Chapter Seven

Hadley

I was tired. As in down to my toes, could barely keep my eyes open, bone-weary exhausted. I had to admit I was also somewhat confused about my encounter with Blake as well as a little hurt. Thankfully, this horrid day was over and I was now on my way home.

As I passed a rather posh residential area, I pondered this past week. I had to admit that for the most part I liked Charlotte. The weather was milder than I was used to, which was a good thing. Riverbend as a whole was lovely and my apartment was ten times nicer than my old place. As for the job? Let’s just say that the verdict was still out. I loved being near Cat again, but I missed home. I missed my mother and my sister. I was homesick for the bakery and my friends and I even missed the law firm. I’m not sure what I expected. I knew that moving to a new place and starting a new job wasn’t going to be easy, but I never dreamed it would be this hard.

After five, exhaustingly long days, where I would wake, get ready for work, get harassed by Wayne, get ignored by Blake, play around with the menu, get to know the new staff, and then return home, I wasn’t any closer to figuring out my life than when I’d first arrived. Blake sure wasn’t helping matters, like...at all. The guy was impossible to read. One minute he was playing hero, the next he was lecturing me, and the next he was trying to kiss me! Seriously, did the man have no shame? The worst part was that I almost let him. I was seconds away from climbing him like a tree when my conscience kicked in. To kiss him would make me a cheater. Hell, I already was one, but that didn’t mean I had to be one again. I strived to be many things, but a cheater wasn’t one of them. I stopped the kiss. It was the right thing to do, so why did it feel so wrong? Maybe it was the expression of hurt on Blake’s face when I told him no. At least, I think it was hurt. Maybe it was the thought that he didn’t want to be my friend, which hurt more than I could ever say. Maybe it was these damn awful hormones. Whatever it was, I didn’t like it.

As I pulled into the circular drive, I spotted Cat lifting several trays of food from the trunk of her car and that’s when I remembered...the party.

“Nooooo,” I loudly groaned. I was so tired. All I wanted to do was to put on my pajamas and veg out in front of the television with a pint or three of ice cream. As if sensing me staring at her, Cat’s head turned in my direction. Without thinking, I ducked. I was such a horrible friend, but I really didn’t feel like being around people right now. Several seconds passed and right when I thought I was in the clear, there came a loud tap on my window. Even though I kind of expected it, it still startled me. To the point where I jumped and let out a shrill sounding “Shit!”

In turn, this caused Cat to jump...and to launch three trays of appetizers across the front drive.

“What the hell, Hadley!” she screeched, as she dropped to all fours and started wrangling what looked like sausage rolls, pigs in blankets, and meatballs speared with toothpicks back onto the trays.

“Sorry, I dropped my phone on the floorboard!” I lied, because there was no way I would admit that I was hiding from her. “Move out of the way so I can open the door and help you,” I ordered. She moved and I scrambled from the car and began retrieving food from the front drive. The little pigs smelled delicious. When Cat wasn’t looking, I popped one into my mouth. Mmmmm. They were delicious.

I had two in my hand, when Cat asked, “Do you think they’ll notice the dirt?” Instead of placing them on the tray, I shoved them in my mouth. Then I mentally kicked myself. Damnit! I couldn’t answer with my mouth full or she’d know I was sampling the goods. Her eyes slowly lifted from the pavement to my face. I tried to play it off, but it was kind of hard to do with a mouth full of food.

“You’re eating them?” she gasped.

“They weewy goo,” I said between chews.

“This is all your fault. Stop stuffing your face and help me,” she whined.

“You’re right, I’m sorry,” I replied once I’d swallowed the rest down. “God, Cat, if I don’t get a handle on it, this baby is going to make me a lard ass. I can already tell.”

“What baby?” a voice asked from above.

“Shit, Zane! Announce yourself next time!” Cat screeched. I jumped ten feet but managed to keep my expletive to myself.

“What baby?” Zane repeated. Cat’s eyes jerked to mine and I shook my head.

While I scrambled for a logical-sounding lie, Cat blurted, “Hadley’s pregnant.”

“Cat!” I shouted.

“I’m a horrible friend, I know, but you have no idea how hard it has been to keep it a secret. Zane won’t tell Blake, will you, baby?” She turned and batted her pretty lashes at her husband. I just sat there staring at her. Not only had she just told him I was pregnant, but she told him it was Blake’s!

“Blake’s?” Zane asked, now glaring daggers through me.

Realizing her mistake, Cat gasped, “Hads—”

I cut her off. “Wow, when you spill, you really go all out.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“Are you planning on telling him?” Zane asked.

“Tell who what?” We all three turned as a man and woman stepped up beside Zane. The woman was tall with long, very curly, auburn-colored hair. Her outfit made my eyes cross. Seriously, she’d paired a hot-pink shirt—sporting palm trees and pineapples, no less—with bright-orange crop pants. By the look of horror on Zane’s face, he clearly felt the same way. The man wasn’t faring much better. Looking as if he’d stepped straight out of a Tommy Bahama magazine, his navy button-down shirt was covered in giant red flowers and yellow tropical birds. Unlike the woman, his shirt actually matched his yellow board shorts. The icing on the tropical cake were his black knee socks and...sandals.

