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“I've known you since college. I’ve seen you projectile vomit. If I were going to judge you, I would’ve done it a long time ago.”
“True.” She smiled. “But this is different.”
“I still won’t judge you. I wouldn’t have gotten through college without you.”
“You were a straight A student.”
“Only because you helped me with chemistry and biology. Otherwise, I would’ve flunked those classes.”
“I don’t think you would’ve flunked.” But he wouldn’t have gotten an A.
“I’m not so sure about that.” He laughed and then his tone grew serious. “So what’s going on and trust me, I won’t judge you.”
She took a deep breath. “My marriage isn’t a conventional marriage. Harker wants a child.”
“It’s not uncommon to put stipulations regarding conception in a marriage contract, especially with his amount of money.”
“It isn’t?”
“Not at all. I see it all the time.” His phone beeped. “One second. My mom just texted me.” There was a short pause and then he said, “I hate to rush you, but my mom wants me to stop at the store before I go over there for brunch.”
“Oh. Right. Uhm.” This was so embarrassing. “Harker and I weren’t exactly dating when he proposed. And he didn’t exactly propose. He suggested that we have a child together. In exchange I’d get to be a partner in his company. Specifically, the software product that I've been working on.”
“I assume this is worth a lot of money.”
“Yes. A lot.”
“Will the two of you stay married? Share custody? What exactly is in this contract?”
“That’s the problem. I thought I knew but now I’m not so sure. I do know that we’ll stay married until I give birth. We’ll share custody. That’s all clear. I thought the rest was too.”
“Until…”
“Until he almost broke the contract. Harker would never break a contract. Ever.”
“And how did he almost break it?”
“It says that we’re to be monogamous until I give birth. Then we’ll divorce and I’ll get my part of the company.”
“And then what?”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you sell your part of the company?”
“No.”
“So you’d keep working with your ex. The father of your child?”
“Yeah.” Suddenly, it didn’t sound as simple as it once had. “We were friends before. We’d go back to being friends again.” Okay, now it sounded stupid.
“My experience is that you don't go from being lovers to friends. Some people can but it takes years, but you know your relationship with him better than I do. My info is on my card. Email me the contract and I’ll look it over for you. It might take me a couple of days.”
“Thank you. I’m sure it’s fine but I need to be positive that I didn’t miss anything.”
“I wish you’d come to me before you signed it.”
“Me too.”
