Page 151 of Buy Back My Love

I smiled too, mostly because everybody was looking at me and I wasn’t about to stand there looking disappointed over my own baby when none of this was his fault. I put my hand over my stomach and looked down at the blue inside the cake.

A boy.

I was having a son, and I already loved him. That had never been the problem.

When I looked back up, JB was still grinning like this was the best news he had gotten all year. One day, my little boy was going to look at that man and call him Daddy, and that was the part that scared me.

Lee

Somehow, the weeks after the gender reveal flew by. I stayed busy with work, baby stuff, and everything else I had going on, and next thing I knew, it was Valentine’s Day.

By three o’clock, I had checked my phone so many times I was starting to get on my own nerves. Every time it buzzed beside my lamp, my eyes went straight to it. Every time somebody knocked on my suite door, I caught myself wondering if it was a delivery before remembering I had clients coming in and out all damn day. I kept telling myself I wasn’t waiting on anything, but apparently some part of me was.

My first client came in carrying roses her husband had sent to her job. Another spent half her appointment showing me pictures of the hotel room her girlfriend had decorated for them that weekend. By lunchtime, my social media was full of flowers, candy, dinner reservations, and women showing off whatever somebody had done for them.

Meanwhile, I hadn’t gotten shit. Which shouldn’t have mattered because I was single. I had made sure of that.

Still, somewhere in the back of my mind, I figured JB would do something. That man had spent months acting like the word breakup didn’t apply to him. Flowers, jewelry, some ridiculous delivery I would complain about while secretly being a little pleased he had thought about me.

And then there was Van. I didn’t know what I expected from him, which was probably part of the problem.

By the time my last client slid her hands under the lamp, I had finally stopped looking toward the door every time I heard somebody outside. She was admiring her red chrome nails when she smiled at me.

“You got plans tonight?”

“Nope.”

“Girl, me either. I’m going home, ordering wings, and watching bad reality TV.”

“That actually sound perfect.”

She laughed. “Exactly. Can’t disappoint yourself.”

I smiled and wiped the last bit of oil from around her cuticles.

Once she left, I cleaned my station, shut everything down, and stood there with my purse over my shoulder for a second longer than I needed to. I looked around the suite like some last-minute delivery might magically show up before I locked the door.

Nothing. No flowers. No candy. Not even one of those stupid oversized teddy bears I wouldn’t have known what to do with anyway.

I locked up and headed home, telling myself the whole drive that I didn’t care. Nobody owed me flowers or candy just because it was February fourteenth.

Still, the second I turned onto my street, my eyes went straight to the porch before I had even pulled all the way into the driveway.

Empty.

I sat behind the wheel for a second and laughed under my breath. “Well, damn.”

Apparently I was really single.

Like, for real.

I got out and went inside, where Holly was already scratching at the gate between the kitchen and living room.

“There go my Valentine.”

Her whole body started wiggling the second she saw me. I dropped my purse on the counter, kicked off my shoes, and opened the gate. Holly came flying out like I had been gone six years instead of a few hours, jumping against my legs until I picked her up.

“See? This what I need. Somebody happy to see me.”