One Night Stand

Chapter 6

“Bree, finally. Come meet my boss. Dale Baxter this is my sister, the one I was telling you about”  Joanna says as I stand and stare at him.  God he has got even more handsome than the last time, I mean the only time I saw him.

“Dale” I greet him, shake his hand. He stands there, mouth agape.

“Bree, you look great” he says, not letting go off my hand. I gently pull it away as Abigail starts to fuss around in her pram.

“Who is this little cutie?”  Dale asks, cooing at her.

“My daughter”  I say as I lift her out to get her to stop crying.

“Your daughter?”  he asks, shocked.  I nod my head.  “How old is she?”  he asks again, not taking his eyes off of her.

“Nearly 5 months”  I tell him as my mum comes over to move the pram and take the bags from me.  I can almost see the cogs working in his head, like he is trying to figure it out.

“She is adorable. Your boyfriend not with you?”

“Nope, single mum. The father.. well… I haven’t seen him since she was conceived.  I’m sorry, its feeding time. If you’ll excuse us”  I stutter out and quickly get out of there.

I head straight for the house, where I know mum has taken the bags.  I get a bottle organised quickly and get Abigail fed. She gets grumpy and won't settle if she doesn't get her bottle quick.  She likes her food that is for sure.

I sit in the study feeding Abigail, totally in a trance. I cannot believe Dale is Joanna’s boss, the same boss she tried to set me up just after I gave birth. What the hell am I going to do?  He seemed shocked to see me, but it wasn’t like he tried to get away from me. Hell I have no idea.

I pull out my phone and call Monica. She always knows what to do in situations like this.  She answers the phone after two rings and I instantly start ranting down the phone. Explaining everything to her.

“Just speak to him but leave Abigail out of the picture. He will no doubt work it out for himself. He can’t be that stupid. Just keep calm and breath, Bree.” She tells.

“Ok. I can do this. He might not even stay. I didn’t even know he was coming I thought it was just family and close friends, not her boss and people she works with. Hell. This is a disaster”  I tell her. Getting myself in a state again.

“Bree, breath will you.  Just make sure you are looking good and have no spit up in your hair”  Monica chuckles down the phone.

“Very funny, that happened once, and it was a tiny bit”  I laugh.  It did happen once when we were out to lunch the other week, I hadn’t even noticed until Katy pointed it out. How I never smelt it is beyond me.

After finishing the call the Monica, I gather myself making sure I look presentable, and Abigail is pretty as always.  I head outside to find Joanna and my parents.  Who just so happen to be speaking to Dale.  s**t. Not what I wanted to happen.  I headed over to them, mum quickly taking Abigail from my hands and handing me a glass of orange juice.

“I will take her to meet some of the family”  she says and leaves, dad following behind.  Leaving me and Dale standing, awkwardly.

“So, how have you been?”  I ask. Trying to keep it cool and calm, like Monica said to.

“Busy, new job and things”  he says. God this is awful.

“Right. I didn’t know you were my sisters boss. Small world huh?

“I didn’t know Joanna was your sister. She has been dropping hints for weeks about you, saying we should go on a date, she did mention a baby though.” He says looking over to my mum who was happily showing my distant family members her only granddaughter.

“Yeah. She mentioned you literally a few hours after I gave birth to Abigail”  I tell him as I nibble on a cake, that I made.

“Yeah. If I had known you were her sister I would have gotten a date before now. Abigail is a beautiful name.”  he says still watching my mum.

“Really. And what made you think I would go on a date with you after you bailed on me”  I say, slightly angry.

“Yeah. s**t. I never meant for that to happen”  he mumbles.

“What? Sleeping with me or bailing on me?”  I ask, folding my arms across my chest.

“Bailing obviously. Bree, hell. s**t this is not how I wanted to have this conversation. Can we go somewhere to talk please?”  he says getting flustered.

“Not today. This is my sisters birthday. I can’t deal with this right now”  I say looking over to mum who happens to be heading this way.

She hands me Abigail who has fallen asleep with all the excitement. She won't nap for long, so I head inside to put her in her pram. I had not realised that Dale was behind me.

“I’m sorry Bree. I really didn’t mean to leave like I did. I will explain everything when you are ready to listen.”  He says as he walks over to where I left Abigail sleeping in the corner.  “She really is beautiful.”  He says leaning in to the pram.

“Yeah, she seems to have her daddies eyes.” I say to him as I sit down on the sofa on the other side of the room.

“Her dad not on the scene then.”  He asks looking at me. I shake my head. “Why on earth he would leave a precious little thing like her and you is beyond me”  he states as he sits across from me.

“Well, he doesn't know she exists. He bailed on me, my first and last one night stand.”  I say, not looking at him.  I was not sure what to expect from my statement. I didn’t want to look at him.

“She is mine?” he whispers.  I nod my head. “s**t, Bree. Why did you not tell me I had a daughter?”  he asks, almost sounding angry,

“How could I tell you when I didn’t have any contact information for you, hell you didn’t even tell me your last name. You walked out that night not me, if I could have told you would have.”  I say getting upset.

“I… s**t… Bree. I don't know what to say. If I had known I would have been there for the both of you. s**t. I knew I should have stayed. After we had s*x, which was amazing by the way, I was in the bathroom I got a call from my sister she was drunk and screaming down the phone. I panicked and just got dressed and left. I… hell.. I didn’t want to leave you like that. I had an amazing night and I wanted it to continue. I haven’t stopped thinking about you all this time.”  He huffs at the end.

“You could have come back any time after that. You knew where I stayed” I mumbled.

“I couldn't remember your address. When I left it was dark and I just grabbed the first cab that drove past me.  I even went to the club a few weekends after that night, hoping to bump into you. I asked all the bar staff, but they hadn’t seen you.”  He sighs.

“Was your sister ok? That night when she called you?”  I asked.

“Not really. Her dickhead of a boyfriend hit her on a night out and she ended up in hospital with a fractured cheekbone.”

“s**t. Is she ok now?”  I asked, that is a good reason to up and leave, right?

“Yeah. She is fine. Happily engaged to a new guy.” He chuckled.

We sat and chatted a little bit. He told me more about him that I hadn’t known. Him being my sisters boss was a little weird. Not sure how my family will react when they realise he is Abigail’s father. I suppose we can work on that.

Nearly an hour later and Abigail wakes up. I go over to get her from her nap, quickly changing her nappy, just then my mum appears.

“You have been here all this time?”  she asks, as she looks between me and Dale.

“Yeah, Abigail just woke. So will be out in a bit” I tell her. 

“Good. Joanna getting ready to do her cake. You out did yourself on this one sweetie, it looks amazing”  she winks as she leaves us alone again.

“You are the baker?”  he asks, eyes wide.

“Yip. I own the bakery on the corner of 8th and 9th.  Baby Cakes Bakery.” I tell him.

“I go there all the time for my pastries. I love it there.”  He says licking his lips.

“Yeah. Tony has been looking after the place for the last year. I have hardly had the energy to go in and well, a bakery isn't the best place for a baby to hang out”  I chuckle as we head outside to see Joanna cut her cake.

After singing happy birthday and plenty pictures. Abigail is again shown off to more family members. I suppose being the only baby girl does have its advantages. My dad happily takes Abigail and walks around the garden with her.

“Can I get your number Bree. There is no way I am losing contact with my girls again.”