Chapter 47 : Parting Gifts

Cat POV Before Luke returned, I went to his place and cleaned out my things. Then I went home to live with my mom. It didn't take me long to get a job at a small, local firm. They designed office spaces. It wasn't the most interesting job, and I certainly wasn't flying all over the world for it, but it paid me enough to take care of things around my mom's house and lessen the financial burden on her. It had been almost a month and a half since I'd been home. She was mostly happy to have me there, but she did like to hit me with condescending remarks now and then. It was tense most of the time. At least the dude she was seeing seemed to have backed off for good ever since I returned. "Honey, you look pale," my mom said when I came down for breakfast. "I'm fine. Just a little tired," I said. I waved her off and went to the coffeepot. My mom only kept decaf in the house. It was horrible, but at least it made me feel like I was getting a morning jolt of coffee. "Are you sure you're feeling okay?" my mom asked. She came up to me and pressed her palm to my forehead. "I'm fine," I said, moving away with my coffee. "Have you heard from Aaron at all?" she asked. I paused with my coffee cup halfway to my lips. When I got snippy with her, she'd always bring up Aaron. It was like her passive-aggressive revenge. "No, I don't talk to Aaron anymore," I said, shaking my head. "He was so good for you, Cat. You should really reach out to him," she urged. Rolling my eyes, I set my coffee on the counter and started making myself toast. On mornings like this, I really missed Adelle. She didn't bother me like my mom, and she helped save me time so I could focus on getting my work things together. "Mom, he got married, remember?" I asked. "Oh, well, he really loves you. I bet if you reached out to him, he'd come running back," she said. She rubbed my back and wandered over to the kitchen table to eat her own breakfast. Sighing, I shook my head and buttered my toast. My stomach was feeling weird, and I didn't think I could keep anything else down. Sure, Aaron would probably come running back if I asked. But then he'd cheat on me again or run right back to Fiona because she was rich. I shook my head again and brought my toast to the table. The last thing I wanted to think about was Fiona, because that made me think of Luke and… Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. I grabbed my phone and glanced at the screen. When I'd first left, every time my phone went off, my heart would flutter uncontrollably, thinking Luke was reaching out to change my mind. He never did, though, and eventually, that hope faded. Now, I reached for my phone the same way I did everything else, automatically. Wake up, eat, go to work, come home, eat, sleep, repeat. Fortunately, my mother still led a rich social life, so she wasn't around enough to notice that I spent most of my time alone with books or sad movies. Barbs's number flashed on my screen. She'd been texting me and calling me for days with increased frequency. I'd been dodging her. By now, I was sure she'd heard about things with Luke. Her fiancé was one of Luke's business partners. I wasn't ready to talk about it with anyone, especially a friend I couldn't totally trust. "Honey, are you sure you're alright? You've barely been eating anything," my mom said when I got up and put my half-drunk coffee in the sink and a partial nibbled on toast. "Mom, I'm an adult, I don't need your constant mothering," I muttered. "You haven't smiled once since you've come back home. I have noticed and I'm worried about you," she pressed. I hadn't told her the real reasons for why I'd come to live with her. She kept trying to get me to open up, but I couldn't! Every time she asked, I imagined her running off to tell Aaron, even though he probably knew by now because his wife was Luke's sister. "I'm fine. I've got to get to work," I said dismissively. My mom's car had been a complete piece of junk. As it turned out, it was cheaper for me to pay for the repairs than get myself a car. So, I'd fixed up her car and she let me use it for work. While I was driving, my unsettled stomach lurched a little when I went around a sharp turn. Pressing on the break, I slowed down considerably and kept driving, much more carefully. I drove up one big hill. The moment the car peaked at the top and started going down, my stomach flew into my throat, along with bile. Slamming on the brakes and the hazards, I threw the car in park and jumped out, onto the side of the road. I dropped to my hands and knees and vomited my meager breakfast all over the dirt. Tears sprang to my eyes, and I groaned as my stomach heaved again. When there was nothing left to come up, I crawled to the car and sat down, leaning against the passenger door. If I was sick, that would be a good excuse to go home, crawl into