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Chapter Nine
Soon after theyreturned to the office from their business lunch, Mr. Montgomery was out until 5 p.m. at another meeting. He’d probably be gone for the rest of the day, which was fine with her. She was tired of racking her brain for a suitable wife for her boss. But actually, days ago, she knew she didn’t know anyone who would fit into his life.
The perfect woman who would be a dutiful wife and let her husband cheat just wasn’t out there. Or at least not in her circle of friends, even though they were just a group of slutty girls and her sisters. Most of whom were now married.
So much for the money that she needed for the babies. So far, she hadn’t gotten up the nerve to tell her family about them, but it would have to be soon. If Agatha knew, then maybe others suspected, which would make it less of a surprise.
Leaning back in her chair, she tried to decide who she should tell. Which one of her sisters was most likely to tell everyone else so that Lucy didn’t have to? The obvious answer was her oldest sister, Harper. She couldn’t keep secrets. But that was the only sister Lucy no longer talked to. Because as much as Harper was a blabber, she also wouldn’t be afraid to tell Lucy how disappointed she was with her.
That was a conversation she didn’t want to have, so she then decided maybe her best bet was to tell Maby. Maby and Cliff wouldn’t lecture her; they would be nothing but excited about her having a baby—or even two. Except they would be disappointed because they would know exactly who the father was, so they might not be as excited as Lucy wanted them to be.
Dismissing her twin, she moved to Buzz, who she also dismissed out of hand. She was a newlywed who was adjusting to her new life. It hadn’t even been a month since she had become Mrs. Jonas Raiden, and she was enjoying it. She talked about it way too much.
Which left her stepmom, Sera, who was being overly emotional now that she was pregnant herself, but she was probably who Lucy should tell first. She was the closest thing to a mom Lucy had, and this seemed like something to confess to a mom.
At just after 3 p.m., Leo’s second ex-wife, Stacy, walked into the office trailed by two little kids. Mrs. Montgomery number two was a piece of work. She was always after a few more dollars. Oddly, if she had just stayed married to the man, she wouldn’t have to spend so much time trying to get it from him.
“I have the girls here for Leo’s night with them,” she stated to Lucy. She pulled the power play every few weeks just to mess up his plans. Usually, he was there to fight his own battles.
“I don’t believe he has this on his calendar,” Lucy replied, looking at her calendar. She didn’t need to, though. He rarely had them during the week.
“I don’t think you really know, Lucy,” Stacy said her name as if she was disappointed in her.
“Mr. Montgomery isn’t even here. He’s in a meeting,” Lucy argued with the woman.
“I will just leave them with you, then. You work for him, so you can watch the children,” she said, not looking at her two kids, who were clearly not excited to stay with a stranger.
With that, the woman walked out of the office, leaving behind the two girls who didn’t want to be there with an adult who didn’t want them there either.
Turning to two girls, she did what her mom would do in this situation. “Do you guys want to color?”
“No.” The oldest, Addison, shook her blonde head at her. The other didn’t answer at all. Though the two looked very similar, they didn’t take much after their father with his dark, good looks. They were all their mother, sadly.
“Are you sure? I have an amazing collection of colored pens and even a box of crayons.” She pulled them out of her desk.
“When will my dad get back?” Addison asked, not looking at the crayons.
“Around five,” Lucy said, but if his meeting ran late, he wouldn’t come back here at all—he had a date with Nadine tonight. Lucy hoped he would find the one in Nadine, and for some reason, still give Lucy the money he’d promised.
“Shall we see if there’s something on the TV in your dad’s office we can watch?” Her sixteen-year-old sister, Emma, would be into that activity, though eight-year-old Violet would be all into the colored pencils. She had never realized how easy her little sisters had been until this moment.
Both went for the TV, and she went into the empty office and hoped he had cable. After a few minutes of messing around with it, she knew he didn’t, but she had it on her phone and had managed to hook her phone up to the TV. Suddenly, they had a lot of options.
By 5 p.m., she had raided the vending machine and called her mom that she had to work late. When Leo finally arrived, she would just take an Uber home.
By 6 p.m., she had given up on him showing up at the office and had left a message on his phone about the girls. After that, she ordered pizza for them and let them run around the building to let off some energy that the sugary snacks had brought.
An hour later, she called Agatha for a ride. Her sister wasn’t busy, so she came and picked them up. Lucy left another message on Leo’s phone.
By 9 p.m., Lucy was snuggled on the couch with a sleeping Amelia lying almost on top of her, and Addison was holding on to wakefulness by her fingernails. But then again, so was Lucy. Kiddy TV shows were the worst.
By 11 p.m., she had put the girls to bed, each in their own room because of the number of empty bedrooms in the house. They were sound asleep, and so was she when her boss finally called her back—her very angry boss.
“Lucy, it’s Leo Montgomery,” he barked as if she didn’t know who he was. “Where are you? Do you still have my kids?”
“Oh, you’re alive. I had given up on you and decided to raise them as my own. I don’t even think they remember you,” Lucy said sarcastically. She’d never used that tone with him, before but she was tired and couldn’t be “office Lucy” right then.
“Where are you?” he asked a little more nicely, but not much.
