–Me: Thanks, girl.
I put my phone down, then lie on my bed and stare at the ceiling. Sasha’s loyal support soothes my nerves, which have been raw since I had that confrontation with Emmett. Maybe…just maybe I can be the tiniest bit more open-minded about what he proposed.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Emmett
Books on pregnancy and child rearing. Check.
Prenatal vitamins for Amy. Check.
Lunch massages for Amy at the Aylster. Check.
What am I missing? I tap my fingers on the desk and gaze at the laptop. A PowerPoint presentation is open for my review, but I’m too distracted to look at it. Even though it’s Monday at eleven, when I should be fully ramped up.
But I’m not. What the hell do I need to do to convince Amy I’m right about getting married? My gut has never led me astray, and it’s unlikely to start now.
Marriage as a concept is nebulous and unexciting. But marriage with Amy is electrifying. A woman who is smart, gorgeous and hot as hell? Yes, please. The baby will be a bonus, especially if it’s a girl who looks like her mom. But for some reason, Amy doesn’t see the same thing I do. I can’t believe she said I’d get bored.
I don’t waste my time and energy on people I find boring.
Except telling her, “I would have never slept with you if I thought you were boring,” probably isn’t going to work. Women need more solid reassurance.
Diamonds…? Sparkly, elegant and expensive… That’s pretty good reassurance. On the other hand, can she be bought like that? She might be more impressed if I did something for her instead.
Maybe I should make a PowerPoint presentation on all the things I can provide for her and the baby. She has to know it’s nearly impossible to raise an infant alone while working in venture capital. She’s going to need a team of nannies and some kind of in-house staff for grocery shopping and cooking. I’ll also pay for the kid’s education, all the way to whatever degree they want. At the rate college tuition’s rising, it’s going to cost a billion bucks to get a four-year degree by the time the kid’s old enough to enter.
But is that going to be enough to convince her? She probably has more immediate concerns. She’s pregnant right now. It has to be taxing for her body to turn a few cells into a fully grown human baby. One of the books I ordered probably has some advice on what to do for Amy. I pick up a pink one and start reading. Thankfully, I’m a speed reader, so it shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours to get through the five-hundred-page volume.
Somebody knocks on the door.
“Yeah?” I call out, my eyes still on the pages.
The door opens. “Wow. You decided to take one for the team?”
I glance up. Grant is giving me a look of sheer gratitude and admiration. “No,” I say. Amy only told me about the pregnancy because she got caught red-handed. I’m not letting anybody know until Amy and I get a chance to discuss how we’re going to break the news to our families.
“But the books—”
“Are for an industry analysis I’m doing. A proposal on a new kind of service for pregnant women.”
“Ah.” Grant nods, taking a seat on the other side of the desk. “It’s important to know your customers.”
“Exactly. How else can I judge the viability?”
“And since you’re going to know so much about pregnancy, you can also take one for the team. You are the oldest, after all.”
“Might be the oldest, but I’m not senile.” I’m not letting Dad anywhere near Amy or my kid. The baby isn’t some prop Dad can use to feel superior to Josh Singer. “You aren’t that much younger.” I’m not finding the answer I’m looking for on the pages. “Hey, did your mom ever happen to mention when she started puking in the morning?”
“For what?”
“Either due to morning sickness…or the sickening sinking feeling in her gut that her kid was an idiot.”
Grant laughs. In fact, he has the highest IQ out of all of us. “No and no.”
A text arrives on my phone. Grant reaches for his at the same time.
–Griffin: WTF! He sent me a damn hooker at the university! During my office hours!