by Lena Hart
But she didn’t need to.
To both their surprise, Nate walked into his father’s office just as she was thinking of an excuse to give Charles as to why she wouldn’t be able to make the call.
She turned at the sound of his confident steps as he strode into his father’s office. They stared at each other and at that moment, she forgot all about her boss.
Nate came to a sudden stop, but his expression softened as he stared down at her. Her heart tingled and she exhaled, her lips parted slightly. He always looked good in a suit. Seeing him again made her acutely aware of how much she still loved and missed him. She wanted to go to him, but held back. Not because of their one-man audience, but because she wanted him to come to her.
Pride was a traitorous snake. Even as it offered a small sense of righteous comfort, it camouflaged a person’s true desires only to later strike the heart with poisonous despair and loneliness.
It was easier to uphold that pride when she wasn’t steps away from him. He started toward her, his eyes bright and intense. She inhaled sharply. Before he could reach her, Charles’ hard tone stopped him.
“Nathan, you’re early.”
Nate held her gaze for a moment longer before he turned to his father. “I thought you’d appreciate that.”
Charles looked from her to his son, then back at her. His hard stare bore into hers and she had to glance away. Was she wearing her heart on her sleeve? Could Charles see that she was? She hoped not.
“There’s been a slip-up so the meeting’s been rescheduled,” Charles said curtly. “But since you’re here, I might as well debrief you. Mia, be sure to add Nate to the meeting on Monday.”
She couldn’t yet find her voice so she nodded, not looking at either man. It was vain of her, but she suddenly wished she had worn something more alluring than the plain black skirt and light pink top. She jotted down the reminder in her notepad just to keep her fingers busy, but couldn’t even read what she wrote.
“I also want you to send out a memo to everyone on that meeting list.” Charles gave her the message and Mia tried her best to capture the essentials, but she could barely concentrate. Nate’s eyes hadn’t moved away from her. Even as she jotted her notes down, she could feel them on her.
“Did you get all that?” Charles asked, breaking the invisible chain that kept her attention wholly bound to Nate’s very presence.
Mia nodded.
Charles regarded her intensely. “Then repeat back what I just said.”
Mia’s mind went blank. Humiliated by his request, she looked down at her notepad, trying to make sense of her writing.
“She’s got it,” Nate cut in, his tone hard. “Now let her get back to work.”
Mia glanced over at him, surprised but grateful to him for coming to her defense. She was used to Charles’ condescending barbs, and any other time she could have handled it, but not today. Not in front of Nate.
Charles shot his son a hard glare then let out a sigh heavy with exasperation. “Just make sure the meeting is on everyone’s calendars and the memo goes out tonight.”
Mia cleared her throat. “Yes, of course.” She turned to leave. Nate’s eyes followed her every step toward the door. Those few steps felt never-ending, but eventually she was out of her boss’ office—and away from those piercing eyes. She sat at her desk and tried to ease the trembling in her stomach.
It took a few minutes, but the quivering eventually passed. She glanced at Charles’ closed door. She didn’t want to miss Nate leaving, but she was called away from her desk and when she returned, she found Charles’ office door open and both men gone. Her shoulders slumped and she went back to her desk, trying to overcome her budding disappointment.
But her disappointment swiftly turned into alarm when she received a call from human resources. They needed to meet with her right away. Mia took a steadying breath that did nothing to relieve her anxiety.
This can’t be good.
And it wasn’t.
At five o’clock that Friday, she was fired from McArthur, Murphy and Company.
“Mia, how could you let this happen?”
Mia held on to her patience as she sat beside her mother on the worn leather couch. With her feet tucked beneath her, she listened half-heartedly to her mother’s words, wondering if she made the right decision by coming to Detroit this weekend.