bed, and just pretend the rest of the world didn't exist. It was tempting. My stomach settled, and I stopped feeling so cold and clammy. My legs stopped shaking, and I felt strong enough to get up. I got back in the car and kept driving toward work. We were working on some new designs today, and I couldn't miss it. I was still the newest hire, and I was being watched closely. When I got to work, I rushed right to the bathroom to clean myself up. Thankfully, I always kept a spare toothbrush in my purse, so I rinsed my mouth and brushed my teeth. My face still looked pale, and I had huge bags under my eyes. I reached into my purse and pulled out a bunch of makeup, scattering it across the bathroom sink. "Ack!" I groaned. My hands were still a little shaky as I applied my makeup, bringing color to my cheeks and making my eyes look less… sickly. What was going on with me today? Was I really coming down with something? I was just finishing up with my lipstick when the bathroom door burst open and one of my coworkers ran in. Startled, I jumped and dragged the lipstick across my cheek. "Great," I muttered. I grabbed a paper towel and worked on getting rid of the lipstick smear. "Oh, Cat, you are in here," she said, her eyes wide. "Good morning to you, too," I muttered a little bitterly. Wiping lipstick that was water-resistant off a freshly made-up cheek wasn't easy! Plus, I'd have to touch up the area I wiped clean once I was done. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been so aggressive. No one had seen you, and we were a little worried," she said. She was holding a newspaper in her hands, rolled up in a tube. I arched an eyebrow at her reflection. "What's going on?" I asked. "Well, some of the other girls and I were talking. You used to work at Paradiso, didn't you?" she asked, her eyes shifting back and forth. I finished with my lipstick and started on my face again. "I did," I nodded. Suddenly, my stomach fluttered uncomfortably. I never knew if my boss had called Luke to check my work history or if he'd just been so impressed with my resume, he hired me based on that. What if he'd decided to follow up, and Luke had given me a bad review? I hadn't exactly given notice or anything before leaving. I'd always threatened to quit half a dozen times. As employees go, I wasn't reliable based on that. Now that he wasn't watching my back, he could say anything to disrupt my current job. "Well, there's a pretty juicy story in the gossip column about the CEO, Luke Carter. Did you know him?" my coworker asked. She held out the newspaper. My curiosity piqued, I stuffed my makeup back in my purse and took the newspaper from her. It was a celebrity gossip column. The headline read "Office Romance Turns to True Love." Creasing my brow, I skimmed through the article as fast as I could, lapping up the details of this "juicy story." As I read, my heart beat faster and faster. Blood rushed in my ears until I couldn't hear anything and my hands started to shake. Luke was getting married. Luke was getting married! The entire article read as a wedding announcement. Luke was getting married to Victoria! My heart nearly exploded as I stared at an image of the "save the date" notice. Luke and Victoria's names were written together in a beautiful, golden script. The date was written below. "Uh… what's the date today?" I asked, my mouth so dry I didn't think I'd be able to speak. "The twenty-eighth," my coworker said. My stomach rolled, and I ran into the nearest stall. I slammed the door shut as I got sick again. Luke and Victoria were getting married… TONIGHT! My brain was actively turning to mush as I slid onto the floor and hugged the toilet, tears flowing freely from my eyes. All my pent-up emotions burst out at once. What the h*ll was going on? It was exactly what I knew would happen, but until that moment, I'd been holding out hope it wouldn't. "Um… Cat, are you okay?" my coworker asked. "I'm fine. I'll be out in a minute," I called. I heard the bathroom door open and shut. As soon as I was alone, I let out a sob and pressed my head on the cool metal wall between the two stalls. Instinctively, I put a hand on my stomach, rubbing it to try and soothe it. I really was getting sick. The news of the wedding wasn't enough to make me feel this horrible, was it? I'd been pale every morning and feeling more and more tired. My appetite had been all over the place. That could mean I was getting sick. No… I wasn't getting sick… On my hand, I started counting off weeks on my fingers. "Crap…" I groaned. I hadn't even noticed. Between flying across the Atlantic, packing up my life in the city, and moving back home, not to mention the grief over losing the man I'd loved… I'd stopped keeping track. It wasn't a virus that was making my stomach flimsy. It was the fact that I'd missed my period. I was pretty sure I was pregnant.