Page 64 of The Family Man

I tap my steering wheel. “No, he is just stressed. The restaurant is opening.”

Within minutes I’m home, I open the door and Anise is on my couch.

“Sup boo?” she asks as she is busy typing on her laptop.

She has been here for three days since the tulip debacle. I hear her each morning retching her guts out.

I throw my bag on the chair. “I love you but lie to me today and I’ll bust your throat.”

Anise eyes open wide. “Okay! What?”

“Who is the father? Don’t bother to lie? You are glowing.” I hoped that worked on Anise, because god I would choke her out.

She puts her laptop aside and runs her fingers in her hair. “Promise not to judge me?”

Oh my God! I had a hunch, but my baby sister is pregnant! Don’t judge. That means this story is going to send me crazy. “Talk!”

“I met him at a Sugah Bae influencer trip two months ago. We had a few drinks and well I had a one-night-stand.” She bites her lips and wrings her fingers.

“Do you know his name?”

She bends her head and hides her face. “Yes, he left me his card, and I didn’t leave him mine.”

“So when are you going to call him?”

Her eyes become glassy. “I did call his office, and the secretary told me he was in a meeting with his, get this, fiancée.”

She starts to cry, her shoulders shake. “I didn’t know Sage. He didn’t even wear a ring.”

I pull her in my arms and kiss her little head. “We will figure it out. We will tell Rosey and Cassy over brunch, okay?”

She nods on my chest, her tears seep through my shirt. “Cassia knows.” Of course, she does. Those two are thick as thieves.

I pull her away by her arms and smile. “On the bright side you are about to be a mommy and you are going to be so damn awesome at it.”

Her shoulders shake even more. “You think so?”

“You are brilliant, beautiful, loving and cultured. Trust me, you got this.” I hug her again.

“How about some Netflix and homemade corn chowder?” I ask.

“I would like that,” she replies, her hands wiping her tears away.

My phone rings and I answer, “Hello.”

“Sage, it’s Daire.”

* * *

ZAC

Flames, my restaurant is going up in flames. I feel like everything is moving slowly around me. Today can’t be so unreal. First Emily, then my twins are not talking to me, now this.

My phone rang twenty minutes ago to tell me that my new restaurant is going up in flames. I nearly got into an accident while driving. Daire and the kids stand at my side. There is nothing I can do but watch.

Watch the deep reds and the blues of the flames dance angrily on the brick walls. Watch black smoke billowing into the air, disappearing into the night’s atmosphere.

There is a putrid smell of ash and smoke, I think it has stained my nose. The heat from the flames continues to render me helpless. All I can do is stand here and watch. The firemen wrestle with the fire trying to save my building, the flames are engulfing everything. My heart hurts from knowing this building will be nothing but a charred memory.

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