AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Go ahead,” I said. “I’m asking.”
“Oliver lost everything, right? Or that’s what he thinks. His parents died in that horrible car crash, and then right after he finds out, he learns he was adopted and they never told him. He probably could have handled either one by itself, but I think his grief and his confusion got so mixed up that he just became angry. And maybe it was easier for him to be angry than to actually handle the emotions that came with all that turmoil. He decided they’d lied to him by not telling him, right?”
I nodded slowly. “I think you’re right . . . but did he tell you all this?”
She lifted a shoulder. “I’m around him enough to have figured a lot out, plus Rob and Tony were talking a lot right after it happened. Oliver didn’t keep any of it secret, he just kind of blurted it out and then disappeared. He didn’t tell me how he felt about it all, but that was easy enough to see.”
“Right.”
“So I think his big issue was that they lied, right?”
“I guess.” I didn’t believe his parents had lied exactly, but I could see how Oliver might decide to believethat. Especially if it let him avoid facing the grief that losing them would have caused.
Pamela nodded and sat back, crossing her arms as if she’d solved everything. “Well, that’s it. This isn’t even about you.”
“Um. Pregnant over here. Kind of about me.”
“Right, well that, sure. Yes, that’s totally about you. And about Oliver . . . and,” Pamela’s face lit up and she leaned forward clenching the sides of the table, “oh my gosh, Holland . . . you guys are going to have a baby! This is so wonderful!”
“You’re forgetting the part about how he hates me now.” It was easy to be a little bit flip about it with Pamela, and shooting the words out like that helped me avoid the total devastation that was my heart.
She raised her palms and gave her head a little shake. “That’ll get figured out. I’m sure he’ll come around.”
I didn’t feel sure at all.
“Can I plan a shower?” Pamela asked, practically bouncing in her seat now.
I moved to say no, but it occurred to me that without Oliver’s help, getting everything I needed to take care of an infant would be a financial challenge—even with my new salary. Once I had the commission on the MLB deal, maybe, but I couldn’t wait to get ready for something that was already in motion. This baby was like a ticking time bomb inside me. “I guess so,” I said, and then realized that wasn’t quite the polite answer. “I mean yes. That would be wonderful.”
Pamela grinned. “Don’t worry about the other stuff. Do you want me to say something to him?”
“Definitely not.” I watched my friend looking so cheerful and potentially devious, and began to worry that she would try to fix things for me. “I mean it.”
She spread her hands out before her in the air. “Of course. I’ll stay out of it.”
We ate in silence for a few minutes, and then Pamela leaned in a bit again and looked as if she was trying to decide whether to speak. “Just so you know, being a single mom . . . it’s great, Holland. I wouldn’t trade it.”
I raised an eyebrow at her.
“Well, maybe for the right guy. But Kenner’s dad was definitely not the right guy. So it’s better for us this way.”
It was nice to hear her sounding so confident about something that scared the crap out of me. “How’s he doing?”
“Kenner is great. He loves his teachers and he’s actually starting to identify words.”
I nodded. “Oh my gosh! He’s so little, though!”
“Yeah, it’s not necessarily a good thing. I never realized how much I get away with because he doesn’t read.”
“What do you mean?”
“Like the baby carrots. I told him if he kept eating them, there might be a prize in the bag. I told him it said so on the bag, and the other day he was in the refrigerator sounding out words. He gave me the carrot bag and asked which word was ‘prize.’”
I laughed, imagining Pamela caught in her white lie. “So is he off carrots,then?”
She grinned. “Yeah, but until he learns that broccoli isn’t really made from ‘tiny trees’ I guess I’m okay.”
We finished lunch and returned to the office, me dodging places where tall, handsome, broody CEOs might hang out, and Pamela offering me a sympathetic glance as I got off the elevator at my floor.
