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The woman who was engaged to her lover, or ex-lover, and the father of the baby in her womb, was sitting down to talk with her. It was enough to make her want to bolt from the room and never come back again. She knew she had to stay. She had to finish Jennifer’s houses or she was not going to make the money that she would need by the end of the month so that she could pay Reggie Davis.
She had to keep her business. She had to do whatever it took to keep her business, she told herself over and over. Talking with Jennifer Jones and finishing the work on her house was going to be the biggest challenge she would have to overcome, but she was going to do it. She had never felt so determined about anything in her life.
“No, I’m all right, thanks. Will you sit with me, please?” she asked, indicating the chair in front of her. Naomi sat down in it and folded her hands in front of her, watching Jennifer as the other woman began to speak.
“First, I want to tell you again how excited I am that you have agreed to do my house, and I am really looking forward to spending a lot of time with you in getting it done. We’re going to make it so beautiful; so perfect, together.” Her face was bright as she looked at Naomi.
Naomi felt like her heart might beat right out of her chest. “Actually, that’s something that I wanted to talk with you about…” she trailed off a little, and Jennifer held her hand up to stop her.
“I know you probably do want to talk with me about that, but before we get to that, we should talk about a couple of other things first, if that’s okay.” She looked hopeful.
Naomi knew that the only way that she would be able to stand redecorating Jennifer Jones’ house, would be if she could do it when the singer wasn’t there. She knew that if she had the entire space she was working in to herself, then she wouldn’t feel quite as uncomfortable about it. She was going to have to bring that up to Jennifer, and get Jennifer’s agreement to it, but at least they were talking, and she could request it while the other woman was there with her.
“I’m not sure if you saw the newspaper… I guess it’s the Times… but there was an article printed yesterday about Scott and me,” she started, not entirely sure of where to start.
Naomi nodded and looked down at her hands for a moment. She hated that Jennifer was going to bring up their personal lives, but she knew that it was part of what was happening between them and they were going to have to discuss it.
“Yes, I did see that. Congratulations,” Naomi said quietly, lifting her eyes back up to meet Jennifer’s gaze.
Jennifer smiled gently. “Well, I guess you could congratulate me if it was real, but it wasn’t real. Scott and I are not engaged. That was a story that was set up by Scott’s agent, Harold, in an attempt to further our careers. He was trying to fix some of the publicity nightmare that we have both been facing.”
Naomi blinked in surprise. “You’re not engaged? Really?” she asked in wonder. Her heart had been beating fast before, but then began to race inside of her.
Jennifer shook her head. “No, we’re not engaged at all. Remember I said that Scott and I are friends? Well, we are. I love him, and he loves me too, but neither one of us could ever stand to be in a romantic relationship with the other, let alone married to one another. That’s so far out of the question that it’s impossible!” She laughed and continued, all the while keeping eye contact with Naomi. “Besides, Scott couldn’t marry me, because he loves you. You should know that.”
With a shake of her head, Naomi looked away from Jennifer. “I’m not so sure about that, but I wish that he did.”
Jennifer looked at her confidently. “Oh, he does. You two probably have a lot to work out, and the two of you should definitely talk to each other, but he does love you. I know that for sure.”
Naomi swallowed hard and a small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. “Thank you so much for coming
here to tell me that. I thought… well, I thought that what I had read in the newspaper was accurately reported. I thought that you two really were engaged. It made things pretty awkward for me.”
Jennifer nodded. “I’m sure that it did. I didn’t know that the two of you were involved. You never said anything, and Scott keeps his love life to himself most of the time. I just thought that you were his decorator, and that was it. You did such a great job on his house that I just had to have you come do mine as well.
Thank you for taking the job, by the way, and for not walking out of it when you thought that he and I were engaged. I’m so glad that I didn’t lose you in all of the confusion.” She laughed lightly.
Naomi agreed. “I’m glad that I kept you, too. Yours is the biggest account we’ve ever had here, and I’ll be honest; right now we really need it. We’re at a crucial juncture with the firm, and your redesign is going to make a huge difference for us all. I am grateful that we have it, and I promise you that we’re going to do an excellent job for you.”
“Well that’s great news! I’m glad that I could be a help to you and your business. I’ll be sure to recommend you to my friends too. I’d like to see you do well.” Jennifer gave her a friendly smile. “I do want to ask you when you’ll be over next.”
“We’ve gotten really busy, but your house is my top priority, so I can be over there today,” Naomi told her, feeling better about everything that had happened with her and Jennifer already. “Right now I can give you five days a week.”
“That’s perfect!” Jennifer clapped her hands together. She leaned forward then. “I also wanted to tell you that Scott let me know about your little one… and I wanted to tell you congratulations. I’m really happy for you both, no matter how it all turns out. You two are going to be great parents, and that is going to be one lucky baby.”
“Thank you.” Naomi grinned at her. It felt like the friendship that had sparked the first day that they had met, had somehow fanned into flames, and it felt to them both as if there was a solid foundation being built beneath them as they spoke to one another.
Jennifer stayed and talked to Naomi for a while, and by the time she left, they hugged one another and were both sincere when they said they were looking forward to starting their work the next morning. Jennifer left a check for half of the amount of the full redesign, and it was almost everything that Naomi needed to meet her financial goal to save the building and buy it.
***
Scott’s doorbell rang and he frowned when he looked through the peephole and saw who it was standing there. He opened the door and looked at Cora with a wary eye.
“What can I do for you?” he asked, trying not to sound as irritated as he felt with her.
She smiled smugly and reached into her bag, pulling out a large envelope. “I have the paternity test results here with me, and you said that you wanted to open them together, so I’m here. Let’s open this together.” Her smile turned sultry, and he felt his skin grow cold as he realized that she was extremely confident that he was the father.
He ushered her into the living room and stood before her with his hands on his hips. “Okay. We’re here. Open it and let’s see what the doctor had to say.”
