Page 115 of The Business of Love Box Set 1: Books 1 - 4

HAILEY

K im pursed her ruby lips around her straw and took a sip of her mimosa. Vanessa, who sat directly across the table from her, glared at Kim with sheer violence in her eyes.

I looked back and forth between my friends. “Is everything okay, Vanessa?”

Vanessa blinked and looked over at me. She laughed lightly as Kim’s eyes flicked up to her. “Yes, I’m fine. All this breastfeeding just means I can’t have a drink, and I would literally punch Kim in the face for a sip of that mimosa.”

Kim shrugged. “Sorry, Vanny. If I could lend you my boobs, I would.”

Vanessa waved her off. “Oh please. You don’t have to feel guilty on my account, although I appreciate the offer. At least one of us is taking advantage of three-dollar mimosas. You should grab one, Hailey. Do it for me.”

I still hadn’t told the girls about the baby.

For the past twenty-four hours since meeting Jackson at the hotel, I’d been holed up in Hannah’s apartment feeling sorry for myself.

Hannah had tried everything in her toolbox to make me feel better but fell short every time.

Before she left for her shift at the bakery cafe this morning, she’d grabbed her apron and told me to consider talking to my friends about what was going on.

She’d insisted there was no harm in confiding to the people closest to me about something like this.

It was a surprise—an unplanned major event in my life that I was about to embark on by myself—so my mental health was going to take a rollercoaster ride and there was one thing that always made such things better.

Friends.

“Well…” I trailed off. How did I tell them about this?

Other girls always had cute little packages to give their friends for surprise announcements.

The women would squeal in excitement and it would become a big celebration.

But I didn’t feel celebratory on the inside. “I have something to tell you guys.”

Kim and Vanessa exchanged a look.

Kim set her drink down and nodded for me to go ahead. “What is it?”

I licked my lips.

Vanessa leaned closer toward me. “Oh God. Is something wrong? Are you sick?”

“Vanny,” Kim scolded.

“What? No.” I shook my head. “I’m not sick. Well, I’ve been sick more times in the last week and a half than I ever have in my life but—”

“Holy shit,” Kim breathed.

Vanessa’s eyes were wide with curiosity but realization had not yet hit her like it had Kim, who reached across the table and grabbed my hand.

“Are you?” Kim pumped her eyebrows. “You know?” Her eyes flicked down to my stomach beneath the table.

I nodded.

Vanessa slammed a flat palm on the table, startling us both. “Someone better use their damn words and tell me what’s going on, or I’ll order myself one of those mimosas and then I’ll be mad at myself when I’m stuck pumping and chucking my milk out.”

Kim snickered. “That’s something you have to look forward to, Hailey.”

I groaned.

Vanessa scowled at us both. “What are you two talking about? Look forward to what? Not being able to enjoy a fucking mimosa—” She broke off and her eyes went wide. She twisted in her chair to face me. “ Oh! Are you pregnant?”

Here it is. No going back now. I nodded. “Yep.”

The squealing I wasn’t expecting happened anyway. Kim leapt out of her chair to give me a hug and Vanessa followed suit. Once our embraces were done and we settled back into our chairs, Kim sucked back the rest of her mimosa and looked at me.

“Wait, what does this mean?” she asked.

“Better question,” Vanessa said pointedly. “Whose baby is it?”

I bit my bottom lip. “Erm, you know him.”

Kim gasped. “ No. Fucking. Way. ”

“Who?” Vanessa cried.

Kim answered for me. “Jackson. It’s Jackson, isn’t it?”

My cheeks burned like I’d been sitting under the desert sun for eight solid hours. “Yes, it’s Jackson’s.”

Vanessa leaned back in her chair. “Whoa.”

“You can say that again.” I sighed. “Let me get you both up to speed. I need advice.”

I spent the next fifteen minutes divulging all the details of what had happened between me and Jackson from the very first time we’d hooked up, which was the time I got pregnant to begin with.

I told them all about how good things were when I first moved in with him but how quickly it all had gone to hell.

And I ended the story with Jackson’s impromptu and unwanted marriage proposal at the hotel yesterday morning.

When I finished, I sat back expectantly and waited for their reactions. Neither of them said a word. Kim massaged her temples while Vanessa finished off her fruit salad, and when I cleared my throat, they both looked up at me.

“Well?” I said. “Don’t you two have something to say? You’re usually both full of opinions and advice. Lay them on me. I feel like I’m lost out at sea here.”

Kim raked her fingers through her hair before clasping her hands in her lap.

“I have experience with telling pregnant women things they don’t want to hear.