I can’t help that Charles McArthur is a bastard, she wanted to inform her mother. The disgraceful manner in which Charles had her terminated made her want to cry, punch, and vomit, all at the same time. He hadn’t even had the decency to fire her himself. It was his company. If he didn’t want her, he could have at least told her himself and spared her the humiliation of hearing from HR that her ability to fulfill her job requirements was not measuring up to the company’s expectations. If their expectations were machine-like perfection, then she certainly didn’t fit in.
“Mama, I’ll find something else,” Mia said, realizing she wouldn’t get the comfort or backing she had hoped to get from her mother. Yvette Trent was too busy lecturing her on life and responsibilities. “MMC is not the only company in Chicago and I’m sure I’ll find something better. A place that respects and cares about their employees.”
Her mother huffed. “What have I always told you, huh? When you work for other people, they don’t care about your problems or your feelings. They’re running a business and you need to show them that you mean business.”
Mia sighed. She wouldn’t argue with her mother because no matter what she said, her mother would never understand. She believed working to support herself and her family was the most important thing in life. Though her mother didn’t argue with her decision to go to law school, she would have preferred it if Mia had used her political science degree to find a steady job with a lucrative retirement package.
“So what are you gonna do now?” her mother asked. “Have you started looking for work?”
“Well, I was fired yesterday,” Mia said, unable to keep the exasperation from her voice. “So, no.” Then she glanced away and stared down at her hands. “But they offered me a severance package,” she lied. “So I can afford to take a few days off.”
Lying wasn’t something Mia liked doing, but she didn’t want her mother to worry. Yvette wasn’t making much from the health clinic where she worked, but she would still feel compelled to lend her financial support.
“Why do you need time off?” her mother asked, incredulously. “You’ll have plenty of that if you don’t start looking right now. A job isn’t gonna just land on your lap,” she added, breaking into a fit of coughing.
Mia looked over at her mother with concern. “Mama, that cough doesn’t sound good. Have you been to the doctor?”
“It’s nothing,” she said, shaking her head. “Just a little phlegm. Don’t worry about me.”
But Mia was worried. It had been three years since her mother had been diagnosed with the rare lung disease, pulmonary sarcoidosis. It hadn’t seemed fair. Her mother wasn’t a smoker and made a point not to be around smokers, but the doctors had stated there wasn’t a known cause for that type of lung disease. Unfortunately, her mother’s case also happened to be one of the rare, severe ones. Mia had done some research of her own and found that there was no real cure or treatment for the lung disease. Though her mother had successfully completed her therapy and the disease had gone into remission, Mia still worried every time her mother had the slightest cough.
Mia made a mental note to get her mother a doctor’s appointment. The disease could possibly flare back up at any moment, and that terrified her.
“Don’t look at me like that,” her mother said. “I’m fine. What I’m more concerned about is you in that city, by yourself, without a job.”
Mia shifted on the couch, drawing her legs closer to her. “Please don’t worry about that, Mama,” she countered. “It was for the best.”
Mia had to believe that or let the thought of her sudden unemployment overwhelm he
r. Some time off would help ease her mind of all her recent stressors as of late, she repeated to herself. She would find something. She just had to stay positive. Before she embarked on the dreaded job search, however, she wanted to break the news to her mother—in person—that she would soon become a grandmother. She imagined her mother’s disappointment, but soon it wouldn’t be something she could hide. Even now, she was struggling to calm her queasy belly.
By dinner, it was getting harder for her to hide her nausea. And every time her stomach churned, she thought of Nate. She had half expected to hear from him after yesterday, hoping he would reach out to her, but nothing. Her heart broke a little bit more with each passing day. She wondered if she had imagined the longing she read in his eyes when they’d been in his father’s office.
She didn’t have time to wallow in self-pity though. She had to come to terms with the fact Nate wouldn’t be holding her hand at doctor appointments. She wasn’t going to get the husband, the house, or the white picket fence. The sooner she accepted that, the better off she’d be.
“Mia, why aren’t you eating?” her mother asked.
