Her dismissive tone infuriated me. “And why aren’t you at work?” I called out.
She turned, her hand on the front door. “My baby daddy makes plenty of money,” she said. “I don’t need to work during my pregnancy at all.”
One of her hands was placed protectively on her belly, her fingers splayed out over the perfect-shaped bump.
Had she felt her baby move yet?
Had the baby’s father felt it yet?
Who even was the father? Not that I had been paying attention, but I’d never see another man at her house.
I stomped back inside and closed all the curtains firmly.
The conversation was still stuck in my mind a few days later as we prepared for the delicate wine and cheese charcuterie event designed to shore up my support in the Archaeology department.
I had spent hours selecting the perfect wines and cheeses, and my coworkers oohed and aahhed over the selection of expensive meats and exotic cheeses.
Astrid was wearing a long navy blue gown and looked regal and elegant. And I was no fool. I knew my looks were a benefit in my career.Together, we were the perfect power couple.
“With anintellectualapproach to pregnancy, it’s like we can almost transcend the limits of the physical body,” my fiancée was saying to Dr. González when there was a knock on the door.
I opened it to see. . . Indi.
Infuriatingly, enragingly close enough that I could scent her familiar shampoo.
She wasn’t wearing a tank top and shorts this time. Instead, she was wearing a bright yellow bikini and flip-flops.
Before I could open my mouth to protest that she had done the exact opposite of what I had told her to, she pulled out a roll of tape, and stuck a piece of paper to the front of my door.
“Professor Ambrose Hargreaves? You are in violation of Applewood HOA regulations. Your lawn appears to be 1/4th of an inch too high. You have 30 days to bring your yard into compliance.”
CHAPTER 4
Indi
Now my mama had always told me to kill em with kindness, and that's the motto I’d tried to live by.
But my stuck-up jerk ex was really testing me.
So I decided if he was going to play the HOA game, I was going to play it right back to him.
Sweetly, of course.
So I held my ground as Ambrose stalked toward me, every angry, offended inch of him bristling.
“What are you doing here?” he hissed.
I could see his colleagues straightening up, craning their necks to see me in my bikini, and adjusting their ties.
Astrid scuttled up behind him, jutting her chin out at me and putting a hand in front of Ambrose like I was going to leap at him.
Jealous,was she?
“You need to leave now,” Astrid spat.
She always wore colored contacts, so her eyes glinted at me with a purple light, and her hands twitched like she wanted to wrap them around my neck.
I only smiled sweetly at them.
