Chapter 16
It had been years since Sarah had someone she considered a serious romantic partner of any kind. Let alone a girlfriend she wasn’t supposed to tell people about… and not because this made everything rather gay.
Because, hilariously enough, there was a time in college when she dated a professor’s assistant.
How do you think we met? Technically, it wasn’t allowed.
For three months, Sarah and Brandy snuck around in coat closets and their apartments.
Sneaking around with Luca was a different beast to tame, however.
Besides, it wasn’t like their relationship was forbidden.
It was simply in their best interests to keep it out of the press and away from the Moreaus’ eyes.
Everyone in the know agreed that Danica would not be impressed with the inter-office romance, although she wouldn’t do anything to stop it – both as a courtesy to one of her best friends, and as a way to stay out of Sarah’s personal life.
Too bad it was so damn hard keeping their flirting, stolen kisses, and text messages to one another away from everyone in the central office at Moreau Industries.
Alicia was increasingly nosier the more pregnant she became.
By the beginning of April, she was well into her third trimester and sending her personal assistant on the strangest food runs she could cook up.
But since they were during work hours, Sarah didn’t complain.
She did a lot of the Moreaus’ grocery shopping every week, anyway.
So that’s how she ended up at the local grocery outlet one fine Wednesday afternoon, a list on her phone in one hand and texts to Alicia’s driver on a different phone in her other hand.
The driver would ensure the week’s worth of groceries would make it to the Moreaus’ large penthouse by the time they arrived home later that evening.
Sometimes, that required calling in a delivery van to make the transfer, but usually Sarah and the driver could cram it all in the trunk of Alicia’s personal car.
As Alicia’s pregnancy advanced, the need for a van became more frequent.
Sarah was down the second aisle, basket already half full of quinoa and fresh vegetables, when she received a new text from her employer.
“I need the stuff, please.” Sarah rolled her eyes to read it. A few seconds later, she received a follow-up. “The good stuff, Ms. Clayborn. I’ll tip you nicely if you sneak it to me the moment you get back.”
Sarah stopped in the middle of the aisle and responded with her usual dry wit.
“It would be my pleasure to keep you in good spirits, Mrs. Moreau.” That meant going behind Danica’s back, because nobody was more involved in her pregnant wife’s diet than Danica.
Poor Alicia couldn’t have a midnight Taco Bell run without Danica negotiating one chalupa instead of three sets of #2 crunchy tacos, extra cheese. Like she even knew what a chalupa was…
Sarah wrote “The Hostess With the Mostest” at the bottom of her shopping list. Zingers, right? Or was it Twinkies?
The overhead lights in the outlet shone with such intensity that she thought she was seeing things when she peered through a stack of laundry detergent and saw Luca’s face.
“Lord!” Sarah dropped the large bottle of Tide into her basket. “You scared the bajeesus out of me. What are you doing here?”
“Same as you, my angel.” Her grin matched the look on Mr. Clean’s face. “Picking up a few things. Except I don’t have an assistant to do it for me right now.”
“I’m sure you could fix that.” The executive temp agency had sent over a few people to help fill in the gaps now that Luca worked in the main office.
She had yet to hire a permanent addition.
Now that Sarah knew why she was in town, she understood the hesitation.
At any moment, she might decide it more beneficial to go back to Denmark, with or without her son.
“Nah.” Luca tossed something into her basket. “I’m hosting a special guest at my place tonight, and I want to make sure I know exactly what’s going into his little stomach.”
Sarah remained on the other side of laundry detergents even though a woman with three kids grumbled behind her. “Your son’s coming over to your place tonight?”
“Yup. We’re having a sleepover complete with Captain Crunch,” Luca showed her the small box of cereal, “and all the kid movies we can stand.”
“I see. Guess that means no sleepover with me, then. Darn.”
Luca considered that statement with only half the grin from before. “Actually, I had wondered about inviting you over as well.”
“Excuse me?” Sarah couldn’t help but laugh. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“Why not?”
“Well…” She lowered her voice, hoping Luca could still hear her over the echoing Melissa Etheridge music blasting on the store's speakers. Poetic. “We only started dating recently, and I dunno if it’s a good idea for someone as young as him to…”
“I’ve already cleared it with Jill.”
“You… have?”
“Well, I told her that I am seeing someone right now and it’s kinda-sorta serious, so at some point it might be good for Victor to be around her, and…”
“She didn’t have a problem with that?” The woman Sarah had seen looked uptight enough to start her own line of turtlenecks.
There was no way a young mother like her was okay with her small son meeting the ex’s new ho-muffin so early in a relationship.
Sarah would’ve been shocked if Jill Blackbourne signed off on that.
Hell, most mothers wouldn’t want their exes dragging in fresh relationships when a young child was involved.
