Page 153 of Hidden Ties

Sage’s laughter died in her throat.

“Colby, I’m not going to be having a baby anytime soon. You have plenty of baby dolls to play with at home. You don’t need a real one to hold,” she told her, noticing Kent was frowningly gazing down at her stomach.

She gave him a dirty look that he could possibly think she’d be pregnant. They’d only been together once, and she had assured him she was on birth control.

“I am not pregnant,” she hissed at him.

Another relieved expression crossed his face.

Irritated, she rolled her eyes at him.

“Be for real.” Snidely, she looked him over. “I know what you make at the firm. If I was going let myself get pregnant to land myself a rich baby daddy, I would go for a billionaire.”

“How do you know I’m not?”

“You live in a casino for a tax break,” she reasoned. “You’re not a full partner yet with Hollingsworth, and you drink cheap beer.”

Speeding up to keep up with Colby, Kent laughingly told her from over his shoulder, “Sage, I couldn’t fool you if I tried, could I?”

“Nope. I’m all-seeing,” she replied jokingly.

The moment she set Tinsley on her feet when they reached the park, the girls ran off to play. Finding an empty picnic table, they sat down, keeping them in sight. She pulled out two bottled waters and two juice boxes, gave a bottled water to Kent, and opened the other one.

“It’s nice out.” She sighed, relaxing.

“Yes, it is,” he agreed, nodding his head toward the girls. “The girls are adorable. They don’t seem too much of a handful to me.”

“Give them time,” she warned.

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Tinsley began wailing as if the world was coming to an end when Colby accidently knocked her down.

“Colby pushed me,” Tinsley sobbed into her shoulder when Sage picked her up.

“I saw. She didn’t mean to.” Soothing her, Sage set her back down when she stopped crying.

“Be more careful, Colby,” she called out as they resumed playing as if nothing had happened.

“We will!” Tinsley yelled out.

“I wished some of the squabbles at work were so easy to deal with,” she remarked offhandedly, sitting back down at the picnic table.

“What squabbles at work?”

“Nothing.”

Kent raised an eyebrow at her. “Come on; I won’t tell. Is something going on I don’t know about?”

“You’re lucky you work on the higher floors; none of the drama going on at work affects you.”

Kent rested his chin on his hand. “Spill the tea.”

“There are two women who are making everyone’s life miserable. I don’t understand how they get away with some of the crap they’re pulling.”

She tried not to show her frustration, yet it must have seeped out of her voice.

“That sounds bad. What’s going on?”

“Bree just fired my replacement. Avery is a sweet girl, and she was fired for having to leave early because her daughter missed the school bus.”