“Not because I was pregnant.” I paused. “Orinoco decided to pass on the acquisition deal. My bosses at Albright thought I, and that one-on-one insurance meeting that you and I had, had something to do with it. Or rather, they needed a scapegoat. They needed to explain to everyone at the company why those big bonuses that everyone was expecting weren't actually going to happen. And they chose me as their scapegoat. I was an easy target.”
“So, they fired you,” Andrew said. “And you decided to be lazy and stay out of work so that you could take care of your daughter, rather than doing what every other working mom in your position would have done and gone out to find a new job.”
I gave an incredulous laugh. “You don't know me at all,” I snapped. “How dare you make accusations like that.”
Andrew gave me a mild look. “Then please do tell me why things have been so difficult for you.”
“They blackballed me,” I told him. “I haven't been able to get any work at any decent companies since I was fired by Albright, no matter how hard I try. And believe me, I've been trying. I've sent my application out to hundreds of companies since I was fired. Not just for insurance analysis positions, either. I've worked as a waitress, a retail seller, a secretary, and really anywhere that would give me a job. But being a single mom and holding down a full-time position is impossible.”
“Hire a nanny,” Andrew suggested. “I don't know what you want me to tell you. There are plenty of mothers who do it every day. Maybe your attitude needs to change.”
I sobbed. “Oh, really?” I asked. I shook my head, pressing my fingertips to my eyes and trying to quit crying. I needed to hold on to that anger for a little while longer.
“Why are you here?” Andrew asked, sounding aggravated. “You want me to be part of Emma's life? You want her to know who her father is?”
“Actually, neither of those things,” I told him. “If I had my way, you wouldn't even know about her. And I definitely don't want a cold asshole like you being involved in her life. But I'm desperate, and I need your help. Ever since I slept with you, it's just been one long string of bad luck that I can't seem to recover from. I keep expecting that the worst is over, but things never seem to turn around. You're the last person that I wanted to ask, but I need your help. Please. For Emma's sake.”
Chapter Ten
Andrew
I knew deep-down, judging by the looks of the kid, that Emma must be my daughter. She looked too much like Katherine for that not to be the case. And to be honest, that scared me. Having a daughter had the potential to disrupt my entire life. I'd grown accustomed to living my life however I pleased, to having my life be all about me and no one else.
Having a daughter would mean responsibilities. It had the possibility to disrupt the good thing that I had going with Renée. It would mean that my life had to be about someone other than me.
And already I was having feelings of guilt, watching Lexi crying in front of me. There was definitely a part of me that wanted to insist that she was just being lazy or that she had brought this upon herself. There was a part of me that wanted to insist that I didn't owe her anything and that if she thought otherwise, she was crazy.
But I couldn't get that little girl's face out of my mind. The way that she had looked solemnly up at Janice, the enthusiastic nod when Janice suggested peanut butter crackers for a snack. She was cute. And she looked like Katherine.
Between that and the tears, it made me want to agree to whatever Lexi was here to propose.
It was a strange feeling to have. After all, it wasn't as though I'd never had a woman come crying to me before. But they'd never been in this situation.
Still, the whole thing seemed strange. Why hadn't she told me when she first found out that she was pregnant? Why tell me now? If I believed what she'd said, she'd been fired by Albright nearly three and a half years prior to that. None of this made sense.
And somewhere deep down, I was still reeling at the thought of having to deal with the responsibilities that came along with having a kid.
I shook my head. “As I said before, I don't like it when people try to take advantage of me,” I told her. “You've clearly figured out a way to survive for the past three years, so I suggest you keep doing that. Rather than taking the lazy way out and coming to me, expecting me to solve all your problems.”
Lexi gaped at me for a moment, a fresh wave of waterworks threatening in her eyes. She turned her gaze away, staring down at her hands as she twisted her fingers together. “Why are you so sure that this is just a scheme?” she asked. “If this was a scheme, don't you think I would have come here a long time ago? I'm only here now because I'm desperate.”
“You hardly seem desperate,” I said, snorting derisively.
“I haven't really figured out some way to survive,” she admitted, sounding miserable. “We've been living off my savings. Even when I've managed to hold down a job, it's barely been enough for everything that Emma needs. I have nothing left at this point. Thirty-six dollars in the bank. That's it. I was evicted a couple weeks ago. I've been living on at a friend's place, and she's been helping me out with food. But that's obviously not a long-term solution.”
“So instead, you want me to help you out with food and accommodation?” I asked snidely, even though I was feeling even more guilty by the second. I wanted nothing more than to pull her into my arms and promise to make everything better.
I wasn't sure where that feeling came from, but I was determined to push it away.
“You think I want to be here?” she snapped. “You think I want to beg you to help me out with Emma? If I had my way, I would be able to provide the best sort of life for her, all by myself. If you knew her, you'd want the same. She's such a great kid, and she deserves so much better. She deserves so much better than to have an asshole like you for her father, and she deserves so much better than to have a failure of a mother like me. I'd consider putting her up for adoption, but I honestly can't imagine my life without her. She's such a good kid.”
She took a deep breath. “If this were some sort of scheme, don't you think I would have come immediately when I found out I was pregnant? That was only a couple months after we slept together. Like I said, I'm surprised you even remember me at this point. But I didn't want you anywhere near that child. I didn't want Emma to realize what she was missing out on. I didn't want her to know that her daddy was rich and could give her everything that she ever dreamed of, but unfortunately for her, he was also a selfish bastard who refused to share that wealth with anyone.”
Her words hurt more than I would have expected them to, given that I hardly even knew the woman. But there was something about them that reminded me of how my own parents had been. Mom was always so aloof. She'd hated hugs, and she'd pawned off most of her motherly duties on a string of nannies, who never seemed to last very long given that Mom was constantly criticizing them for the smallest of things.
And then there was Dad, whose only concern for me was whether or not I'd be ready t
o take over his business when he was ready to hand it over to me. He'd probably known from the time I was small that he would be dumping Orinoco on me the moment I had graduated from college.