Mia looked up from her plate and into her mother’s concerned face. Curry chicken was her favorite, but just the smell of the spicy sweet sauce upset her stomach. Mia had to ask her mother to brew some of her special ginger tea, but that didn’t seem to be helping her. She was starting to realize part of her upset stomach was largely due to her nerves. She was waiting for the right time to tell her mother about her condition.
“Mama, Mia’s not into eating curry chicken anymore,” Leah said, smirking. “She’s into shrimp or sushi or whatever it is that rich boyfriend of hers takes her to.”
Mia ignored her little sister, who thrived on trying to get a reaction from her. Though Leah was a few inches taller than her, they resembled each other in the looks department. Their personalities, however, were as different as the sun and the moon.
“I’m just not that hungry right now,” Mia said to her mother. She managed to swallow a few bites of her dinner to appease her until her mother brought him up.
“So how’s Nate? You haven’t mentioned him much lately.”
“He’s fine,” Mia muttered, concentrating on the food on her plate. Just the sound of his name brought on a wave of intense emotion. Her mother had never met Nate, but she had spoken to him over the phone a few times, the first time when she had been stuck in Chicago during the holidays. Nate had been charming and courteous. Her mother had taken a liking to him instantly.
Mia didn’t want to think about the time when the snowstorm had prevented her from traveling to Detroit to spend Christmas with her mom and sister. Since she had been stranded in Chicago, Nate spent the holiday with her as the storm raged outside. It was easy to forget the rest of the world as they stayed trapped in her small, warm apartment. That night she had given him her virginity and it had felt right.
Her sister, however, had met Nate when she’d come up for a few days in March for a modeling agency casting call. Her sister had been embarrassingly obnoxious toward him during their one dinner out together, but Nate took it all in stride, exuding the patience of someone dealing with a troublesome kid.
Mia ate enough to satisfy her mother, then got up to clear the table.
“Leah, help your sister.”
Her sister huffed loudly and ungracefully rose from the table. Mia was packing the leftovers into the fridge when her sister dumped the dirty dishes into the sink.
“I helped cook so you have to do the dishes.”
“Whatever, Leah,” Mia said over her shoulder. She had hoped at twenty, her sister would have gotten a little less selfish and aggravating but that didn’t seem to be the case.
“Cool,” her sister said triumphantly. “Where’s your cell? I’m out of minutes.”
Mia sighed. She didn’t want her little sister going through her phone, but she had learned years ago that, when it came to Leah, it was best to pick her battles.
“It needs to charge.” Mia had made the long drive only to have her phone die on her when she got into Detroit.
“Okay,” her sister said with a shrug. “I’ll charge it for you. Where is it?”
“In my purse,” Mia said absently. “But it’s dead,” she yelled out when her sister rushed out of the kitchen.
Mia was busy scrubbing and rinsing, she didn’t notice when her sister returned to the kitchen until she leaned against the counter next to her. Mia glanced over at her and asked, “Did you find it?”
“Yeah,” she said. “And I found these too.”
Gripped in her sister’s palm were Mia’s prenatal vitamins and the pamphlet she had taken from Dr. Ellis’ office. Mia dropped the ceramic plate into the sink and grabbed for the items her sister held. Leah snatched them back.
“Give those to me,” Mia said in a tight whisper as she advanced toward her sister. Her anger intensified at the mischievous smile on Leah’s face. Her sister pulled the mini booklet back and read the front cover.
“Pregnancy. How to keep you and your baby healthy and happy.” Leah looked over at her, wide-eyed. Her sister’s smirk was one of shocked amusement. “You can’t be… Are you…Oh wow, this is just too good! Little Miss Goody-goody here is having a baby!”
“Shut up!” Mia rushed to her sister, wrestling the items from her tight grasp.
Their mother burst into the kitchen. They immediately pulled away. “What is going on in here? Mia, turn off that faucet. Now what the hell is wrong with you two?”
