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I have to get to her and stop her from doing something crazy. But I couldn’t put that image together in my mind.
Hazel hadn’t struck me as the type of person who’d do something like that. Who’d make a decision this big and exclude me from it. Because she gives a shit.
“Hey, man, I’m just the bearer of news. I thought you should know. I owed you a couple favors, didn’t I? You were the one who got me the internship at Sterling and Stone for next year,” he said.
I shook off that information.
My baby. Hazel was pregnant with my baby.
She likely thought she couldn’t afford any of this. That she was on her own and that was that, but it wasn’t true.
I’d never been a man to back down from a challenge. To pussy out of a difficult situation.
And the thought of seeing her again made my stomach twist in the best possible way.
I swept my coat off the back of my chair and made for the door.
I’m coming, Hazel. You’re not on your own.
Chapter 9
Hazel
“This is a Canon EOS 750D,” I said and clasped the camera between my hands. “I used this camera to take pictures of weddings.” Only the once, but still! “This is worth way more than one hundred dollars.”
The guy behind the counter in the pawn shop ran thin fingers through his greasy hair and bobbled his head at me. “Let me explain. You give to me, I give to you one hundred dollars, we call it even, yes?”
He had a thick accent, something Eastern European that I couldn’t place, and he wore arrogance like a coat. He reached for the camera and I held it back from him, squinting beneath the fluorescents in his ill-kempt shop.
“No,” I said.
“Heh, these women, heh,” he muttered. “You all think you know what price is for what. I tell you already, woman, it is one hundred dollar or you leave for free. Great price.”
“The leaving part maybe,” I replied, eyes narrowed. It’d been a week since I’d discovered my pregnancy, and I still hadn’t decided how I’d tell the father. The only decision I’d reached was that I had to make more money, and that meant quitting my photography course, selling the camera, and taking up extra shifts at the diner.
If I could get one of the damn store owners in this cursed city to buy the damn thing.
I waggled the camera at the dude. “This cost me seven hundred. It’s hardly used. I expect at least five hundred for it.”
“Five hundred?” The guy ran his fingers through his hair again, then raised his index. A tarnished gold ring glinted at its base. “No, no. No deal. I give you one hundred. Final offer.”
Frustration lumped in my throat and I gritted my teeth. Don’t attack him. He’s just a sleaze bag store dude. Don’t attack him. It’s your hormones talking.
“Well? What do you say?” He wriggled thick, dark eyebrows at me.
“I say –” I cleared my throat. “You know what you can do for one hundred dollars?”
“What?” he asked.
“You can kiss my lily white ass.” I spun on my heel and marched for the exit.
“Oh ho! Let me call my wife and tell her I will be home late, yes?”
I ignored him and pushed out into the sunlight, still gripping the camera. I stood on the sidewalk for a second, impeding the flow of foot traffic and drawing a couple grunts from passersby.
What a shitty way to start the day. Was everything going to be this difficult from now on? I didn’t want to be pessimistic here, but it was hardly a good sign that the first obstacle in my path had grown in size.
One hundred for a Canon. He really can kiss my ass.
I shoved angry thoughts from my mind and hailed a cab. The short ride over to my apartment was uneventful, apart from a couple weird coughs from the driver that made my skin crawl.
Ever since I’d discovered the pregnancy, I’d become super paranoid about getting sick. It was as if all the concerns about not being good enough had been replaced by concerns for the health of my unborn baby.
Our unborn baby.
The cab pulled up in front of my apartment before I could dissect that juicy nugget of a thought.
I paid him what little cash I had, then scooted across the pitted sidewalk and up the front stairs. I let myself into the building and huffed and puffed my way up to the second floor. I hadn’t even picked up any weight yet, or started showing, but everything seemed a little more strenuous now.
I unlocked the front door and stifled a yawn.
Something dropped to the carpet in the tiny living room at the end of the even tinier hall, and I frowned. “Carly? I thought you were going to be out all day picking China patterns.” I’d gladly opted out of being a bridesmaid, though she’d begged.
