A Baby By Bestie

14: Anonymous Writer

Oh no. Holy shit. The hell did I do! Sam told me to talk to him and I screwed him instead. Now what? At least now you don't have to think too much about your pregnancy options. This might just do it. That wasn't the plan! I don't think I even had one.

It took me a long time to fall asleep after that. My thoughts haunted me in the lonely, quiet house making it clear that I was the only one home. I was still revelling in the aftermath of sex and took comfort in the smell of Rick on my pillows. After hours of thinking up how I'm going to avoid our awkward morning after, I drifted off into a fitful sleep.

I woke up to the amazing scent of hot coffee and a hand written note on my bedside table. I stared at it for a while before I got myself to actually read the words that were in my bestie's neat hand writing, taking a sip of the hot, milky brew.

"Good morning, Ari. I really hope you woke up on the right side of the bed today, so you'll be in a good mood when you read this."

Is he leaving now? He finally got tired of me and my crazy ideas and left. Great. That's awesome. I didn't need him anyway.

"If not, then I hope this letter puts you in one. I spoke to Monica like you told me to. Whatever I had with her is over, even though it wasn't serious. She just asked if I wanted to hang out and I agreed, because I thought you wouldn't want to talk to me due to the kiss and what happened with Moxie."

So he's not leaving? Okay, good.

"I'm doing some job hunting today, and later I'll stop by AP to see my agent. I hope I'll see you there and take you for lunch. I mean, take you out somewhere to eat... Food. I also hope you have no regrets about last night, because I don't. And if you do, I will never forgive myself.

Love, Ricky."

I felt warmth spread inside of me and it wasn't from the coffee. And as I finished my cup and got ready for my day, I kept a radiant smile on my face that not even the cloudy sky outside could dampen. I packed my breakfast this time, unable to stand the lack of enough sounds in my house and grabbed a sweater as I left. I felt a little guilty as I drove pass Samantha's practice on my way to work but I didn't allow myself to dwell on the uncomfortable feeling. We'll talk eventually. Preferably not about what happened last night.

I rode the elevator up to my office and gave Greg a big hug as soon as I saw my favorite assistant. It took him by surprise and he stiffened at first before he chuckled softly and returned the hug. "Someone's in a good mood today." He said, handing me a notepad with some words scribbled on it.

I read them and my eyebrows rose in fascination. "An anonymous manuscript, huh?"

"Yeah, Teresa had no idea what to do with it so she sent it to you." Greg's mention of one of my best agents made me remember when I just started. If those women hadn't seen my vision too, I don't think I'd be here today.

I nodded. "I'll take a look at it. Anything else?"

"Yes, the potential interns will be arriving at 1pm for their interviews."

I groaned inwardly. Oh right, we're taking on interns this year.

I nodded again and thanked Greg, then locked myself into my office. I checked the new books on my desk and then pulled up the manuscript on my laptop from my email. The title "Smile Through the Battles" Touched my heart instantly and I immediately settled down to read, sending the pages to print so that I don't have to read it all from my laptop screen.

I was halfway through the pages, tearing up and wondering who wrote this beautiful piece of work when Rick came to pick me up. It was a story about a boy who is fighting with cancer but determinedly keeps himself happy by garnering the smiles of others when he paints their portraits. I knew I had to get in contact with the writer, ASAP if I want to be his/her publisher. I then set out to do just that.

********

They say time flies when you're having fun. I guess it fits to say that in my case, waking up every morning, either beside my best friend or to a hot cup of green tea. Rick had somehow stopped  me from having coffee, driving me crazy for while. At first it was chamomile tea, but the milk based beverage made me too sleepy and after some time it started to make me nauseous. I complained about it and he changed it to green tea.

That was just one of the many changes that he'd brought into my home. I'm also prohibited to take our weekend walks if it's raining or any other extreme weather conditions; which to me is very unreasonable. He also made sure I ate my breakfast before I left for work, because someone, who I'm pretty sure is Samantha told him about my tendencies. We've also seemed to create the unsaid agreement to make our baby the conventional way, not putting a label on our relationship. I'm not sure if Rick is okay with that, but he seems happy with our arrangements and so was I.

He'd settled in comfortably and even started doing some freelance work for various local magazines, covering sports and social fundraising events. He's still trying for a permanent office though, but his former boss refused to let him go. I've been keeping my mouth shut and my fingers crossed, hoping that he doesn't leave again, but I'm half expecting him to. I've been steeling my heart for his inevitable departure since he returned weeks ago.

It's almost a month now, and he's still here. So maybe. Just maybe, he's not going anywhere.