“Dani, Rich! We didn’t see you standing there!” Cat called out.

“Tell who, what?” the man repeated.

“He’s always minding everyone’s business,” the woman said to me. Then she stepped forward and held out her hand. “Hi, I’m Danielle. My friends call me Dani.”

“Oh!” I exclaimed as I scrambled to my feet and took her hand. “I’m Hadley. I just moved in.”

“Hadley was my college roommate. She just moved here from Alabama and is going to be Sazerac’s new chef. Hads, this is Rich and Dani. They live in the building next to ours,” Cat introduced.

Dani’s eyes dropped to the remaining food on the ground. “Maybe you should put all of the dirty food on one tray,” she suggested.

“And then make sure and feed it to Miss Weston,” Rich muttered. Dani smacked his arm.

“Ignore him,” she said with an eye roll.

Rich eyed the three of us before turning to his wife and asking, “I thought this shin-dig was supposed to be Hawaiian?” He pointed to his outfit. “You said I had to wear this, but look at them. They’re not dressed like Hawaiians.”

“The memo did say Hawaiian themed,” Cat confirmed. “I haven’t had a chance to change yet.” Rich’s eyes flicked to me.

“I just got home from work,” I told him.

“This was my wife’s idea, not mine. I’m not wearing that shit,” Zane added.

“Zane!” Cat hissed, while I tried not to laugh at the expression on Rich’s face.

“Does this mean I can go change?” he asked.

“Do, and you’ll be sleeping on the sofa this week,” Dani retorted.

He let out a long, painful sounding sigh. “See what you have to look forward to? Just wait. You’re in the honeymoon phase. In two years, you’ll be forced to wear shit like this or risk sleeping on the sofa,” he directed at Zane.

“Trust me, I will never sleep on the sofa,” Zane said. Cat rolled her eyes, and Dani and I both laughed.

“No, I imagine you won’t,” Rich said, smiling. Regardless of their hideous outfits, they really were nice people.

Cat and I quickly finished picking the food off the ground before handing the trays over to the men.

“There’s no way in hell I’m wearing Hawaiian clothes,” I said under my breath as we watched Dani and the boys head to the back of the complex with the food. Cat snorted, and we both broke into giggles.

“I’m sorry about telling Zane, Hadley. I wasn’t thinking,” Cat mentioned, once the laughter died down. I knew it was going to come out eventually, but not like this. I wasn’t ready for Blake to find out. Especially after the day I’d just had.

We started for the back gate, but I stopped her before we got there. “Zane can’t say anything to Blake, Cat. I need to be the one to tell him.”

“He won’t say a word.”

“Promise me.”

“I promise. Zane won’t talk and you don’t have to hide from me anymore. I won’t pressure you, but I’m here if you need to talk.” I wanted to share what happened at work today, but now wasn’t the time.

“I wasn’t hiding.” At her ‘yeah, right’ look, I amended my statement. “Okay, maybe I was, but it’s only because I’ve had a really crappy day and I’m beyond tired.”

“Talk to me,” she urged.

“I will, but now isn’t the time.”

“You’re right. Carpool to work with me in the morning. We’ll talk then, okay?” She started forward. When she realized I wasn’t following, she turned and asked, “You coming?”

“I’m really tiiiiired,” I whined.

She held out her hand. “Just for a minute and then you can go to bed.” With a loud sigh, and because I wanted more food, I took her hand and let her drag me through the back gate to the party.

An hour later, after having been cornered by kimono-wearing Miss Weston—tonight’s design being tropical fish—while she lectured about the negative effects of marijuana—because, clearly, I looked like a ganja addict—as well as having been dragged around by Cat while she made introductions, I finally made it over to the table of food. In the middle of picking through the non-tarmac covered pieces, I noticed someone standing behind me. As in, really close to me. Taking a step forward, I started to turn.

“Don’t,” the person said. I immediately recognized Rich’s voice.

“Ummm, what are you doing?” I asked, even though I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer.

“I’m hiding,” he whispered. My eyes scanned over the crowd.

“From who?”

“Three clicks to the left and a tick to the right you’ll see a man wearing a God-awful green shirt with ugly-ass birds on it.” I wasn’t sure about clicks or ticks, but I got the gist of what he was saying and glanced in that direction. A giggle escaped when I spotted the man Rich was referring to and noticed he was wearing the exact same Tommy Bahama shirt as Rich, only in green instead of blue. “He’s a dead ringer for Tim Conway, isn’t he?” Rich asked.

I took a bite of a dark chocolate brownie and asked, “Who’s Tim Conway?”

“You don’t know who Tim Conway is?” His harsh whisper made me jump, and I quickly began searching for an escape route. “Kids these days,” he muttered, as he snatched the rest of the brownie from my hand and plopped it into his mouth. “Mmmm, that’s delicious,” he moaned. A small part of me wanted to hear what Rich had to say, but the rest of me was kind of weirded out by the guy.

