AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Don’t tell me you want me to set you up with her, because that would be –”
“Good heavens, Orlie. I may have a lot of money, but you know I’m not that type of man.”
I sigh. “Thank god.”
“However, I think you should be.”
“Beg your pardon?”
Dad leans forward. “She is the archetype for a perfect daughter-in-law. And –” He sips his whisky. “She’d make a great mother.”
I feel like I might be sick. This is much too twisted irony for me to handle. “Okay, you definitely should have kept that to yourself.”
“I’m sorry, I warned you.”
“In what world wouldKira Solacebe thearchetypefor –”
Dad holds up his hands. “Just something I see in her. That’s all. Don’t tell me you don’t see it. At all.”
“If this is your strange way of trying to give me your blessing todateKira –” I say the word “date” as if I wasn’t just dreaming of the idea yesterday. Now, it’s one of the most abhorrent things that could possibly cross my mind. I know her character now. I can’t ruin her in my father’s eyes. But goddammit, this is too much.
He shakes his head. “No, it’s clear you don’t want to. I won’t press the matter a second longer.”
I drink the rest of my old fashioned in one go and gesture to the server for another. I need to erase the memory of this conversation as fast as possible. My father might be one of the smartest men I know, but he’s always thinking with his mushy heart.
I won’t make that mistake when I’m CEO.
21
KIRA
It takesme a few weeks to feel like I’m not a walking shell of myself, but I make it. Partly due to the fact I’m working from home now almost exclusively. My request was approved without any pushback from HR. I don’t doubt Orlie had something to do with it. Why would he want to look into the face of the woman he lied to about a vasectomy and is now gaslighting into believing she’s some sort of slut?
The anger has not resolved itself. But I do my best. In fact, I’ve started seeing Amy’s therapist at her behest. “If you’re not going to talk to us, you’re going to have to talk to someone.”
I’ve done my best to be open with the therapist, but I can’t get into the nitty-gritty. All she knows is that I had a relationship with my boss. Any further than that feels like a breach of trust with myself.
Working on multi-million dollar projects in my childhood bedroom is a conflicting feeling. A grown woman in a bedroom with clouds painted on the walls is almost comical.
However, it’s what must be done.
As I sit at my desk going through some coding for the classroom project, my hand drifts to my lower belly. It happens more and more often lately. I can’t help it. I’m nearing threemonths. And things are starting to feel real. From the outside, no one would notice unless they were abundantly familiar with my body. Orlie might be able to notice. If he didn’t hate me. But it’s my body and I can feel things firming up. A bit of tension in my skin where there wasn’t before. And my breasts are starting to round out subtly where there wasn’t much to begin with.
Luckily, the morning sickness has been manageable, which means Dad isn’t too suspicious. And I’ve kept the prenatal vitamins in my nightstand, underneath my childhood diaries. No one would think to look even deeper into my mortification to dredge up secrets.
I’ve decided to keep it, even if it’snoton my terms.
I just can’t deny the yearning inside me for something more than work.
All my sisters have that happiness, a connection outside of themselves that drives them to be the best versions of themselves. To love in a capacity they didn’t know existed.
I want that. My heart is practically buzzing to expand.
And after a few weeks of knowing that I have a baby growing inside me, I’ve already started to become attached.
Mybaby.
Not Orlie’s. Not even a bit.
