Bear My Babies

Chapter 10

Thomas paced in his office the day after Melissa’s break-in, waiting for Blair to call him. He picked up his phone four times, putting it down with more force each time. While he was waiting, there was something he had to do he’d been putting off.

He dialed the office and then cursed himself for being a coward. He was only calling the office hoping she wouldn’t answer. Letting it ring three times, he was about to hang up when Tilly answered.

He put on a braver voice than he actually felt like projecting. “I need to speak with Melissa immediately.”

“She’s not here yet, sugar,” Tilly said. “Why do you sound so serious?”

“I have been informed the shots she’s taking are making her really sick. I don’t want her putting herself in danger because of me. If the shots are hurting her, I’m going to ask her to stop doing them immediately.” He was proud of himself for getting all of the words out, but knew he wouldn’t have been as easy going with them if he was talking to Melissa.

“Okay, Thomas, look, I’m sure you have the best intentions for Melissa in telling her to stop, but I’m not going to let you talk to her.”

“Why wouldn’t you let me talk to her? Is she there?”

“For a couple of reasons. One, Melissa wouldn’t be doing this if she didn’t want to. She knew what she would be putting her body through from the beginning. She knew even better after she took the first shot. You telling her to quit now is just really harsh. She’s already dealt with it this long and you’re close to trying to conceive. I don’t know why you think that would be helpful.”

Tilly sounded mad at him. He’d thought it would be the best thing for Melissa to stop something that was hurting her, but now he really wasn’t sure. “I just don’t want her to suffer for this and then have something go wrong. I couldn’t stand it if I was the reason she was caused grief.”

“You know what, Thomas, you’re a good guy. Melissa is lucky you’re going to be the father of her child, but that stubborn little thing isn’t going to quit. If you tell her she should, she’s just going to get mad at you and you don’t really want that, do you?”

“No, I don’t want her to be mad at me. I’m still going to be worried.”

“I’m taking care of her, and if there’s something you need to know, I promise I will tell you. So just trust me, okay?”

“All right Tilly, you take care of her for me.” Thomas felt better after he hung up the phone. Tilly was probably right about Melissa getting angry if he tried to stop her from taking the treatments. He went back to trying to work on some things that had piled up on his desk.

Janet buzzed his intercom. “Ms. Dalton is here to see you.” Janet’s voice was professional and she knew how hard Thomas worked to get her account. With all that known, he still detected some annoyance in his secretary’s voice.

“Send her in,” Thomas said, trying to dispel his nervous energy.

As much as he enjoyed talking to Hilary, and by talking he meant flirting with her while he stared at her magnificent body and thought of all the things he wanted to do with her,  he was on Janet’s side of not being overly excited at Hilary’s arrival.

She strutted in in a short red dress.

“Hello, I wasn’t expecting to see you until our date.”

Her lip pushed out and her eyes squinted for a split second before she went back to the wide-eyed Hilary he was used to. “Are you not happy to see me?” she asked, coming around his desk and leaning against it inches from him.

“Of course I’m happy to see you,” he said, letting his eyes travel up her revealed legs. “I just wasn’t expecting you that’s all.”

“I wanted to see you. I missed you,” she said, trailing her fingernail down his chest. “Did you miss me?”

“Of course I missed you.” Thomas leaned back in his chair. Hilary had always been forward with how she felt about him, but the way she was acting was different. She had a hint of desperation on her, and it made Thomas uncomfortable.

Some time ago he formed a habit that he really wished he wouldn’t have done. Since talking to Melissa daily and wondering about her throughout his day, he’d picked up the habit of comparing every other woman he met to her. If that wasn’t bad enough, none of them were even close to meeting the standards he had witnessed in Melissa.

Because of this new habit, he wasn’t sure if Hilary had always been desperate or if he was just seeing it now because of Melissa. Or maybe this was a new habit that she discovered.

“I was thinking why don’t we go out for lunch. I can give you a preview of what will happen on Thursday.”

Thomas opened his mouth to take her up on her offer when his phone rang. Blair’s name popped up on his screen, and he lunged for it, dislodging Hilary’s hand in the process.

“Hey!” she yelled at him. She stood up straight, looking down her perfectly pointy nose at him.

“I’m so sorry, Hilary. I have to take this.” Thomas answered the phone, his hand on her thigh keeping her from storming out of his office. “Blair, give me a second,” he said into his phone before placing it on his leg.

“I really need to take this call. It’s very important. I’m really looking forward to Thursday, and I want to take you up on your offer for lunch, but I have to play boss man right now.” Thomas didn’t feel as bad as he thought he would when he lied. And a small portion of him felt he was lying about Thursday, also.