A Curve Ball Called Love

“What?”

“I will still hold controlling interest but I will—”

“…wait,” Tiffany said, cutting him short. “You love being at Entity,” she pointed out and he nodded.

“That’s true. I do but I love you more than I love Entity. When it comes down to it, Tiffany, it’s a no-brainer.”

She shook her head.

“I disagree.”

“This is the only way,” he said.

“I love my job, Douglas, but I have to be honest, it hasn’t been easy. A plus sized African American woman who rubs shoulders with the who’s who of almost every industry isn’t exactly a common picture…. I’ve had to work twice or even three times as hard as my co-workers just to earn the respect of my co-workers and for a long time, I had learned to love it. Maybe it was the fact that my hard work paid off and I was finally getting some respect from my co-workers. I thought I loved being at Entity but after you came into my life, you made things so much better. You changed everything.”

Douglas smiled.

“I did?”

She nodded.

“Oh yeah… I mean, I love knowing that you’re looking at me. I love it when you brush up against me in the break room just to whisper how sexy I am and how much you want me…” she shook her head. “I haven’t had any man make me feel the way you make me feel in a long time. I’m not giving that up and I won’t let you give up something you love doing because of me. I mean, you’ve come such a long way…you actually have a job description now.”

He nodded.

“Yeah, I do but I don’t want to undermine what you are to the company.”

She shook her head.

“You wouldn’t do be doing that.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“Really?”

She nodded.

“Yes, really.”

“So, then what’s the way forward?” Douglas asked. “We keep seeing each other in secret?”

She nodded.

“Yeah, just at work until we figure out what to do next.”

He kissed her hand again.

“Okay,” he said in a soft voice. “Okay.”

***

Over the next few days, Tiffany kept feeling sick. She was throwing up almost every single day and she suddenly couldn’t stand some of her favorite food. She especially gagged when she was working late and someone asked for extra onions. It was on a Monday morning that she really thought about her health. About how she felt sick when she was around certain smells and the way she only seemed to get sick after breakfast. She’d been thinking back to the evening she and Douglas made love in her office. They had no protection and she hadn’t taken an emergency pill afterwards. At the back of her mind, she wondered if she was feeling the way she was because she was maybe expecting.

It can’t be, she thought as she stood under the running shower water.

She turned off the water and walked out of the bathroom. She didn’t even care that she was leaving her bed a soapy mess as she sat on it. She reached for her phone and launched her period tracking app.

“Oh no,” she whispered when she noticed that she was more than a few days late.

She took a long, deep breath and put a hand on her stomach. She wondered what was going to happen to her. The way the last thing she wanted. The last thing she needed for her career. Her heart was racing. What happened next seemed all foggy. She got dressed and made her way to the closest drug store. She bought as many pregnancy tests as she could before she raced back home. Time seemed to go extremely slow as she waited for test after test to show the results. Her heart seemed to beat faster every time she saw the results of the tests. They were all positive. There was no doubt about it.

“What about false positives?” she wondered. “That’s a thing. I know that’s a thing.”

She quickly dialed Ian as she paced up and down her room.

“Ian, hi. I’m going to be a little late this morning…. I have to run an errand.”

“This morning…. But you have a nine o’clock with Lauren,” Ian pointed out.

“I know. Just push everything by an hour… this can’t wait.”

“Is everything okay, boss lady?” Ian asked.

Tiffany could hear the concern in his voice.

“Yeah,” she lied. “I just need to see my doctor before I come in. Must be a stomach bug or something.”

“Okay. I’ll stall for as long as I can,” Ian said before he hung up.

The next call Tiffany made was to her doctor. She needed to find out if those tests were right or not. By the time she got back to her office at some minutes past nine, it was all conclusive. Tiffany Meyers was without a doubt, pregnant.