until after lunch. I’m going to check out the new conference facility for next month. Can you check with the suppliers and see where we are on our orders?”
“Yep, I have it on my list for this morning. You’d better get going. Traffic will be terrible at this time.”
As Suzy started for the door, she turned and asked, “Did you tell him?”
“Yes, Mother, I did so you can stop worrying. He wants to get married and buy a house immediately. I told him no.”
Suzy shook her head, clearly trying to process this latest development. “He wants to get married? Are you sure we’re talking about the same Nick here? Oh, hell, don’t say anything else. I’m going to be late and I’m terrified you will start talking about sex and I’m not strong enough for that this morning. We’ll talk when I get back.” Suzy slammed out the door and then almost immediately flung it back open. In a low but menacing whisper she said, “You’d better not have sex in my office . . . ever!”
Beth chuckled as she walked to her own office. She hoped Suzy’s warning didn’t extend to
her
office because if it did, she had already violated that one. Maybe after-hours sex didn’t count.
* * *
When Ella tapped on her door at lunchtime, Beth was just hanging up the phone after another exhausting call from Nick. At this point, she would rather him freak out and run than stay in the methodical mode he was currently in. He seemed to have an accidental-pregnancy handbook from the 1960s and he was running through it step by step. Marry the little woman immediately. Buy a house immediately. Plan the next ten years of Junior’s life immediately. She felt weak and dizzy after the last call, and it had nothing to do with morning sickness and everything to do with Nick suffocating her. No matter how much she protested, he just kept going on as if he hadn’t heard her. Was it really so hard for him to imagine a woman not dying to marry him?
Um, yeah, you probably are one of the few women alive who wouldn’t jump at the chance.
“Tough day?” Ella gave her a sympathetic smile as she perched on the corner of Beth’s desk.
Dropping her head onto her desk, Beth said, “You have no idea. The man is making me crazy. I just want a moment to breathe, but he is after me constantly. I haven’t even had a chance to come to terms with it myself and he is pushing me relentlessly.”
Ella patted her back consolingly while making murmurs of agreement. “Grab your purse and let’s walk around the corner for lunch. Getting out of here for a while will help.”
Beth gave her friend a grateful smile as she gathered her stuff. “That sounds great, but I’m warning you now. If we see Nick anywhere on the way out, be prepared to run for your life because I am not talking about the advantages of breast-feeding anymore today, I mean it!” She heard Ella’s groan of disbelief behind her as they walked to the elevator. “You only think I’m kidding. He’s already tried to talk me into natural childbirth, too. Someone needs to stop the man from doing any more Google searches about pregnancy.”
Chapter Eight
Nick opened Beth’s apartment door that evening with the key that she had given him a few months back. Since their schedules were often different, it had made sense to be able to come and go as needed. She also had a key to the penthouse where he was staying.
He laid his briefcase down on the breakfast bar that separated the kitchen from the dining area. He noticed the blinking light on her answering machine that indicated a message. In all of the months that he had been in her apartment, he had never seen a message light blinking on the machine. He knew it was none of his business and an invasion of her privacy, but he couldn’t seem to look away from the flashing light. Maybe it was something concerning the baby.
He managed to pull himself away from the machine without pushing the button to hear the message and walked to the bedroom to
“Yep, I have it on my list for this morning. You’d better get going. Traffic will be terrible at this time.”
As Suzy started for the door, she turned and asked, “Did you tell him?”
“Yes, Mother, I did so you can stop worrying. He wants to get married and buy a house immediately. I told him no.”
Suzy shook her head, clearly trying to process this latest development. “He wants to get married? Are you sure we’re talking about the same Nick here? Oh, hell, don’t say anything else. I’m going to be late and I’m terrified you will start talking about sex and I’m not strong enough for that this morning. We’ll talk when I get back.” Suzy slammed out the door and then almost immediately flung it back open. In a low but menacing whisper she said, “You’d better not have sex in my office . . . ever!”
Beth chuckled as she walked to her own office. She hoped Suzy’s warning didn’t extend to
her
office because if it did, she had already violated that one. Maybe after-hours sex didn’t count.
* * *
When Ella tapped on her door at lunchtime, Beth was just hanging up the phone after another exhausting call from Nick. At this point, she would rather him freak out and run than stay in the methodical mode he was currently in. He seemed to have an accidental-pregnancy handbook from the 1960s and he was running through it step by step. Marry the little woman immediately. Buy a house immediately. Plan the next ten years of Junior’s life immediately. She felt weak and dizzy after the last call, and it had nothing to do with morning sickness and everything to do with Nick suffocating her. No matter how much she protested, he just kept going on as if he hadn’t heard her. Was it really so hard for him to imagine a woman not dying to marry him?
Um, yeah, you probably are one of the few women alive who wouldn’t jump at the chance.
“Tough day?” Ella gave her a sympathetic smile as she perched on the corner of Beth’s desk.
Dropping her head onto her desk, Beth said, “You have no idea. The man is making me crazy. I just want a moment to breathe, but he is after me constantly. I haven’t even had a chance to come to terms with it myself and he is pushing me relentlessly.”
Ella patted her back consolingly while making murmurs of agreement. “Grab your purse and let’s walk around the corner for lunch. Getting out of here for a while will help.”
Beth gave her friend a grateful smile as she gathered her stuff. “That sounds great, but I’m warning you now. If we see Nick anywhere on the way out, be prepared to run for your life because I am not talking about the advantages of breast-feeding anymore today, I mean it!” She heard Ella’s groan of disbelief behind her as they walked to the elevator. “You only think I’m kidding. He’s already tried to talk me into natural childbirth, too. Someone needs to stop the man from doing any more Google searches about pregnancy.”
Chapter Eight
Nick opened Beth’s apartment door that evening with the key that she had given him a few months back. Since their schedules were often different, it had made sense to be able to come and go as needed. She also had a key to the penthouse where he was staying.
He laid his briefcase down on the breakfast bar that separated the kitchen from the dining area. He noticed the blinking light on her answering machine that indicated a message. In all of the months that he had been in her apartment, he had never seen a message light blinking on the machine. He knew it was none of his business and an invasion of her privacy, but he couldn’t seem to look away from the flashing light. Maybe it was something concerning the baby.
He managed to pull himself away from the machine without pushing the button to hear the message and walked to the bedroom to
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