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Andie rolls her eyes and points at me with her pen. “Something’s wrong with TJ. He’s not himself.”
“What’s wrong, Tammy Jean? Was Marco not there to make your morning coffee?”
“I’m too depressed to drink coffee today,” I say.
“Oh, this is bad,” Kiki murmurs to Andie. “Sarah? Get out here! We have an emergency.”
“What’s wrong?” Sarah rushes out.
“TJ, tell us what’s wrong,” Kiki says, taking a seat.
I hug the magazine I’ve been holding to my chest. “You know how we were supposed to meet Penny, our surrogate, yesterday?”
All three nod.
“The one with the rollerblades?” I sob.
Sarah hands me a tissue. “Yes, we know,” she says. “You’ve got her picture up in the office kitchen. How did it go?” Her eyes dart to Andie and then Kiki.
“It didn’t. She never showed up,” I choke out.
“Oh my god, why not?” Sarah asks.
“Because she’s pregnant with her boyfriend’s baby.”
“Awe, TJ, I’m so sorry.” Andie gently pats my back.
“I knew she was a bad egg from the get-go,” Kiki says. “Man, that sucks, Teej. I’m really sorry.”
“And to top it off, she stole the money I sent for her to move here.AndI wasted money on a plane ticket she never intended to use.”
“Wait, she knew she was pregnant when you booked her flight?” Andie asks.
“I don’t think so, but who knows? She’s a con artist and I’m the dupe.”
Sarah rushes over, wrapping me in a hug. “Oh TJ, you’re not a dupe. No one could have predicted she would do this. I mean, you guys spoke daily.”
“Me,” Kiki says, holding her hand up in the air. “I predicted it. Connor wasn’t thrilled about her, either.”
“Kiki, you’re not helping.” Sarah frowns while she strokes my back. I sit back and theatrically blow my nose.
“But that’s not the worst of it.” I sniffle. “Nashville Nextcalled yesterday and said they’re dropping the story.”
“Can they do that?” Andie asks indignantly.
“Page four, clause fifteen,” I monotonously recite the memorized email I received this morning. “Nashville Nexthas the right to end the contract without reason or warning. They said our story wasn’t moving along fast enough and they’d wasted enough production time. Basically he said I overpromised and underdelivered.”
“Oh, Tammy Jean, I know how badly you wanted to be on there.” Kiki walks over and wraps her arms around me.
“And you want to know what the cherry on the fucking sundae is?”
“Oh god, there’s more?” Andie’s eyebrows raise to her hairline.
I hold out the magazine. Kiki snatches it from me and gasps. “No.”
“Yes. Sonja King is having a baby.”
“Wait, why does that name sound familiar?” Andie asks.
