To Hate Adam Connor

Lucy

Gently, I lowered the laptop onto the bed where I had fallen asleep in Adam’s arms the night before then stood up.

Inhale and exhale, Lucy.

When I was calm enough to breathe like a normal person again, I walked into the living room where Olive was working on her manuscript.

“Olive,” I sputtered, not knowing where to put my hands as I stood in front of her.

Her eyes widened when she saw that I was shaking like a leaf, and she jumped up from the couch she was half-buried in.

She rushed to my side. “Pregnancy. Baby. Doctor called. Results.”

I shook my head and jumped up and down on my toes, my hands starting to shake in front me.

“You did it,” I squealed and then put my fist in my mouth.

Inhale and exhale.

“I did what?” She put her hands on my arms to stop me from fidgeting in place. “Lucy, you’re starting to scare me. I did what?”

Bubbling over with excitement, I gripped her hands and leaned in closer so I could shout in her face. “You got yourself a deal for ten fucking million dollars!”

Her face went slack, and she whispered, “What?” And then came the shout, of course. “What?”

My heart beating in my throat, I released a deep, deep breath. “Olive,” I started to explain as calmly as I could, which wasn’t very calmly at all. “If you sign the contract they’ve sent over, you’ll be the proud owner of…ten fucking million dollars!”

Right when she started to jump up and down with me, she stilled. “Oh, wait. Lucy, no. What did you do? Did you offer them my first unborn child or something?”

I laughed, my cheeks hurting from the amount of smiling that was happening on my face. “No. They want to republish Soul Ache, and they want three more books from you. You already finished one, so that leaves two more for you to write.”

She covered her mouth with her hands, clearly still in shock. I hugged her, hard, and helped her jump with me.

“Oh my God, Lucy. Oh my God. Oh my God.”

“That’s exactly what I said when I started reading the contract an hour ago.”

Her eyes were still big when I let her go and her gaze met mine. “That’s why you went to your room? I thought you were…oh, hell. Did you say ten million dollars?”

“Yep,” I nodded, barely keeping still.

This time it was Olive who crushed me in her arms. “You did it. You’ve officially become my agent, Lucy. We’re working together. Oh my God!” She pulled back and smiled even bigger. “You’re rich, too! You never have to call Catherine again! We’re gonna have a baby and we’re making money and we’re selling books!”

We laughed for what seemed like hours and cried like the saps we were.

“I have to call Jason,” Olive ranted. “I have to call my mom.”

As we started the search for her phone, my own started ringing. As if it were a living, breathing monster that would bite my head off if I got too close, I hid my hands behind my back and leaned over the coffee table to see who was calling.

“Doctor’s office,” I whispered, looking at Olive with what I was sure were frightened eyes. “It’s the doctor’s office. What do I do?”

“Do you want me to answer?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat and grabbed the phone.

“I should be okay,” I managed to get out before I swiped the screen and said hello to whoever was waiting to speak to me on the other end.

God, please don’t let me have a heart attack. I promise, I’ll be good from now on.

“Hello. Yes, I’m Lucy Meyer.”

I blindly reached for Olive’s hand, and she held it in her tight grasp.

“Yes. Yes, I’d like to know, please.”

I heard the words. Thanked her. Ended the call. Gently placed my phone down, and just stood there.

“Lucy?”

Starting to feel nauseous, I walked over to the couch and sat down. Olive rushed into the kitchen and came back with a glass of water; I assumed I must’ve mumbled something about feeling nauseous.

Kneeling in front of me, she waited for me to speak.

I swallowed, cleared my throat, and then finally spoke as I looked into my friend’s worried eyes.

“I’m not pregnant. I’m…” I flattened my palms against my stomach. “We’re not having a baby.”

“But your period…”

“I don’t know. Maybe it decided to take a vacation?”

“Could be. You were stressed and sad about the break up.”

Seconds ticked by in silence, then Olive got up from the floor and sat down next to me.

“What does it say about me that I’m relieved, Olive? Does that make me a bad person?”

“Oh, Lucy.” She put her arm around me, and we fell back against the couch. “Of course it doesn’t.”

“I still feel like a bad person.”

“Well, you aren’t, so stop thinking like that.”

“I just didn’t want to make the same mistakes they did. That was the whole point.”

“I know, Lucy, and that’s okay. It’s okay to want to be different even though you’re already nothing like them.”

Itching to change the subject, I said, “I’m not pregnant, and you’re rich.” I let that simmer for a while then glanced at my best friend, allowing myself a hint of a smile. “I think this calls for a celebration.”

“Dance party?”

“With singing and everything.”

“Jason is meeting with Tom and…Adam, so I think we should invite your future love interest and his adorable son, too.”

I groaned and got up from the couch. Wait a minute… “Why is he meeting with Jason and Tom?”

“Tom has a script for the two of them. They might end up being costars. So, you see, now you have to marry him so we can travel together while they are shooting on location and even do interviews. We’ll be like Kristen Bell and Mila Kunis.”

“Only they are actresses and we’re not,” I pointed out.

“Well, yeah, but they are married to actors and they’re all friends.”

I thought about it—not the Kristen Bell-Mila Kunis part, of course, and not even the crazy marriage part, but the simple inviting Adam and Aiden part. I’d missed the little human after all, and…and it wouldn’t hurt to have Adam Connor around either; he was good eye candy.

Especially when my stupid little heart pitter-pattered so happily when he was around.

“Fine,” I grumbled. “Fine. Let’s call him too.”

Olive squealed and jumped up, fishing for her phone among the cushions.

Was my guard slipping? Was my heart making another mistake by starting to feel all happy and light around this amazing, hot as hell man who thought he was falling in love with me?