Possessive Baby Daddy

The waitress appears with menus. We both ask for just water and she disappears again.

“You come here much?” he asks.

I shrug. “Sometimes. I take meetings here too.”

“You take a lot of meetings without your father?”

“Not really,” I admit. “Sometimes he’s too drunk or high to come out. Those are the best.”

He laughs softly. “Must be hard, working with your old man.”

“I don’t really know,” I admit. “It’s hard working with my father, but that’s because he’s an asshole. I can imagine more stable families wouldn’t find it too hard.”

He smiles and looks away. “Maybe.”

“Are you close with your family?”

He hesitates. “Something like that. I’m close with my siblings. The rest of them are a little… well, like your father.”

“Crass animals?”

“I was thinking more insane assholes.”

I laugh again. “Even your mom and dad?”

“My father isn’t so bad,” he admits. “He’s mostly checked out, though. He wants to travel the world, go hunting, play golf, and listen to his obscenely expensive stereo system. As far as the family business goes, that’s all on my mother.”

“Interesting,” I say, raising an eyebrow. “Sounds like someone I want to meet.”

He laughs and shakes his head. “No, you really don’t want to meet my mother. Trust me.”

“Why? How bad could she be?”

“Let me just say this… Sylvia Lofthouse is the head of one of the country’s most prestigious and wealthy families. She does not fuck around.”

I roll my eyes at him but laugh again. “Like I said, I want to meet her.”

“Maybe you will, if you play your cards right.”

“Oh, what, if I don’t break off our engagement?”

“Exactly.”

The waitress returns and we order. True to my word, I ask for the most expensive thing on the menu, and ask for two more for my father to go. The waitress shoots Shaun a little look and he winks at her before she walks off.

“That woman thinks you’re taking advantage of me,” he says.

“I totally am.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that. Can you really take advantage if I’m letting you?”

I shrug and let the question pass. “So, we’re here. We’re having lunch. What was so pressing that you just had to get me today?”

“Nothing,” he says.

I frown at him. “Nothing?”

“I wasn’t joking when I said that I just wanted to take you out.”

“Come on.”

“Really.” He takes a deep breath and leans forward. “Okay, there’s one thing.”

“I knew it.” I roll my eyes at him. “Okay, what do you want?”

“Listen, Klara. I’m not joking. This is important.”

I give him a flat stare. “Go ahead, say it.”

“What’s your favorite genre of music?”

I laugh, unable to help myself. “Are you serious?”

“I’m serious. I want to know. What do you listen to?”

“God, you’re such a dick. How about you answer first?”

“You’ll think it’s pretentious, but I was on a jazz kick for a while.”

I nod at him. “I do think it’s pretentious.”

“Whatever. I’m into a lot of stuff though. Acid jazz, hip hop, house music. Lots of electronica. Billy Joel.”

“Billy… Joel.”

“Hell, yes. Allentown? That’s an anthem right there.”

“You’re a weird creature.”

He shrugs and sips his water. “I’m just me. Now, your turn.”

“Fine, okay. I listen to a lot of stuff, I guess. I like a lot of singer songwriter music, and like Jamie Collum.”

“Isn’t Collum basically jazz?”

“No,” I say and pause. “Sort of. He sings.”

“Right.”

“I like country music too.”

“Oh, of course you do,” he says, laughing, and leans toward me. “Pick-up trucks and beer, right?”

“Don’t forget dogs and loose women.”

“My favorite things.”

I grin at him and shift closer in my seat. “I don’t get to listen to much music anymore though,” I admit. “When I’m at work, I need quiet to concentrate. Then at home I watch a lot of TV.”

“So you’re always working then?”

“I guess so.” I frown a little. “I hadn’t thought about it that way.”

“Do you like your job?”

I lean back. “I’ve never thought about it. I’ve kind of always done this, you know? My dad’s always been in this business since I was a little girl.”

“That doesn’t mean you love it. I’m not in love with my family’s business.”

“Which is what, exactly?”

“Owning a small town in Virginia and investing gross amounts of cash into the stock market. Turning money into more money like magic.”

I shake my head at him. “You’re not kidding, are you?”

“Nope. I told you. Wealthy.”

I watch him for a long moment. He’s handsome, I can’t deny that. I still feel that magnetic, intense pull toward him, the same one I felt the first time we met. I still want to throw myself at him across this table and taste his lips on mine.

But now there’s something holding me back.

It’s the baby. The baby I’ve slowly come to grips with over the past couple weeks.

We lapse into a short silence. I stare down at the table then look up at him again. “I’m having this baby,” I say.