Page 75 of The Wedding Planner's Manny
“Oh, is everything all right?”
“I don’t know,” I said, stepping into the house as if in trance. “I might be losing my job.”Along withthe man I love.
“Maybe you should sit down.” Griffin guided me into the living room and made me sit. “You need to take it easy, you know? For the baby.”
The baby…
I looked down on myself. Right. I was going to have a baby soon. A baby and no income and no spouse.
“What was that about your job?” Griffin asked.
“Ethan’s wife is back in town so they won’t need a manny anymore,” I explained.
Griffin looked at me with skepticism etched into his fine features. “Did Ethan tell you that?”
“I talked to Laura,” I clarified. “She told me.”
“Maybe you should talk to Ethan,” Griffin suggested. “Before you jump to any conclusions.” He rubbed my back. “But you know, even if you do lose your job, you’re welcome to stay with me and Dean, all right? For as long as you need. You’re family.”
“That’s very kind of you.” I didn’t want to be a burden, though. I would find another job somehow.
Provide for myself and my child, even if I never found another alpha to take care of us. I needed to follow the advice I had given Nathan; sometimes it turned out the people you liked were already taken and then you had to move on.
There was a small part of me that still didn't want to believe it, but then, it was the same part that had always trusted Jeremiah, so my judgement was obviously worth shit. And speaking of Jeremiah... that was something else I had to deal with now. I was going to ask Ethan to come to the meeting with me, but how could I do that after everything I’d heard this morning? If he and his wife were turning over a new leaf, it wasn't fair of me to ask him to pretend to be my baby's daddy.
No, it was time I took my destiny in my own hands, as painful as that thought was. I had time to cry later. For now, I had to go upstairs and finish my article before facing my ex again.
Jeremiah had suggested that we meet in an Italian restaurant off Main Street. Maybe he thought I wouldn't demand that he sign the divorce papers in such a public setting or that he could sway me by buying me dinner, but he was wrong. I didn't need anything but a signature from him and I didn’t care where or how it happened, just that it did.
I arrived at the restaurant almost half an hour early. It was a nice place. A little small, but the waitress was friendly as she took my order and didn't stare at my belly the way some of the other patrons did.
The combined smell of coffee, Italian food and tomato sauce saturated the air, but considering who I was about to meet, even that didn’t manage to inspire any appetite in me.
In true Vinist fashion, the alpha I was here to see showed up ten minutes late and made no move to apologize for his delay. Why would he apologize to an omega when he owned the earth? I took a sip of my coffee as I watched him approach, hardly noticing the bitter taste of the liquid in my mouth.
Jeremiah was wearing business casual—for whatever reason, he wasn't here on business—and that self-satisfied smile that had become a near permanent accessory of his. When he saw me, though, his smile gave way to an expression of shock. “What happened to you?” he demanded as he pulled the chair opposite me from the table, parked his large frame in it and his briefcase next to it.
“What do you mean?” I asked, trying not to let my nerves show. I was terrible at detecting other people's lies, and I was even worse at fabricating my own.
His eyes narrowed at me. “Don't play stupid. Are you hiding a watermelon under your shirt or did you let some other alpha touch you before we were even divorced?”
Oh, good. His thoughts went exactly where I wanted them to go and I didn't even have to direct them that way. His inherent jealousy was doing that part for me. But it wasn't time to relax yet. No, things could still go south. “I have needs,” I said, leaning back in my chair if only because I wanted to put as much distance between Jeremiah and myself.
Maybe it was good that we were in public. He wouldn't throw stuff at me in public, too aware of his image even if we were miles and miles from his home.
“I knew it,” he growled. “You omegas are all the same. You can't go a week without a good pounding, can you?” He lowered his voice. “That's why you had sex with me last time I was here too. You pretend like you don't miss me, but I know you miss my dick. You can still have it if you want it, you know? I'm alpha enough to accept your apology.”
What apology? I couldn't remember saying that I was sorry for anything. And I sure as hell didn't want his dick, anymore. “You don't care that I'm carrying another alpha's child?”
His features drew into a scowl. “You can have it here and give it up. No one back home has to know.”
Wow, he was deluded if he thought I would ever give up my child. Especially for him. “That's not going to happen,” I shot him down. “You know how we omegas are about our babies.” I rested a hand on my belly, feeling the little one kick as if he could feel the anxiety coursing through my veins.Calmdown, baby, everything is going to be fine.
Or at least I hoped so, anyway.
“We all have to make sacrifices,” Jeremiah said. “I'm not raising some asshole's baby with you.”
“You won't have to, because I'm staying with 'that asshole.' I'm in love with him.”Much more than Iwas ever in love with you.
