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WHEN WE LEFT OUR APARTMENT, it was seven-thirty, the early December air was brisk, and Alex took hold of my hand as we crossed the busy sidewalk to the double-parked limousine waiting for us on Fifth.
Standing beside the rear passenger door was our head of security, Mitch McCollister—otherwise known as Tank—whom I thought looked especially handsome in his charcoal-gray suit and black overcoat. He greeted us with a smile as he opened the door for us.
“Morning, Tank,” Alex said.
“Morning, Alex. Jennifer, how are you today?”
“Feeling like a champ, my friend.”
“Good to hear. How about if you let me take your other hand before you step off the curb?”
While I was perfectly fine on my feet, I knew that helping me was important to Tank, especially since he knew that I’d lost our first child to a miscarriage and that it had taken Alex and me forever to get pregnant again. And so I gave him my other hand as I stepped off the curb, and then I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before I got into the back of the car. Because my belly was so big, this was no small feat, but with Alex and Tank’s help, I managed to scoot over so Alex could sit next to me.
“Look at me,” I said to Alex. “Already huffing and puffing.”
He furrowed his brow at me as Tank got into the driver’s seat, looked in the side mirror, and then eased into traffic. “How long are you planning to work?” Alex asked me. “You know you can stay home, Jennifer. In fact, I wish you would.”
“And pull my hair out over the next month? No way! You know how I am—I’d die of boredom if I left work now. And my doctor says that going to work is fine as long as I don’t overdo it.” I put my hand on his knee and squeezed it. “But I know that you’re concerned, so here’s my promise to you—the moment I feel that work is becoming too much, I’m out. Because I’m not about to put our child at risk. All I ask is that you remember that I’m pregnant, not sick.”
“I know, I know—I just worry.”
“Here’s how I see the next month playing out,” I said in an effort to calm his nerves. “I plan on sitting behind my desk at Wenn and doing paperwork. I’ve already asked Ann to cut way back on my meetings—as in none, unless you need me somewhere. When I feel like taking a breather, I’ll either stop in and visit you, Blackwell, Ann, or Madison. What’s even better is that Lisa and Kate have offered to come by my office and have lunch with me on those days that you’re unavailable. So, you know, I’ll get a solid dose of girl talk and we’ll order in. What all of this means is that I’m pretty much not leaving my office until you and I decide to go home for the day.” I patted his knee. “I just want to keep busy, Alex. I’m so anxious when it comes to going into labor that I want to keep my mind off it as much as I can until the big day comes. Working will help. And besides, you’re as type-A as I am. You get it. I need to work.”
“I know that you do,” he said. “And if that’s your plan, I have to admit that it’s a pretty reasonable one.”
“I can sit on my ass at home, or I can sit on it at work and be productive.”
“I’m going to hold you to sitting on your ass, you know?”
“I expect you to. And trust me on this—the moment this future mama is feeling too tired to haul her fat ass around, she plans on staying home, turning on Netflix and binge-watching Sex and the City.”
“You don’t have a fat ass.”
“And you are a terrible liar, but I love you for it,” I said, wanting to change the subject. “We’ve yet to discuss the holidays, which are just three weeks away. Obviously we can’t go anywhere this year, so I was wondering what you had in mind? Since I’m due seven days after Christmas, I think it’s safe to have our extended family and friends around us, which I’d enjoy.”
“But are you sure that you’re even up for that? You’ll be thirty-nine weeks pregnant. Jennifer, how you feel now is not how you’re going to feel in three weeks.”
“I know that, but with help I can do it. You know how much I love the holidays. Being with you and our friends is important to me.”
“Christmas eve or Christmas day?”
“Both.”
“OK, now you’re overdoing it.”
“Not if we have everything catered, I’m not. All I want to do is to decorate the tree with you, which we can have delivered a few days beforehand. And then everything else can be hired out. I won’t have to do a thing but to sit back and enjoy you and our friends before the baby arrives. So what do you say?”
“That I’m worried you’ll want to do more.”
“Not seven days out, I won’t. With the right planning, we can make this as stress-free as we want.” I leaned toward Tank. “Tank, do Lisa and you have plans for Christmas this year?”
He looked at me in the rearview mirror with determination in his eyes. “I’m sure as hell not taking Lisa back to Nebraska like I did last year,” he said. “That was a disaster. This year, we’re staying here.”
“Oh good. Would you two care to share Christmas eve and Christmas day with us?”