“I have to go,” I announced.

“Wait! I haven’t told the story yet.” He nodded to the tray of brownies. “Go ahead and have another while I tell you the rest.” Wanting to leave, but not wanting to be rude, because I did live with these people now, I reluctantly reached for another brownie.

“So, Tim Conway’s doppelganger is actually named Ernie Tudwell. He’s deaf as a doornail and a rabid renaissance fanatic. Get this, he wants me to dress in a skirt, throw axes or some shit like that, and yodel. No wonder he’s deaf! Real men don’t yodel. At least, this man doesn’t.”

“As in renaissance fairs? I asked through a mouthful of brownie. I knew a girl who dated a guy who went to those things. He used to dress up like a jester and once made her dress up like a wench and go with him so they could run around eating turkey legs and drinking mead while talking in Olde English. Talk about strange.

“Yep,” he said, eyeballing my brownie. Before he could steal it, I shoved the entire thing in my mouth. “That was uncool,” he said with a shake of his head. I couldn’t reply without spitting flecks of brownie everywhere. It was tempting, but even I wasn’t that rude. What was uncool was him stealing my damn food. When he turned his attention to the person standing on the other side of him, I slipped away and bolted for my apartment, where I called my sister and spent the next hour laughing about the group of weirdos I was living with.

The next morning, I woke up starving. Hunger pangs like I’d never felt wracked my poor body. This baby was going to be the death of me. I wasn’t a small girl, but I wasn’t large either. As my sister put it, “I had ample cushion for the pushin’.” I had a feeling that was about to change. Before meeting Cat downstairs, I made us both a breakfast sandwich, making sure to put extra bacon on mine, because bacon wasn’t fattening or anything.

“You made me breakfast?” Cat squealed, when she saw me standing in her doorway.

“It’s a peace offering.”

“Hang on, let me get my purse.” She disappeared from the door and three seconds later, returned with her purse. I followed her out to the car and waited for her to open the door for me before sliding into the passenger seat. Seconds later, we were off. Before launching into what happened with Blake or how strange my fellow tenants were, I peeled the foil back from her breakfast sandwich and handed it to her.

“Ma ga, di id gooooo,” she said, after taking a bite. I took a bite of mine and had to agree. After taking a swig of coffee to wash the bite down, Cat ordered, “Talk.” So I did. I told her about what happened with Blake and Wayne and ended it with the almost kiss. I’d just finished the story, when Cat turned in front of a row of townhouses and pulled to a stop.

“Shiiiiiit,” she whispered.

“What?” I asked, looking in the direction of her stare. Directly in front of us and up a flight of steps, standing in an open doorway and wearing nothing but a pair of boxer briefs, was Blake. He was with a woman and they were...kissing. Her clothes were all wrinkled and her shoes dangled from the tips of her fingers, which meant one thing. She’d spent the night with him. My heart squeezed inside my chest

“Oh my god,” I whispered.

“Hadley,” Cat called out. I didn’t miss the warning in her tone, but I was beyond angry. I was livid.

“I’m sorry, Cat, I know he’s your brother and all, but look at that!” I cried out, pointing to Blake who had yet to come up for air. “Yesterday he was trying to stick his tongue in my mouth and today it’s in someone else’s. What a jerk! A serial cheating shitass!” I don’t know what made me do it. I wasn’t an overly dramatic person. In fact, I normally tried to steer far away from drama, but I’d had enough. This...this man...standing in front of me with his tongue down another woman’s throat was the father of my unborn child. How did I, the most level-headed and responsible person in the world, get here? How?

“Calm down, Hads,” Cat urged. Screw calm. Dropping my sandwich to the floor, I swung the door open and stepped from the car. “Oh, God!” I heard Cat exclaim from behind me.

“You know he has a girlfriend!” I called out, loud enough for the entire neighborhood to hear. The kiss abruptly ended and both heads turned. Blake’s eyes widened when he realized it was me.

“Hadley?” he asked.

“You got it!” I shouted back, before continuing, “Not only does he have a girlfriend, but he slept with me while he had the girlfriend!” I realized this sounded all kinds of awful, but couldn’t for the life of me, put a lid on it. Not now. “Then he told me it just...happened...and asked me not to mention it to anyone! If that wasn’t bad enough, he then tried to kiss me...again!” I leaned forward and screamed, “Yesterday! He tried to kiss me yesterday!”

“Hadley!” Blake growled right as the tears hit.

Throwing up my hands, I cried, “And now I’m pregnant! I’m pregnant by a cheating jerk, so run while you can,” I warned through my tears. Blake reared back as if he’d been struck.

“Shit, Hadley!” Cat screeched.

“What did you just say?” Blake asked.

“You heard me, you cheating jerk! I’m pregnant!” I shouted back at him.

The woman said something to Blake and then quickly made her escape, while I turned to Cat, buried my head in her shoulder, and cried.

Repeating my words from yesterday, Cat said, “Wow, when you spill, you really go all out!”