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“A boy, born last night.”
“Oh wow.” Haylee’s eyes lit up. “And she didn’t go see him already?”
“She hasn’t had time to get something, and you don’t show up to a new mom empty-handed. Especially with their relationship.” Cherish mumbled the last bit, hoping Haylee hadn’t heard her.
“Ah, some of that small-town country charm shining through.” Haylee bumped her shoulder against Cherish with a laugh.
“You sound like I’m chivalrous or something. I keenly remember not being the chivalrous one last night.” Cherish’s cheeks blossomed with heat, and she dreaded to think just how strongly the blushing showed through her makeup and down her neck. Her breath was stuck in her throat, and she couldn’t force it out. Where the hell had that come from?
“Oh.” Haylee touched a small white onesie that hung on a hanger. “Look how tiny this is. It’s hard to believe they come in such small sizes.”
“You’re surprised baby clothes come in sizes to fit a baby?” Cherish asked, certain she had missed something as her thoughts and embarrassment had preoccupied her mind. And keeping up with the conversation was harder by the second.
Haylee laughed. “Well that, but I meant babies. It’s so hard to believe an entire human being can fit into something this small. It’s barely bigger than my hand.”
Cherish turned away as Haylee held her hand up in front of the small onesie. That hand had been against her back, and it had burned its touch into her, a memory Cherish wasn’t sure would ever fade. Not now.
“Have you thought about having children?” Where the hell had that question come from? This was clearly Cherish off the rails. Perhaps she was hung over from last night if she couldn’t keep her thoughts to herself like she normally would.
Haylee snorted. “I would be a terrible mom.”
“Why do you say that?” Cherish turned back, stunned at the answer.
“I’m thirty-three years old, and I’m not even able to look after myself. I mean hell, I’m homeless since I couldn’t even pay rent last month.” Haylee’s head snapped toward Cherish as her words caught up with her mouth.
“What?” Cherish asked.
“Oh shit.” Haylee squeezed her eyes shut, embarrassment washing over her face.
“Haylee, what happened to your apartment?” Cherish reached for Haylee’s wrist and clasped onto it. What hadn’t she noticed in all these months between them? Haylee hadn’t made one mention of struggling to pay rent or being evicted.
“It’s not a big deal,” Haylee tried to play it off, but Cherish wasn’t going to let her get away with it.
“No, what happened?”
Haylee grimaced, her gaze downcast as embarrassment swallowed her up. “I had some debt, and now that I’m earning money, they’ve all come to collect. It’s run me a little short.”
“Why didn’t you say anything before now?” Had the tension during dinner last night been because of that? What about the coffees that Haylee always seemed to have for her on her desk? She shouldn’t be buying those if she couldn’t even afford to live off her salary.
“I didn’t mean to say anything now,” Haylee replied as she continued to flick through clothes on the racks, no doubt as a way to distract herself.
Cherish was vaguely aware of Haylee picking up items and putting them back down. But not all of them. From her fingers hung a few small hangers. Cherish really should be focusing on their task at hand, but Haylee’s news unsettled her more than she could process.
“What about you?”
Haylee’s question threw Cherish. Her instinct was to talk about her first year in the city, how she struggled to find lodgings that felt at all like home, but she bit back the words.
“What about me?” Cherish asked as she ran fingers over a table laden with soft toys in caricature animal shapes. She had never seen such a large range. There were so many different types of animals she wasn’t certain she would have been able to name all of them.
“Do you want children?”
It was Cherish’s turn to scoff. “Oh yes, I’d be such a brilliant parent. A workaholic who has already been rejected by the animal rescue for a dog adoption.”
“You like dogs?” Haylee smiled, and it lit up Cherish’s world.
“Of course I do. I might be a bitch, but I’m not entirely heartless.” Cherish’s shoulders stiffened. She knew what the other personal assistants had said about her. How Haylee had managed to make it this long was beyond her, but she had. So of course she had to know that Cherish understood how awful she was at work.
Haylee’s hand was on Cherish’s arm, pulling Cherish’s gaze to her eyes. “You’re only a bitch when you need to be.”