Engaged? Maybe. Maybe. “I find that hard to believe.”
“I’m not saying she doesn’t have any problems,” Luca said. “But she doesn’t get much say at all, really. It’s my night with my kid this week, and I might like him to meet my sweet and beautiful girlfriend.”
“Okay, you’re laying it on a bit thick.” Sarah pushed her basket around the corner, finding Luca with her own full of junk food and a smattering of pre-packaged salads.
God help her. What is she doing here? Poor Victor.
Shit, poor Jill! She’d be getting back a child who was nothing more than a bundle of sugary energy and a few new cavities.
Was Luca a parent or a goofy grandma spoiling her progeny?
“Will you come over tonight?”
Sarah studied the contents of her basket, neatly divided between Food for Home and Food for the Office.
One pile was almost smaller than the other.
Both were going on the same couple’s credit card for their accountant to deal with at the end of the month.
“If you promise to feed me something other than Captain Crunch or Lucky Charms.” She held up a finger to her girlfriend’s lips. “No, not that either.”
“But Angel, you love eating out…”
I swear… “Don’t get so excited. Put some lean meat, healthy grains, and for God’s sake, some fresh vegetables to cook us later, and I’ll think about it. By the way…” she pushed her cart past Luca, “there’s a sale on broccoli. Yes. Broccoli.”
“I think he likes broccoli?”
Sarah blew her a covert kiss. “Seven?”
Luca caught her kiss before tucking it into her pocket. “I can send a car for you, or…”
“I know where you live.”
“Right. See you, Angel.”
Sarah hid her smile from the world, choosing to keep it locked up deep in her heart and safe from prying eyes that would chastise her for being happy.
How dare I? As she lined up to check out and texted the driver to come to the front of the store to load up the groceries into the trunk, she bit her lip and wondered what it would be like meeting her girlfriend’s son.
Five years old… my goodness.
There wasn’t enough room in the backseat for both her and the groceries, so she rode shotgun on the way back to the office.
He wished her a pleasant day before going to the Moreaus’ residential building, where he would team up with their live-in maid to bring in the groceries for her to sort and start dinner with.
With any luck, the fat and famished Alicia Moreau would have a huge supper waiting for her when she got home at six, and Sarah would once again be a successful cog in the world of running errands for the ridiculously rich.
She tucked one cloth bag full of goodies beneath her arm when she entered the office. Abby wanted a moment of her time, but Sarah showed her the bag and was told that their boss was in her office doing paperwork.
“You got the stuff?”
Alicia’s expectant visage welcomed Sarah before anything else.
She held up the fabric bag. Alicia looked around for her wife before hitting a button that would fog up her windows looking out into the main office. Operation Avoid Danica was a go.
“You’re saving my life, Ms. Clayborn.” She tore into those Twinkies as if the baby inside of her demanded a sponge cake sacrifice. “How could I ever repay you?”
Sarah deposited the bag beneath her employer’s desk. She had never heard a woman so noisily eat Hostess products – nor had she ever seen a pregnant woman inhale food at such intense rates. “Don’t suppose I could go home half an hour early today?”
“Oh?” Damn, were they stuffing more cream filling in their snacks those days? “Got something going on tonight?”
“You could say that.”
“Girl, you’re glowing more than I am. What’s going on with you?”
Sarah allowed one small smile to cross her face. “Nice things, for once. Thank you for asking.” That was her hint that she was already done talking about it.
“All right.” Alicia stuffed the already empty wrapper deep into the bottom of her trashcan. “You can leave at 4:30, with one condition.”
“Yes?”
“You have a damn good time with whatever you’re doing tonight, because I will be crying in my new nursery, wondering what the fuck I was thinking when I agreed to pea soup green walls instead of the royal purple like I wanted.”
Funny, Sarah could’ve sworn she recalled ordering lavender paint on her boss’s behalf. “I certainly hope to have a good time tonight, ma’am. If I may?”
“Yeah, sure. If you see my wife, distract her for a few more minutes, would you? Me and these Ho-Hos gotta have a moment together.”
Sarah left the office, careful to close the door behind her on the way out.
Good thing, too. She ran into Danica coming out of her office and making a beeline for her wife’s.
All Sarah had to do was remind her that she had a three-thirty call to make to Hong Kong, and she was back in her office before she had the chance to catch her wife going against the doctor’s orders.
When Sarah finally sat down at her desk, it was to find an inter-office envelope.
“Roses are red / Violets are blue / Hope you’re thinking of me / Because I’m thinking of you.”
To think, someone had been paid to pick that up from Luca’s outbox and place it on Sarah’s desk. To think, someone had been paid to put that smile on her face before she hustled to finish up her work before 4:30 rolled around.