” She paused to nod at Vanessa, who shrugged in agreement.

“And I don’t want to get yelled at for saying something that might not be what you’re hoping to hear. ”

“I’m not hoping to hear anything. I just need help untangling this mess and I don’t know where to start.”

“Okay.” Kim ran her palms down her thighs. “Fine then. I think that, maybe, just maybe, you might have been a little too hard on Jackson for this whole proposal thing.”

I blinked. “You do?”

“Bear with me,” Kim said hurriedly. “Jackson has always been a bit of a dolt. I know that. You know that. Hell, we all know that. But he’s a sweet dolt and there is nothing more important to him in this world than the people he loves.

And he loves you more than the rest of us, Hailey.

He always has. Maybe the timing is off but I don’t think you should write him off because he got his wires crossed. ”

“He never would have proposed if I wasn’t pregnant,” I said. And that was the trouble of it all. What sort of pride could I maintain if I said yes to a proposal I knew was coerced out of me being pregnant?

No. I didn’t want that.

“I don’t know if that’s true,” Kim said.

My surprise must have shown on my face because Vanessa put her hand over mine and started agreeing with Kim.

“It might just have needed a little more time, Hailey. The two of you were just getting started and then you were thrown a curveball. And that’s okay.

Not all love stories have clear-cut paths.

Sometimes they’re messy. Sometimes it takes a while for both people to be on the same page. ”

“Same page?” I laughed. “Guys, Jackson and I aren’t even in the same book!”

“That’s what keeps it interesting.” Kim winked.

“I don’t want interesting ,” I said. “I want easy. I want clear cut. I want more time.”

Kim frowned. “I’m sorry, babe. But you don’t have it. Life is happening right now. You can resist but it’s going to keep moving forward regardless of whether you’re on board or not. So I suggest you get on the damn ship.”

“Or get on Jackson again,” Vanessa said with a grin.

“It’s too messy,” I said. “It’s not supposed to be this hard.”

“Okay.” Kim put her napkin down and looked me in the eyes. “I’m going to give you some tough love, okay?”

Yikes. When Kim got to spitting truths, it wasn’t uncommon for someone’s cage to be rattled. But maybe that was what I needed—even though my cage already felt pretty rattled, like it had been tossed off a hundred-foot cliff and had hit every single rock on the way down.

Vanessa mumbled about wishing how she had a mimosa.

Kim took a breath before launching into her tough-love speech.

“Why do you think it’s supposed to be easy?

Me finding Rick and falling for him certainly wasn’t easy.

I had to wait a year for my chance to be with him, and even after that, he and I both managed to mess it up in the beginning.

But we pushed through because both of us realized our lives were better with the other person in it.

Vanny and Rhys were the same way. They almost didn’t make it.

There is pain in both our love stories, Hailey.

But that doesn’t soil the whole thing. If it did, well, everyone would be single. ”

“Being single isn’t a bad thing,” I said defensively.

“Never said it was,” Kim said. “But being single when you’re head over heels for a man who is also head over heels for you and has been for the better half of six years?

That just doesn’t add up, Hails. You can keep playing it safe if you want and not go for it, but if you did, I’m pretty sure you and Jackson could become the love story you have always wanted. ”

I looked at Vanessa for support, but she shook her head. “Don’t look at me, girl. I’m with Kim. She’s a royal pain in the ass but let’s be honest with ourselves here. She always gives good advice, especially when you don’t want to hear it.”

I pouted and stared into my empty cup of caffeine-free tea. “This sucks.”

Kim chuckled softly. “We’re here for you. No matter what you choose.”

“Speaking of which,” Vanessa said. “Do you have any doctor’s appointments lined up?”

I told them about my first appointment coming up on Tuesday morning and admitted that I was nervous. Kim and Vanessa both instantly offered to go with me.

I shook my head but gave them a grateful smile. “I appreciate it. But I might be on my own with this pregnancy and I want to prove to myself that I can do this alone.”

Kim chewed the inside of her cheek. “Okay. Well, if you change your mind, call one of us, okay?”

“Okay,” I said.

“Hey.” Vanessa nudged me gently in the side with her elbow and leaned into me. “It’s going to work out. You just have to have a little faith.”

“Yeah. I know.”

I was grateful when Kim changed the subject and started telling us a funny story about Rick’s little girl, Chessie.

I fell into the story and appreciated the temporary reprieve from my problems. As soon as brunch was over, I’d be back to sitting in my worries and stewing over how upset I was with Jackson.

But for now, all I had to do was listen, and that was enough to save me for another fifteen minutes.