Page 7 of Doctor Daddies

“I should look into it,” James says, keeping his voice casual, though we can all tell there’s more to it than he’s letting on.

We don’t talk about how much that night meant, but we don’t need to. That kind of pleasure, that intensity, that reckless abandon…when you share it with someone, it’s not the kind of thing you can ever forget.

“At least we can all agree that we were into her,” James says, and Cole grins slightly.

I think of Millie on top of Cole, the way her body moved when she was taking him inside her—how it looked like there was nothing she wanted more in the world than to feel him in that moment. I know he remembers it as clearly as I do, and I almost want to broach the subject more directly, but think better of it.

“Yeah, but that’s not enough,” Cole points out. “We need to know what kind of person she is?—”

“And if she would even be willing to do something like that,” I add. “It’s a big ask, even if we put every cent we have on the table for it.”

“Agreed,” James mutters, and he takes another sip of his drink.

For a moment, we sit in silence, as the notion begins to take root in our minds.

Is it crazy? Probably.

But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a part of me tempted by the idea.

“I’m going to track her down,” Cole announces. “Figure out where she is, at least. We can take it from there.”

“That’s as far as we’re taking it,” I warn. “At least until we know if she would be interested.”

Cole taps his finger on the outside of his glass, and I can tell that he’s thinking hard, no doubt crunching the numbers about just how impossible something like this would be to pull off. It’s one of his best qualities, his willingness to dive headfirst into any problem and do everything in his power to figure it out—but sometimes I wonder if he wouldn’t be better off keeping his eye on the prize.

Instead of attempting to work out how we can convince a woman we haven’t seen for six years to carry our baby.

3

MILLIE

“Okay, okay, okay,”I mutter, as I pat my pockets, making sure that I have everything I’m going to need for the coming day. My phone, a pen, some lip balm, my ID…

The doors to the elevator slide open in front of me, and I almost jump when I see people standing on the other side. I notice one of the men stepping in beside me giving me a strange look, and I cast my gaze toward the floor, cursing myself for not being more put together.

Off to a great start as ever, Millie…

The temping agency I’m currently trying my luck at is pretty much a last resort. I already worked for them for a few months a couple of years back, but I ended up being so unreliable that they let me go. I’m going to plead my case as best I can, try to convince them to give me another opportunity to prove myself, though I’m not sure that I deserve it.

But, with Lewis struggling so much to keep on top of things at school, I know I need to get him into a facility that will becapable of giving him the care he needs. If that means I need to grovel for my job back, then I’ll do it.

When it comes to him, I’m not too proud.

I lift my head as I stride out of the elevator, trying to seem as confident as possible as I approach the reception desk. There’s a bored-looking teenager on the other side, and she glances up at me with a slight sigh as though affronted by the very fact of having to do her job.

“Can I help you?”

“I’d like to fill in some temp applications,” I reply breezily. “What new ones have arrived this week?”

If I can just convince her that I have every right to be here, I can get these applications in without anyone catching on to the fact that I’m not meant to be here. I keep the smile on my face and give her steady eye contact as I wait for her to respond, and she lets the silence drag out for an excruciating moment before she replies, reaching beneath the desk to draw out the papers that I’ll need.

“Here you go,” she replies, nodding across the room. “You can sit at the desks over there and fill them out. Turn them in to me when you’re done.”

“Thanks,” I reply, beaming a little too widely at her. She gives me a strange look and I gather the applications into my hands, not even bothering to take in what precisely I’m applying for before I set about filling them out.

I focus on getting through as many as I can, filling out as many forms as possible before someone glances over and realizes that this isn’t my first time in this place. I scribble out my name andcontact details over and over, and quickly bundle the papers into a pile to turn them in at the desk. I just have to hope that they go into the stack alongside everyone else’s, and nobody bothers to check if I’m actually currently registered with this particular agency. My name must still be in the system, right? It’s not that bad, really.

I don’t stick around to find out if anyone is going to catch on to what I’m doing here, rushing for the elevator the first chance I get and leaning against the doors as I’m whisked back downstairs again. I smooth out my skirt, the one smart bit of clothing I have, and walk toward the front door with what I hope passes for a confident expression on my face.