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S unday around noon, Sara waited in the car while Mandy ran the kids up to the daycare that advertised being open on weekends. Which made sense—not everyone got the luxury of working only weekdays.

They both had the day off, and she wanted to buy more items for her room. One thing was a lamp and a side table for next to the bed. The overhead light in the room was all good when she needed to put things away or get dressed, but for reading in bed, it didn’t work.

“You ready for this?” Sara asked when Mandy slid back into the car.

“Oh, hell yes,” Mandy laughed. “I needed a break. I can’t believe you found a reputable daycare that doesn’t charge an arm and a leg and is open weekends.”

She’d called ahead and paid seventy-five percent of the monthly fee with a promise to donate extra funds if they kept their promise and only charged Mandy a small fee.

“Where did you go yesterday?” Mandy asked, clipping her belt. “I turned around and you were gone.”

“I just walked on the beach. You know… to think about things,” she fibbed, but she wasn’t ready to share about Levi yet. Nor about their wonderful day that had ended up being shit this morning.

“Okay…so how are you doing? Any nightmares or trouble sleeping?” Mandy asked, pulling the car away from the curb.

“None.”

Of course, the reason was that all she had been thinking about was Levi and nothing else. Everything that happened before the other night paled in comparison.

But Levi was gone.

And there went her fantasies about him.

Well, not all of them. Some of her dreams were still there. Perhaps he would show back up tonight?

If he did, she vowed to give him a piece of her mind after she kissed him.

She truly believed he was her soulmate. Was it even possible to feel that way after only one date? Maybe that was what instant attraction felt like. Even though they had technically known each other for several months, it had been their first whole day together.

She wanted more days with him. She wanted to string days together to make years.

Did Levi feel the same way? Or was she just a casual fuck when he wanted to get his rocks off?

“Where is the best place to shop?” Sara asked lightly, changing the subject to get her mind off of Levi and her suddenly aching heart.

“The mall!” Mandy grinned. “We can shop until we drop and they have tons of places to eat.”

There were several malls in and around the city, so they chose San Francisco’s Centre Mall. The building itself was a huge upscale three-level structure with a historical dome.

For a Sunday, the place was pretty busy. Although most people preferred to shop online, some people actually enjoyed going to the mall and she was one of them.

Sara didn’t feel guilty about it at all. So what if she loved to shop? It was her hard-earned money. Being a manager at a high-end lounge in the heart of the city helped. Plus, she had money saved from when she ran her salon.

Which reminded her, she needed to decide what to do with the place.

“Furniture first?” Mandy asked.

“Let’s leave that for last or we’ll be going back to the car.”

“True. How about Nordstrom’s to check out their shoes?”

“You read my mind.” Sara linked her arm with Mandy as they walked.

The large form of a man caught Sara’s gaze and she would have sworn it was Levi, but as they drew near, the man disappeared.

She gazed around as they neared Nordstrom’s and caught sight of another man who was fit, wore expensive clothes, and browsed casually, window shopping. It wasn’t Levi , but the way the man moved reminded her of him.

“What’s wrong?” Mandy asked, coming back to where she had stopped in the doorway.

Sara turned to her friend. “I just thought I saw someone I knew.”

“Oh?” Mandy glanced in the direction of the man, but when Sara glanced over, he was gone. Perhaps it had been her imagination. Perhaps she had noticed big handsome men because of her day spent with Levi.

“My mistake,” she said, and they entered the store.

Ten minutes later, Mandy was trying on her second pair of pumps while Sara tried for something more casual with a pair of new sneakers.

“One thing I need to do when we leave here is get a pregnancy test,” Sara whispered to Mandy.

“Why?” Her friend blinked in surprise.

“Because the one under your sink was expired.”

“Do they expire?”

“Yes, they do, and the results can be less than accurate,” Sara quoted from her online search.

“Oh, good grief. So, you still haven’t started your period?” Mandy hissed softly.

“Nope.”

Sara shared a grimace with Mandy and tried on another pair of sneakers.

If she left it too much longer, then she would be past the point of no return.

And really, who was she kidding?

The flat-out question was could she have an abortion if she was pregnant? It was a controversial belief in society that women had the right to choose. And they did, but she knew in her heart she would keep the baby.

The child wasn’t to blame for her mistake.

More than once she reminded herself, you made the same mistake numerous times .

Did Levi think she was on birth control? Was that why he didn’t use a condom? And the main question was…why didn’t she tell him she wasn’t using a preventative?

Granted, the first time she’d been drunk, but the second, third, fourth? There was no excuse.

“Sara?” a voice that wasn’t Mandy’s called her name.

Sara glanced up from lacing the shoes and found Missy Bradbury along with another woman whom Sara immediately recognized from the night of the event.

“Hi.” Sara forced a smile.

“Isn’t this a small world?” Missy laughed.

