Page 1 of Don't Remind Me
Chapter One
Dani
She’s pregnant.
The profile picture stared back at me from my work computer’s screen. Stephanie Beauford’s shining smile, shinier hair, and glowing skin practically blinded me as her hands cradled her delicately round and unmistakable baby bump.
She’s pregnant.
Something about the fact had shut down my brain, and I needed it to pull itself together so I could get back to being a functioning human. One whose life was in no way impacted by Alec and Stephanie Beauford, no matter how many babies they had.
Let it be as many as they wanted. They could pop out an entire Little League team for all it mattered to me. If the photo was anything to go by, Stephanie was thrilled to be pregnant, and I was thrilled for her.
I was.
Thrilled for both of them. They were good people who deserved good things, and I wanted them to be happy.
At this moment, it just also felt as though my stomach had been shoved into the wringer of a mop bucket and squeezed to the consistency of a limp rag.
“Hey, did word come through about the sponsorship yet?” Robin asked over the wall of my cubicle.
“Meeting’s in ten minutes,” I mumbled. My gaze snagged on Stephanie’s wedding band, and my thumb grazed along my empty ring finger as I tried not to imagine the weight of the cool metal against my skin.
“Who’s the hot mama?”
Robin’s voice in my ear jerked me away from the screen to find her peering over my shoulder, the bright cherry red of her hair snapping my attention back to the present.
“No one.” I closed the profile picture and clicked back to the home screen, but Robin caught the name on the profile first.
“Beauford…wait.” Her voice dropped to a whisper as she leaned closer. “Is thatyou-know-whosewife?”
“Yup.” I forced my voice even. Stephanie’s pregnancy was no big deal, just like my staring at her pregnant photo was no big deal.
Nothing about this was in any way a big deal.
I pulled my blazer off the back of my chair, avoiding Robin’s assessing gaze, and shrugged it on before gathering my things for the meeting.
It’s not like I wished I was the pregnant one. I didn’t even know if I wanted kids, period. Definitely not now. The vise grip around my stomach was only there because?—
Robin gave a short gasp, her perfectly lined eyes widening as her mouth dropped into an O, her whole modern pinup aesthetic only emphasizing the drama. “You had another dream about him last night, didn’t you?”
My shoulders dropped with a sigh.
Robin’s red pout spread into a devious grin. “You totally did. Was it hot?”
“Hot?” Kelly’s head popped up from the cubicle on the other side of mine. “Who’s hot?”
“Dani’s married ex she keeps dreaming about whose wife is now pregnant,” Robin said.
Kelly leaned her arms along the top of the cubicle wall. “Hell yes, what kind of dreams are we talking about? Steam level one to ten. Go.”
I narrowed my eyes at Robin. “Why do I tell you things?”
She smirked, entirely too pleased. “Because I’m still the best friend you’ve made since moving here, and your loneliness overrides your better judgment.”
I rolled my eyes but couldn’t argue.
“Oh, come on, don’t be embarrassed,” Kelly said. “We all stalk our exes’ new partners on social media from time to time.”
