Bundle of Joy

But I still don’t know if I’ll have the courage to face Daniel. Especially if I was wrong. How the hell would that go down?

“Umm, I know I left in a huff at the ski resort but now I’m turning up to say I’m pregnant and it’s yours?”

That probably sounds eerily similar to how it went down with Charlie’s mom. Even though I have no intention of abandoning this baby.

This baby.

I rub my belly more, still not being able to grasp the reality of it all.

“Thanks for your advice, but I don’t think I can tell him right now,” I say. “I don’t know when I can. I think I just need to decompress and take my time and think about it.”

“No problem,” Amanda says. “I’m going to run a bath for you so you can soak and relax. Then I’ll be out of your hair. There’s no need to make any decision any time soon. Pregnancy takes nine months so enjoy the ride, because, boy am I telling you…”

She shakes her head and stops, realizing once again that she’s not helping matters.

“Sorry. Again. I’m not the best in crisis situations because being one of so many siblings can cause a lot of anxiety in and of itself!”

“It’s fine,” I tell her. “I really appreciate you coming over and calming me down.”

“Just wait until you try the bath I’m going to run for you,” she says. “You still have that bubble bath I got you for Christmas?”

“Of course,” I tell her, having not had time to use it yet. “It’s under my sink.”

“Okay, one relaxing bubble bath, coming right up,” she says. “And don’t you worry about anything for the next hour. The next day. The next week. Whatever! You’ve got time.”

She’s sweet, and I know that logically, she’s right, but I just don’t know if I can take her advice. I’m beginning to feel like everything has crashed in on me and that I’ll never not worry again.

Chapter 14

Daniel

It’s been two and a half weeks since Catharine stomped into the snow and out of my life forever, I guess. I’ve been telling myself to forget about her, because obviously she didn’t want to be with me and I’m not one to chase after women – it’s usually the other way around – but I can’t seem to get her out of my head.

I don’t know what the hell happened. One minute everything was fine, and the next… poof. She was talking to that girl and then she was gone.

Right now I’m interviewing new nannies for Charlie but none of them seem right. He says he only wants Catharine to come back. I tell him that’s not happening.

“I’ll give you a call and let you know,” I tell the latest one, as I open the door for her to leave.

“Okay,” she says, smiling, but she looks rather old and frail and lacking in energy to keep up with Charlie. “I’d love to be his nanny so please do let me know!”

“No!” Charlie cries out from the living room, where he’s been hiding so that he doesn’t have to meet the nannies. “I only want Catharine.”

“Charlie, please be good,” I tell him, embarrassed, as the nanny candidate gives me a cringy-looking expression and then leaves.

“I’ll be good if Catharine comes back!” he says. “I promise.”

I sigh and start to walk over to give him a hug. I know the poor guy has been through a lot lately. But just then there’s a knock at the door.

Wondering if I scheduled nanny interviews back to back without realizing it, I go back to the door and open it.

It’s a guy at the door. I don’t think any of the people I called in for interviews were guys, although there are a lot of gender-neutral names these days and I rack my brain thinking about whether any of the people I called could have been men with voices that sounded convincingly female when I talked to all of them.

“Daniel?” he asks.

“Yes. Are you here for the…”

“You’ve been served,” he says, and then starts walking away.

“Hey!” I yell at him.

I wonder if my tech business has gotten into some kind of trouble. I’ll fire whoever is responsible for sloppy or fraudulent jobs like using copyrighted code or telling crass jokes in the workplace. They don’t have to sue me for it.

The guy just keeps walking.

“My kid’s home!” I shout out at him, annoyed, even though I know he’s just doing his job as a process server and it’s not his fault.

He shrugs while he keeps walking away.

Fuck.

I rip open the envelope and scan its contents. Someone named Michelle is suing me for firing her… who have I fired recently? No, wait. She’s suing me because she got fired, but apparently she never even worked for me. She worked at the ski resort where Catharine worked…