What did you do?”
“When Amelia was six months old, it ran out. I started doing odd jobs to get by. Nothing glamorous. I walked dogs. Babysat neighbors’ kids. Basically anything I could do from home while caring for Amelia. When she was two, I got her enrolled in a subsidized daycare and could finally get a real job. I found one as a receptionist at a law firm.”
“Sounds like a good gig.”
“Or so I thought.” She draws away. “It’s where I met my ex.”
“Dang. You really haven’t had the best luck with the men in your life, have you?”
“Ha! That’s an understatement.”
“Will you tell me about him? Your ex?”
Her eyes become distant. I’ve most certainly crossed the line now.
