Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 87913 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87913 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
“Who should we tell first?” I take my purse when he holds it out to me.
“Your mom and dad, then we’ll tell my family, and you can tell your girls.” He opens the door for me to step out of the exam room before him.
“My mom is going to gloat that she was right.” I smile up and him when he laughs.
“Probably.” He agrees taking his phone out of his pocket. Since I didn’t hear it ring, I know he must have had it on silent for the appointment. “Sorry baby, I got to take this. It’s Mary. Are you okay here?” He asks as we stop at the front desk.
“Yeah, go on.” I know that he’s been waiting anxiously to hear back from the judge he presented his case to. I hope that’s what this call is about.
“Meet me by the elevator when you’re done.”
“Sure.” I feel his lips at my temple before he walks away. Turning my attention back to the woman at the desk, I tell her that I need another appointment then I pick a time and day that I think will work for Dayton since I know he will want to come with me.
When I’m done, I leave the office and make my way down the hall to the elevators, where I find Dayton with his cell to his ear. Since he came right from work today, he’s still in a dress shirt, but now the sleeves are rolled up, his tie is gone along with his suit jacket that he had on when he left the house this morning. Hearing my sandals on the tile floor, his eyes lift to mine, and his face gets soft as he holds out his hand to me while he continues talking.
“Yeah, Mary, thanks again for letting me know.” Pulling me towards him, when I place my hand in his, he touches his lips to my forehead. “Alright, I won’t be back in the office today. We just got out of Franny’s doctor’s appointment and are going to celebrate that we’re having a boy and share the news with our families.” He laughs. “Thanks, and I’ll let her know you said that.” Another pause. “Yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“So?” I ask when he hangs up.
“We can move forward.”
“That’s great news, congratulations.”
“Thanks, baby.” He leans down pressing a kiss to my lips before reaching over to press the button for the elevator. “Mary also said congrats.”
“Tell her I said thanks when you talk to her again.”
“I will.” He smiles, his shoulders relaxed. The tension he’s been carrying around his eyes for the last couple weeks seems less present. I’ve been worried about him, not because of his case, but because the district attorney’s office has been under media scrutiny and suffering from internal turmoil since the truth about Jamie and Billy came out, including the news that she is pregnant with his child. Billy attempted to kill the story, but without Dayton to use as a scapegoat, that didn’t happen, and now people are demanding that Billy step down from his role as district attorney. I can’t even pretend that I feel sorry for him, the only people in that situation who have my empathy are his wife or soon-to-be ex-wife since Shelly has filed for divorce, Jamie, and her unborn child.
“Has Billy said anything about stepping down?” I ask as we step off the elevator hand in hand.
“Not to me or anyone else in the office. I think that with Jamie no longer around to make things awkward or to remind people of what he did, he thinks that everyone will eventually forget, and it will all blow over.”
“Jerk.”
“Yeah.” I hear the smile in his voice.
“Hopefully, Jamie is going to be okay.”
“I think she’ll land on her feet. She mentioned moving back home to her parents in Florida so that they can help her with the baby. And I told her that I’d be a reference for whatever jobs she applied to.”
“That will be good, even though I hate that it lets Billy off the hook. If she’s not here he doesn’t exactly have to be responsible.”
“I think that it’s wiser that he doesn’t have any real involvement with the baby. The guy is a selfish prick.”
“I guess you’re right,” I mutter my agreement as we step out of the building together.
“Should we pick up a cake and take it to your parents?”
“A cake?” I laugh.
“We can get one of the grocery stores to write it’s a boy on one and surprise them with it.”
“Mom isn’t going to let Dad eat cake.”
“She might make an exception for this occasion.”
“Alright, but I’m going to tell her that this was your idea if she freaks about having high fructose corn syrup in the house.”
“I’ll take the blame.” He laughs as we walk down the sidewalk.