“Nothing, Mama,” Leah said, grinning. “Mia was just about to tell you that you’re gonna be a grandma.”
Silence filled the kitchen as her mother and sister stared at her.
Mia leaned against the sink, the air rushing out of her. She looked at her sister, too astonished to speak. Leah shrugged. They had never been close. Their personalities had just been too different for them to ever be as close as she would have liked, but Mia never expected such vindictiveness from her sister.
Instead of the disappointment she had expected to see on her mother’s face, there was a sort of stunned disbelief. At her mother’s dazed, unwavering stare, Mia glanced away, her shoulders slumped. At least now her secret was out.
“Mia, is that true?”
Mia closed her eyes, wanting to be anywhere but there at that moment. “Yes.”
Her mother said nothing, but Leah wasn’t quite finished with her persecution.
“Can you believe this, Mama,” she said, breaking the thick silence. “All this time—”
“You can go now, Leah.”
“But Ma—”
“I said go.”
Leah dropped the medicine bottle and pamphlet on the counter and stormed out of the kitchen.
Once alone, her mother filled a pot with hot water and walked to the stove.
“I was going to tell you myself,” Mia finally said. “That’s why I came home. I wanted to tell you in person.”
Her mother gave no indication she heard her. Instead, she concentrated on peeling and crushing the large ginger root.
“Mama, say something.”
Her mother dropped the contents into the boiling pot before turning to face her. “Mia, what I have to say doesn’t matter. What I think doesn’t matter either. What matters now is that baby you’re carrying.”
Mia looked down at her hands. “You’re disappointed, aren’t you?”
Her mother sighed. “I would be lying if I said I wasn’t. But I was in your situation at your age. My only hope was that you and Leah wouldn’t follow in my footsteps.”
Tears blurred Mia’s vision. “I didn’t mean for this to happen.”
Her mother’s eyes softened and she pulled Mia into a gentle hug. “I know, baby. But now, your life isn’t yours anymore. Everything you do from now on has to be for that baby.”
Mia knew that but having her mother say it gave it a finality that scared her.
Her mother went to the cabinet and took down two mugs. �
��When is the baby due?”
“January.” Mia watched as her mother poured the pale yellow liquid into them. Mia took the small, steaming cup her mother handed her and sat down at the small kitchen table. She cradled the warm mug, the heat soothing her cold, stiff fingers.
“So what’s your plan?” her mother finally asked, sliding into the seat across from her.
Mia looked up. “What do you mean? I plan to raise it, of course.”
Her mother’s dark brown eyes turned gentle. “I can see that. But how? You just lost your job and you’re so far away from us.”
Those facts had already occupied Mia’s waking thoughts. They were a few of the many issues that kept her up at night. But her mother raised her and Leah on her own and Mia could do it too. Just because she didn’t want to do it alone didn’t mean she couldn’t.
“You did it on your own,” Mia said. “So can I.”
Her mother shook her head. “I did it on my own because I had no choice. I don’t want to see you struggle like I did. Not when you don’t have to.”
Mia looked up at her mother, lost. “What should I do?” she asked softly.
“Does Nate know?”
Mia looked down at her steaming mug. “No.”
“Why not?”
“It’s…complicated.”
“Only because you’re making it so,” her mother said with a heavy sigh. “I know you love him.”
Mia nodded, too emotional to speak. Her mother grabbed her hand and squeezed it.
“I could tell from the beginning, just by the way you talked about him,” her mother said. “And I was really hoping you wouldn’t get hurt, but men will be men, and you can’t love a man more than he loves you. He has to love you more, Mia, or else you end up with your heart broken.”
Tears began to flow down her cheeks. That’s where Mia had made her mistake. She loved him so much and had fooled herself into thinking he felt the same way.
“I don’t know why you’ve decided to keep this from him, but you didn’t make this baby by yourself. The best thing you can do is tell him and see whether or not he mans-up and takes responsibility.”
