Page 71 of Act Like You Don't Care
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The entire familycame out to see me off back to California. I blew off the disguise for the flight home—not that it really mattered.
It was Kade who got the most attention, mostly because he wasn’t from here. I’d forgotten what that small town was like, how weirdly private you could be, while everyone still knew your business.
Oceanport truly was a different world.
It almost made me rethink a move back, but there was no way I could give up my life and my career in Hollywood.
Though maybe I’d buy a small house here, once my condo was paid for. Someplace I could stay in, come home to visit. The baby should know his or her cousins.
The last call for boarding came over the speakers and I was subjected to another round of good-bye hugs by everyone. Even the kids.
Kade was the last one to approach me. “It’ll be fine,” he whispered just before he let go of me. “Break some new ground for omegas in Hollywood, okay? And if there’s anything I can do, let me know. You have my number.”
“I will. Thank you,” I whispered back, then grabbed my carry-on and my ticket and headed through security. I stopped a couple of times to wave back at them, an unexpected feeling of real homesickness hitting me, harder than I’d ever experienced before. Yeah, I was going to have to spend more time here. I wondered if Mom would want to move back. Probably not—she didn’t have very good memories of Oceanport. It was where she’d met my sperm donor and while things had eventually worked out for her, she’d had a rough few years out of it.
Both of us had.
And then the plane started to taxi and I turned my thoughts away from the past, to tackle the problem of my future.
I would need to call Miles as soon as I got home. That wasn’t optional.
I could do it. I would do it. Not for me, but for him, and for the baby. And I was going to keep a firm hold on my own emotions and play it safe.
After all, I was going to be two people soon. My choices weren’t just my choices anymore.
Tam
Ididn’t call Miles on my first day back. Or on my second day. Ididcall the clinic and cancel the appointment. I also called Will and told him to find me a good obstetrician—I had every intention of continuing to work until I was basically forced off the set, but I wanted to know what I could say yes to, and what I would need to say no to.
Will was, to say the least, shocked by my decision. “You’re sure about this? You know what this could do to your career. And Ilikeworking with you.”
“I have a plan. It’ll be fine.” I would work twice as hard as anyone else to make this happen. This was important.
“All right,” he said doubtfully.
“I’m calling my agent right after I get off the phone with you,” I promised him. “You know she’ll make this work.”
“For something small, yeah.”
It had only been seven weeks at this point. “I have a few good months of not being noticeable. We’re going to have to figure out some of the shooting is all.”
“Wardrobe is going to shit kittens,” Will said and I heard the tiny snort of humor in his voice.
“Probably. Don’t sound so happy about it.”
“I’m not. Not really. Did you even think about the sketches they showed us? There’s no hiding a baby in that outfit.”
“They’ll figure it out.” Yeah, I’d thought about it. At worst, they could paint the gradual swelling of my belly out of the film. I’d make sure they had shots from now to use to fix the later ones. “I gotta go, more calls to make.”
“Okay. You’ll be around later if I need you?”
“I’m not planning on going anywhere, but I have to talk to Miles at some point.” I wanted to do that someplace relatively public, in the hopes that it would keep the conversation civilized. Not that I didn’t think he was a civilized person, but alphas could get strange when they started thinking about omegas and having babies. With what I knew of Miles, if he did get a little flakey, it would be in the overprotective, traditional alpha way. Which would cramp my style and my career way more than if he was the run-for-the-hills kind.
The idea that he might decide to sue for custody crossed my mind briefly and was just as quickly dismissed as stupid and paranoid.
No, I was pretty sure he’d be reasonable.