“It appears so,” Sara agreed.

“Who is that you’re with?” Missy asked, gesturing to Mandy.

“This is Mandy.”

“This is Rebecca,” Missy said, pointing to the woman accompanying her.

The woman, Rebecca, had been the one to latch onto Levi outside of the event and call out his name so intimately.

“Hello,” Sara said, and Mandy echoed her.

“Are you guys shopping?” Missy asked.

“We are, but we’re almost done here, though,” Mandy said with a smile.

“Oh! Let’s have lunch together.” Missy gushed, glancing at her watch. “It’s well after one o’clock.”

“Um, we don’t want to keep you.” Sara glanced at Mandy, who overrode her with a laugh.

“The more the merrier,” her friend said, and Sara made sure not to groan.

The last thing she wanted was to spend an hour or more listening to Missy’s nonstop chatter about mindless things.

But more than that? Sara didn’t want to sit down to lunch with Levi’s…

Levi’s what?

She wasn’t sure who the woman was to Levi, but by the look of her, Sara would bet she was an ex-lover, girlfriend, or something.

Those two had a history, no doubt.

Twenty minutes later, they were seated at a table at the Executive Order Bar & Lounge. It was just after midday, so the music wasn’t too loud.

After ordering, Sara sat encased in one black leather chair that sat across from the couch where Mandy and Missy sat.

Rebecca sat in the chair next to Sara’s and placed her purse on the low table in front of them.

This particular mall restaurant had customers ordering their food choices at the front counter and then taking a seat. Missy and Mandy had become fast friends while waiting in line for food, so Sara didn’t feel the need to speak at all.

Rebecca felt differently.

“So, what is it you do, Sara?” Rebecca asked, turning slightly in the chair to face her.

“I manage a bar and lounge.”

Rebecca wrinkled her nose, and Sara tried hard not to scoff.

Their drinks and food were delivered and Sara sipped at her sparkling water.

“That sounds…fun,” Rebecca said with a haughty tone.

“It is very. Mandy works there too.”

“I’m an executive assistant to the vice president of a Fortune Five Hundred company.”

Sara kept her face straight, although she wanted to laugh.

What was this? My dog is bigger than your dog?

“That’s nice,” she murmured and took a bite of her pepperoni slider.

“How long have you known Levi?” Rebecca asked.

Okay, now they were getting to the heart of the matter, and Sara suspected the real reason the woman had sat next to her.

“Not long.”

“I’ve known Levi my whole life,” Rebecca said. “In fact, we are engaged.”

Sara choked on her bite and blinked at the woman, trying to decide if she was lying.

“Are or were? Because I don’t recall Levi saying anything about that.”

“We had a fight.” Rebecca smiled with a gleam in her eyes. “We have fought off and on since high school. But we will make up. We always do.”

The food tasted bitter to Sara and she took a big swallow of water.

If Rebecca and Levi were really a couple, what did that make her?

His fling?

No way in hell was she going to be the mistress.

“What makes you think you’ll make up this time?” she asked.

Rebecca’s hand dropped to her stomach and the woman rubbed it protectively.

The woman was pregnant.

Sara’s heart stuttered, her lungs lost their ability to breathe.

“You’re pregnant,” Sara said, it wasn’t a question.

“Yes,” Rebecca said with a soft smile.

“And it’s Levi’s…”

“Of course it’s his,” Rebecca hissed.

Humiliation, anger, and something else that felt like betrayal swept over Sara and she completely lost her appetite.

“Congratulations,” she said woodenly and turned to call out to Mandy. “Hey Mandy?”

“Yeah?”

“Let’s go.” Sara tossed three twenties on the table and stood.

“Um…sure,” Mandy said with surprise, but jumped up.

Sara picked up the packages she’d gotten from Nordstrom’s and walked out of the restaurant.

Mandy exchanged contact information with Missy and ran after her.

“Are you okay?” Mandy asked, catching up with her.

“Yeah,” she said roughly and headed out the mall doors to the nearby public parking.

“What did you and Rebecca talk about?”

“She’s Levi’s girlfriend.”

“Who’s Levi?” Mandy looked confused and then gasped. “Is he…the guy?”

“Yes,” Sara whispered, getting inside the passenger side.

“Talk,” Mandy demanded after she got behind the wheel.

And on the drive back to the house, Sara told Mandy everything—from the balcony visits to the beach to the farmers market.

“She’s pregnant,” Sara whispered, her voice tight with tears.

When Levi’s name flashed up on her phone screen, she silenced it and tucked it back inside her purse.

“What a bitch,” Mandy said, slapping her palm on the steering wheel as she peeled out of the parking lot.

“No, she just doesn’t want me interfering with her happiness,” Sara said softly.

“You, my friend, are too nice.”

That very well may be, but Sara was the third wheel in an established relationship.

And that was so not her style and never would be.