“I can ask Lisa, but I already know the answer—of course we would. But if you go to too much effort, Jennifer, it might not be good for you and the baby. Are you sure you want to do this?”
“We’ll keep it small,” I said. “The other day, Madison told me that Brock had asked her to go home with him for the holidays to meet his parents, so they’re out. And with Cutter and Daniella currently on the outs, it will just be the original group unless Cutter decides to come around. So all I’m looking at is Lisa and you, Blackwell and Marcus, Daniella and Alexa, Alex and me, and possibly Cutter. Oh, and Kate and Ben—I’m going to invite them. That’s manageable. And everyone can pitch in if they want. Or not. Whatever makes everyone happy.”
“I don’t think anything can make Daniella happy right now,” Alex said. “If you remember, Cutter’s the one who needed the time off. Daniella was pushing him too much. She kept urging him to get an apartment together, which he isn’t ready for. He thinks that she’s moving too fast.”
“I know,” I sighed. “I also know how difficult Daniella is being right now—Blackwell’s told me the whole ugly story. But we’ve all handled Daniella when she’s like this before. And with that kind of ground training, we certainly can handle her now.”
“Jennifer, just a week ago, the man Daniella loves asked for a break. Daniella’s a mess because of it. Everyone knows it. And we also know how she’ll be if things aren’t patched up between them beforehand.”
“He just needs some time and space to figure things out. They’ll be OK.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because when he looks at her, I see love in his eyes, Alex. I know that look. Every day, I see it when you look at me. Beyond that, the holidays are a powerful time of year. In fact, it was just last Christmas when Daniella and Cutter decided to start dating, which will make this season especially nostalgic for both of them. Three weeks is a long time for Cutter to decide what he wants. I’m betting that he’ll cool off and come to his senses before the holidays.”
Tank looked at me in the rearview mirror. “Jennifer, you do realize that the moment you mention this party to Blackwell she’s going to want to take over, don’t you? Even if Alex and you are the ones who are officially hosting.”
“Let her,” I said. “Because whatever Blackwell touches generally turns to gold. And if she doesn’t want to be involved—which I hardly expect of her—I’ll make the necessary phone calls to hire the lot of it out. Because I’m with Alex on this—at this point in my pregnancy, I’m not going to be in any shape to do anything more than fart, smile, and eat.”
“Jennifer...” Alex said.
“Please,” I said. “As if Tank hasn’t caught some godawful whiffs from me over the past few months.” I leaned forward and put my hand on Tank’s shoulder. “The sympathy card will be in the mail by week’s end—I promise.”
“That will be unnecessary.”
“I’m still going to send one, if only for the joke. ‘Dear Tank—no need to thank me for keeping the limo filled with gas. It was all on me.’”
“Jesus,” Alex said with a smile.
“So, what do you say, Tank? Will you and Lisa spend the holidays with us?”
“For me, it’s an absolute yes. For Lisa, I already know that it’s a yes. But just to be safe, let me call her later, and I’ll get back to you ASAP on that. OK?”
“Do that,” I said. “Because I already know what my girl is going to say. This is such a done deal, I can’t stand it!”
* * *
“I SHOULD SEE BLACKWELL,” I said to Alex when we stepped into one of the elevators with a group of others. “You know—to get things into motion.”
We moved to the rear, and Alex put his arm around my waist.
“Are you sure about this?” he said in a quiet voice.
Whenever we were surrounded by our employees, we tried to be as discreet as possible.
“I am,” I said. “Before I deliver, I want a proper send-off. I want to be surrounded by the people I love most, and this is the right time to do it.”
“Then let it be,” he said. “Provided that everything will be catered. I don’t want you doing anything.”
“Except helping you with the tree.”
“That should be OK,” he said. “We’ll make a night of it.”
“Done and done. But I will say this—we need to lock down the right caterers now, because the holidays are approaching fast.”
“How about this? You go and see Blackwell, and I’ll ask Ann to start setting everything up?”
“I hadn’t thought about Ann helping out—she’s so well-connected in this city, she’ll know exactly whom to call. That’s a great idea.”
“Good. Then you see Blackwell, and I’ll speak with Ann. Hopefully by the end of the day, we’ll have this sewn up.”
Although I knew our employees were watching, I still gave Alex a chaste kiss.
“Thanks for doing this for me.”
“I know you love the holidays. Of course I’d do this for you—with provisions.”
“Which we’ve covered.”
“I love you, Jennifer.”
I placed his hand on my stomach and smiled at him. “Before either of us knows it, you’re going to be in love with someone else.”
