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“We want to help you, both Haden and me. I know he has difficulty showing it, but he’s a kind person, Presley. You just have to be patient with him,” she says softly.
“Eloise, despite what happened, I don’t know him aside from my dealings with him in our office. You have to understand that I need to be able to trust both of you with my child.”
“But it’s Haden’s child, too,” she reminds me.
“Yes,” I admit. “But I’m carrying this baby. I’m the primary parent.”
“So that’s another thing. We’d like to talk about putting together a schedule. You know, what days and weekends we can have the baby.”
My warm chicken salad might as well have been a bowl of jagged-edged rocks. Swallowing a mouthful, the sharp edges painfully slide down along with my overwhelming desire to tell them to fuck off. The baby is still inside me, and we’re planning out schedules?
She reminds me of myself, and maybe if she weren’t his fiancée, I would think this is a good idea, especially since I plan everything out and even mentioned this to him. But I’m a hormonal monster. This baby is mine, and there is no chance in hell they will steal this baby away from me.
“While your suggestions are appreciated, I’d like to discuss all this with Haden,” I say in my polite yet gritty voice.
“I’m sorry.” She places her hand on mine, making me feel very uncomfortable. “This weekend will be great for both of you. Give you time to talk about plans and schedules.”
“You won’t be joining us?” I ask, pretending to play dumb.
“No, I have a dress fitting, plus my bachelorette night.” She smiles playfully.
The looming wedding is a dark gray cloud hovering over me. None of it made sense, but it’s also none of my business. Haden obviously had his reasons for proposing marriage and nothing should stop him marrying someone he loves. But despite my ignorance of his upcoming nuptials, I’d be a fool to think it didn’t affect me. I found myself caring one minute, then not caring the next.
“Oh, I didn’t realize you were getting married so soon.”
“Still six months away, but my schedule is so busy, and my best friend is getting married in two months, so it’s the only free weekend I have.”
I look at my watch, praying the time is up, and thank my lucky stars it is.
“Listen, I have to head back to work. It was really nice chatting with you, Eloise.”
She places her hand on mine again, and this time I wait with patience. “No, thank you, Presley. Haden told me how nice you were and that we’d get along.”
“I highly doubt that.” I chuckle while shaking my head. “He doesn’t think very highly of me.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.” She pulls back almost immediately, her perfectly-shaped brows furrowing in concern. “When we met in London, he never stopped talking about you. Sure, it was work-related, but it was your name that I heard and with admiration.”
“Honestly, Eloise, you must be mistaken. Maybe he was talking about Dee. Haden and I don’t see eye to eye on a lot of things.”
“I know what I heard. Frankly, I thought you guys had dated by the way he spoke about you. I was even jealous for a while.” With a disturbingly fake laugh, she continues, “Anyway, timing was perfect for us. He met me, and look, we’re getting married.”
Is this true? Shell-shocked by her comment, I pass it off as nothing, but my brain is going into overdrive.
“Anyway, thanks for lunch, Eloise.”
Back in the office, I stare at my screen in a daze. So much of what she told me doesn’t add up. Obviously, she knows Haden better than I do. Actually, I don’t know him at all, yet the conversation on the way he talked about me fills me with a desire to find out more.
So what if he said nice things? It doesn’t mean anything.
Remember, he said I meant nothing to him.
Those were his exact words to Marcus.
“Hey.” Haden is leaning against my partition, and the smell of his aftershave hits me. God, he smells so good. And why is that deep burgundy shirt accentuating his perfectly-toned forearms.
“Oh, hey.”
“Sorry I didn’t warn you about lunch. It was kind of sprung on me after many arguments.”
