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She barely maintained any conversation on the rest of the car ride back to the apartment, answering questions on auto-pilot that Gramma was asking.
Once they got home, she changed into something she could wear to work, but when she left the house again, she didn’t go straight to Rayner Technologies. She took a detour and stopped at a Walgreens just down the road from her apartment, went inside, and came back out with a box of First Response pregnancy tests.
She already had a sinking feeling she knew what these things were going to read, and she hoped like hell she was wrong.
***
Farren hurried inside once she got to work, feeling like the stomach upset was behind her for the time being. She passed Rita on the way to her office and gave her a quick wave before disappearing around the corner to the hallway.
She closed the door behind her, feeling out of breath. Rayner must have heard her come in, because the side door leading to his office clicked open before she could get to her chair, and suddenly she felt hyper-aware of the pink box stuffed in her messenger bag, like it would somehow come alive and tumble out to be discovered by Rayner. Her heart began to race.
“Farren?”
Oh, God, she thought. She stuffed her bag into a large drawer inside her desk and pressed it closed.
“Good morning,” she said with an exaggerated smile as Rayner walked fully into the room.
His sleeves were rolled up to the middle of his forearms, which she now knew was a sign that he was stressed out about something and was probably worrying over a project.
“What did I miss?” she asked. Her attention was quickly diverted from her own stressors at the moment so that she could work on getting whatever was troubling him taken care of.
Once they started hashing out the details, she found herself back in control, at least for the moment, and she was able to stay focused well into the afternoon while she and Rayner worked together to iron out the details needed. Thank goodness, he kept her too busy to think of anything else for a while.
By the time evening had rolled around, she had become distracted once again, and she knew she needed a quick getaway tonight to avoid Rayner seeing her nerves that she was sure would be out on display by now with the pregnancy test burning a hole through her bag.
“Sir, I’ve got somewhere I need to be tonight, if you don’t mind me leaving now,” she said, poking her head into his office.
He looked up and his eyes squinted in thought for a moment.
“I see. Is it the guy that was here waiting for you last night?” he asked, and he seemed to be squeezing the life out of the ink pen he was holding as the creases of his fingers turned white.
“What, Paul? N-” she cut herself off before she could finish answering. Of course it wasn’t Paul, but she didn’t want to tell him what it really was that she was in such a hurry to leave for.
“Yes… I’m supposed to meet up with Paul… and some other friends tonight. Nothing special, just hanging out with some friends.” She was officially rambling now.
She held her breath waiting for his response, and when he released his hold on the pen he seemed to be strangling the life out of, he nodded.
“Sure. Have a great time. We can pick this back up tomorrow,” he answered.
He rose from his chair and stretched his arms over his head, flexing all the muscles in his arms, chest, and back, so that they strained against the thin fabric of his button down shirt.
She could feel her mouth watering at the sight of him, and she licked her lips reactively, which freaked her out even more, recalling that a heightened libido was another side effect of pregnancy. She was reminded once again why she needed to get out of there, and fast!
“Okay, um… I’ll see you tomorrow.” She closed the door behind her without waiting for him to respond again, grabbed her messenger bag, and rushed out the door.
Once she locked herself in her car, she pulled out her cell phone and dialed Shea.
“Hello?” Shea answered.
“Shea, it’s Farren.”
“No crap, dummy. Caller I.D.,” she teased. “What’s up?”
“Are you at home? I need to come over. I’m calling in a Best Friend favor,” Farren said.
“Wow, this must be serious. Give me twenty minutes. I’ll be right there.”
“Thanks.” Farren hung up, put her car in reverse, and backed out, chewing her bottom lip the entire drive to Shea’s apartment.
