Free Snowed In with Her Ex by Andrea Laurence Page A

Ian expected Keith to start spilling the information, so the quiet was even more disconcerting. “Have you spoken to anyone?” Keith finally asked.
    “No. You’re the first person I called. I have a million messages, though.”
    “Oh, Christ.” Keith sighed on the phone.
    “What is it? Is everything okay?”
    In an instant, the worst possible scenario popped into his mind. The frantic calls and texts from Missy. The press swarming the studio. Keith’s dismayed tone. Something had happened to the baby. The dull ache of dread pooled in his stomach and tears welled up in his eyes. Not that. Anything but that. He could barely form the words to ask. “Is the baby okay, Keith?”
    Keith groaned. “Ian, I swear to you that no one is dead or injured. Your mom, your stepdad, everyone is okay. But there’s something I’ve got to tell you, man. Are you sitting down?”
    “Yes,” Ian lied. He took bad news better standing up so he could pace across the floor and burn off all the nervous energy. At the very least he knew his family was okay. The baby was okay. He could deal with anything else.
    “A story about Missy hit the tabloids yesterday. It’s all over the place—television, magazines, blogs. Apparently a woman in Nashville has come forward claiming that she sold Missy a positive pregnancy test on Craigslist.”
    With only a few sips of coffee under his belt, it took a moment for Ian to process what his friend was telling him. Missy had bought a used pregnancy test. A
positive
one. That meant...
    “There is no baby, Ian. There never was.”
    “So she’s not really pregnant? It was all just a ruse to...” To what? Mess with his head? Trick him into marrying her? Keep him from dropping her from his label?
    Yes, yes and yes.
    He’d always known Missy was ruthless when it came to getting what she wanted. But he’d never thought even someone like Missy would stoop
that
low.
    “That’s what they’re saying. The evidence is pretty damning. The woman who sold it to Missy was no fool. When she realized who she was talking to, she knew there was a bigger payday than just the hundred bucks she’d make selling the test. She kept screenshots of her email conversations with Missy and took a photo of her Jaguar leaving the parking lot where they met. Personalized plates and all. It’s all online if you want to look.”
    Ian wished he had taken Keith’s advice and sat down. He stumbled over to one of the tall bar stools and leaned against it with one hip to steady himself. Missy wasn’t pregnant.
Not pregnant.
Could it really be true? It sounded like a pretty credible case against his fiancée, but Ian wouldn’t let himself completely believe the story until he spoke with Missy directly. More convincing lies had been printed in the tabloids.
    Yet, it
felt
true.
    He’d been meticulous in protecting himself over the years. There hadn’t been so much as a late period scare with a girl he’d dated since he lost his virginity. He never wanted to make the same mistake his father had made by creating a child he had no interest in. If and when he had a child, he was going to be dedicated to it, no matter what.
    Missy showing up with that pregnancy test had thrown him for a loop, but he’d recovered. He’d tried to make the best of it and stay involved, but Missy seemed determined to keep the baby stuff at arm’s length from him. She had refused to let him come to the doctor’s appointment with her. He’d wanted to hear the heartbeat, but she’d said it was too early. When she hadn’t come home with one of those grainy pictures, she’d told him the sonogram machine was broken. Her flat belly hadn’t budged. No morning sickness. No sign whatsoever that she was having his child.
    She’d lied to him about the whole thing. He felt sick. Lightheaded. Foolish. But the strongest feeling sweeping over him was that of utter and complete relief. A moment ago, he’d been devastated that he might have lost his unborn child.