Page 43 of Line Change

I bark out a laugh. “I’m pregnant and not with his baby.”

Hadley snorts. “Try again because I’m sure he doesn’t care. He’s clearly smitten with you.”

I shake my head, rubbing my stomach. “No one uses the word smitten anymore, Hads.”

“Regardless. He likes you, and you like him. What am I missing?” Hadley asks.

“Nothing.” It’s not my place to tell them that he’s leaving at the end of the season. “It’s just a lot.” I gesture around.

It’s not a lie. It is a lot—first finding out I’m pregnant, then my apartment flooding and moving in with Sebastian, and now the whole getting married so I can get my inheritance thing.

Hadley opens her mouth, probably to ask more questions, but Becca jumps in.

“We can understand that. Right, Hads?” Hadley nods. “Just promise us you won’t write off the possibility of you two being together.”

“I won’t.” Not that I think it’s going to happen, but I suppose you never know.

“Good. So the real reason I came in here was to find out if you have any food aversions. Any things you can’t stand the smell of? So we make sure not to have them at the party,” Becca says.

“Eggs.” I crinkle my nose. The smell of eggs still makes me nauseous, and it’s a shame because I love them. “And raw meat.” I barely hold back a gag. “Not that we’ll have raw meat just hanging around at the party.”

“Noted,” Becca says, scribbling in her notebook. “Anything you crave that we should make sure to have?”

“Fresh fruit, specifically berries.” I pause, holding up a hand. “And now I’m craving some.” I wonder if I have time to run to Publix to grab one of their bowls of cut up fruit. Any fruit will do at this point, except honeydew melon, those are gross, but otherwise, give me all the fruit.

“Sorry.” Becca grimaces. I wave her apology away, not her fault. “I think that was all my questions.” She looks at the notebook in her hand. “So it’s the three of us, Madison, Aubrey, and Ansley.” She glances up at me. “Anyone else you want me to invite?”

“I was going to invite my friend Holly.”

“Sounds good,” Becca says. “Anyone else?”

“Nope.”

“If you think of anyone else or anything else you want or don’t want to eat, let me know.” Becca gets to her feet. “I have to go do treatment on one of the guys, but let me know if you want me to go with you to pick up your dress.” With a wave, she leaves my office.

“I should go too,” Hadley says, standing. “Lunch soon?”

“Sure.”

When Hadley’s closed the door behind her, I turn back to my computer and find an email back from Anders.

Sutton,

Yes, Caro mentioned your name. Very interested. Call me: 555-122-6678 anytime.

- A

I read the email one more time before checking my calendar to make sure I don’t have any meetings in the next hour and then dialing Anders.

“Anders Cunningham.”

“Hi.” My voice comes out in a squeak, and I quickly clear my throat and try again. “Hi, Anders, this is Sutton St. James, we—”

“Sutton. How are you?”

“I’m good. Thank you for responding to my email so quickly.”

“Of course. Of course. It piqued my curiosity. Madison shared a few details with my wife.”