Free Nothing to Lose by Angela Winters Page B

this baby get here?” he asked.
    â€œIt was an accident!” she yelled.
    â€œHow do we get pregnant by accident?” he asked. “We tried for six months and nothing, but you’re on the Pill and, all of a sudden— bam —baby is here.”
    â€œWe weren’t trying when I got pregnant with Cady,” Sherise argued. “This is just like that time. When we don’t try, it happens.”
    He shrugged and got up from the sofa, walking over to his desk. “I don’t want to talk about this.”
    Sherise followed right behind him. “I don’t give a shit what you want, Justin. This is our baby. We’re talking about this. You can’t just—”
    â€œIsn’t that the point?” he asked, turning to look at her. “You don’t give a shit about what I want. You never have. I said I wanted a baby and you miraculously couldn’t get pregnant. I say I don’t want a baby and now you’re pregnant.”
    â€œSo now this is all me?” she asked. “Not just this time, but since the beginning?”
    â€œYou were the one who said that another baby would be good, remember?”
    â€œYes,” she agreed forcefully, “and then you said that you didn’t want that, so I went back on the pill.”
    Sherise couldn’t believe this was happening. The one time she didn’t try something underhanded, this is what she got accused of.
    â€œYou’re stressing yourself out unnecessarily,” he said. “We can deal with this later, when you’re better.”
    â€œDon’t you get it?” Sherise asked. “The only way the stress will go away is if we work this out, Justin. Delaying it only makes it worse.”
    â€œI have to work, Sherise!” Standing behind it, he pushed his chair toward his desk. “And you need to go.”
    â€œOf course,” she said sarcastically. “Fuck your wife and your new baby. Must make those billable hours with your new, slutty associate.”
    â€œNow you’re just being ridiculous,” he said.
    â€œI must be,” she said. “It’s the only excuse for me thinking that we were doing great. I would have no reason to get pregnant to trap you. Clearly, I was wrong, because we’re in a lot more trouble than I thought. But, by all means, you have to keep your priorities straight.”
    She ignored his calling her name, satisfied that his voice seemed weighed down in regret. Her stomach was tied in knots and she felt like she wanted to cry. This was all made worse by what she saw the second she left his office.
    Elena had been standing right outside the office all along. She met Sherise’s stare with a blank smile, one that told nothing but everything. How much had she heard? Sherise had been so upset that she’d forgotten where she was. She wasn’t so sure how loud either of them had been.
    â€œWhat are you doing out here?” Sherise asked, even though she would have been better off acting as if she didn’t care.
    â€œI’m waiting for Candy to come back,” Elena said innocently. “You wouldn’t happen to know where she is?”
    â€œYou work here,” Sherise said. “Not me.”
    Sherise brushed past her quickly, dismissing the coyness of Elena’s attitude. She didn’t have time to worry about little peons right now.
    Where had she been living, in a wonderland? She knew things weren’t perfect, but she couldn’t have even thought they were so bad that Justin would accuse her of this. She had to figure out a way to fix this, but she couldn’t do it alone. Justin wasn’t going to help her out. Sherise needed her girls to shed some light on this situation. The future of her family depended on it.
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    Billie’s first day at work started early and fast. She went straight to her new office, which had a nice wooden desk already beginning to get covered in folders. The