Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 68249 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 341(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68249 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 341(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
“Ah! I’ve got you. That’s the ‘I give in’ sigh. Come on, let’s sit down and talk about it.” She released me and hurried to the pile of chairs in the corner, glancing at the clock as she did. We had fifteen minutes before classes started. Was it enough time to explain to her what’d actually happened?
“Come on,” she called and plonked down two plastic chairs. She patted the seat of one then took her own. “Spill, girl. You know you want to.”
I sat down and pressed my knuckles to my forehead. If I knew Ron, and I had known Ron since I’d moved out here seven years ago, she’d totally freak about this. She was big on ‘doing’ for family, and she considered me that.
“OK, so you already know about the plan,” I said and pointed at her.
“The baby plan.” Veronica nodded. She’d been super supportive when I’d told her that I wanted to take matters into my own hands, have a baby of my own since Mike had left me four months ago.
I’d craved motherhood for years, I’d begged Mike for a baby after our engagement, and he’d flat out told me no.
“What about it?” Ron asked. “You’ve decided not to go through with it? And what does this have to do with this Jax guy? Oh god, you’re not thinking of having his kid, are you? Like some weird donor deal or—”
“No, I’m not. There’s no need to get all screechy.” I inserted my pinkie into my ear and wriggled it around. “I don’t want a father involved, you know that.” The baby would be mine and mine alone. This was why artificial insemination was the best possible plan.
“All right then, what’s the problem?”
“Let’s just say, there’s been a hitch in the plan,” I replied and swallowed hard. “So, you know I put money away in my savings account for this, and that I’ve been trying to cut back on expenses so that I’ll be able to afford the ICI. So, it’s like $200 each time they do it, and there’s only a maximum of a thirty percent chance it will take.”
“OK? But you made concessions for that, right? You said you were going to save like $4,000 for this.”
“And I did,” I said. “But then things got tough.”
“Tough?”
I nodded and pressed my lips together. The tears didn’t come this time, thank god. I’d already come to terms with what’d happened. “The savings account has a limit of six withdrawals a month, and Mike had all the details for the account. Do you see where I’m going with this?”
“He stole from you?!”
“Yeah,” I said. “He’s used all six withdrawals. There’s $2,000 left in the account, which is not enough for the insemination.”
“Well, you never know, it might take the first time around, and then you only end up spending $200.” Ron grabbed my knee and squeezed. “It’s going to be all right. And we’ll go to the cops and get Mike arrested. You can change the account details so he won’t be able to access it again.”
“I’ve done all of that already, and the cops can’t do much with him. He just disappeared. He took the money he did get and ran. But there’s more to this than that,” I said, and huffed a sigh to prepare myself for the next part. “The studio is losing money, not making it, and I can’t access any of my money until the end of the month thanks to Mike. I lost my apartment because I couldn’t pay the rent. I have probably $200 to my name right now, and I’ve been sleeping at the studio because of it. I technically own the studio, but I’m still paying the bank the last dregs of cash to settle the loan, so, um, yeah, if I don’t make a payment soon…”
Veronica gasped so sharply her chest shuddered.
Here it comes.
“The studio? Riley, why didn’t you tell me? Why?”
“I didn’t want to burden you. You’ve got a child to care for and a life to live. My problems are my own.”
“That’s not what you said when I found out I was pregnant,” she said and shook her head. She’d teared up a little.
Emotion caught in my throat, but I refused it. I’d cried enough as it was. Cried because I’d realized I couldn’t possibly and responsibly bring a baby into this world when I didn’t have a home and my business was failing.
How much longer until I was too old or the risk was too high for me to have a healthy child? Would I be able to get my shit together in time? Ugh, that was totally ridiculous. Thirty wasn’t too old to have a child. I still had plenty of time left, it just sucked that I couldn’t have this baby now.
There were plenty of celebs who’d had babies at thirty-eight or even forty-years-old. This was about independence. The truth was, I was alone in this.