Boss Daddy: A Secret Baby Romance by Black, L. (good books for high schoolers .TXT) 📕

“I’m pregnant,” Ava said.

My mouth fell open slightly. “You are?”

She nodded. “I found out a few weeks ago.”

I gathered myself and forced a smile past the shock. “Congratulations. That’s wonderful.”

I hugged Ava as she thanked me. Fortunately, the little gathering broke up after that, and we all went our separate ways to get the bar ready for the night. I didn’t think I’d be able to keep it together if we were all standing there for much longer.

I threw myself into work that night, trying to keep busy so I didn’t drive myself crazy. It was almost closing time when I went into the storeroom for napkins and ran into Ava. She smiled at me and started out of the room, and I knew I had to tell her.

“Ava, can I talk to you for a second?” I asked.

She paused and looked at me with a bit of concern in her eyes. “Sure. Is everything okay? You didn’t see Ethan again, did you?”

“I am really looking forward to the days when that isn’t a question anymore,” I said. “But no. It’s not about him.”

“Good. Then what’s going on?”

“I wasn’t planning on saying anything quite yet, but after your announcement today, I feel like I have to. I don’t want it to look like I was trying to steal your thunder or anything,” I said.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m pregnant,” I said.

At some point saying it would feel more natural, but I was still getting used to it. Ava’s eyes widened.

“You’re…” she started, and I nodded. “And it’s…”

“Jordan’s,” I said to finish her thought.

She squealed and threw her arms around me in a tight hug just as Becca came into the room. She gave us a playfully quizzical look.

“There sure is a lot of hugging happening around here tonight. What, Hannah, are you pregnant, too?”

She asked it as a joke, but I nodded, and her eyes went round as she gasped. Hers was my next hug, and she was still holding my hands when I looked at both of them seriously.

“I haven’t told Jordan yet,” I said.

“Why not?” Ava asked.

“I’m scared to,” I said. They exchanged glances, and I looked back and forth between them questioningly. “What was that?”

“Both of us have some experience with what you’re going through,” Ava said.

I listened to both women tell the stories of finding out they were pregnant and being hesitant to tell their partners. It made me feel better to hear that I wasn’t alone, and they had gotten through to the other side even better than before.

“So, you’re going to tell him?” Becca asked.

“Yes. I promise I will tell him tomorrow. Well, maybe not. I’ll tell him Sunday. I don’t want to ruin the grand opening,” I said.

“It’s not going to ruin anything,” Becca said.

“If I know Jordan like I think I do, this will make everything better,” Ava said, causing a sense of relief to wash over me.

31 Jordan

The soft opening had been incredibly packed and gone off well. That should have been a good indication that the grand opening was going to be insane. I should have prepared for a night of pure unadulterated craziness, but I didn’t. I only saw ahead enough to get a bouncer, just in case, but I had done that for the soft opening too. Very quickly, on the night of the grand opening, I realized we were going to need more than one of them and asked the guy we hired for the night to see if his company had anyone they could send as backup.

The two extra bouncers that arrived were two more new faces in a crowd of people I didn’t recognize. Matt was running the kitchen with the new cook and two expo staff who could also cook in a pinch. The floor was being run by a girl we hired who had just returned to town and had been employed in top restaurants in LA, where she had been at school. As floor manager, she was holding down the fort effortlessly, and no matter how busy it got, she seemed unflappable and kept the other waitstaff in line.

I had two other bartenders with me, and by the middle of the night found myself completely outclassed by them. Slowly, I sunk behind them and watched them take over, keeping the crowd entertained and always with a drink in their hand. It was incredible to watch how the seasoned bartenders took to the opening like it was just another day, and it afforded me a chance to leave the bar to go check out the other elements of the place. One of the bartenders was a guy named Lamont, but the more experienced and authoritative one was Cris, a short-haired firebrand of a bartender who had an adorable smile to go along with her sassy conversational tone.

“I’m going to head out to the floor,” I told her. “Let Lamont know.”

“You’re good,” she said in the midst of making a cocktail for one of her customers. “If we shit the bed, I’ll let you know. But we won’t. Will we, Lamont?”

“Hell no, sis,” Lamont said between pours from the tap.

“Go on,” Cris said, shooing me away from the bar. I grinned as I walked down the steps to the floor.

I took a quick walk around the floor and saw that I was, at least temporarily, unneeded. Seeing my chance, I made my way to the back and slipped into the empty office. Taking a deep breath and shaking my head, I pulled open my phone. There were no messages from Hannah, but I figured she probably didn’t want to bother me. Considering I had a minute, I went ahead and called her.

“Hello?” she answered. Her voice had a downtrodden tone to it, and I worried that something had happened.

“Hey,” I said. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she said. “Just had a sick day. A couple of them, actually.”

“You’re not pregnant, are you?” I joked. I expected a big laugh from the