Page 27 of Book Bae

“I can tell how much you love him just by the light that comes in your eyes when you mention him.”

“Yeah, he’s the best thing that I’ve ever created in this world.”

I inhaled deeply and sighed. “I’m pregnant, five months to be exact as of last week.”

“Congratulations! Are you happy?”

“Uhm, yeah,” I replied.

“How is the dehydration impacting your baby?”

“All is well with the baby; they’re monitoring us closely.”

He continued staring at me as his thumb stroked my palm.

After a moment, he narrowed his eyes. “I’m a pretty smart guy, and I’m starting to connect the dots. I need to hear it from your lips, though. I know I used protection, so I’m not sure how it happened, but I also know it’s not foolproof. I guess I’m asking . . . is the baby mine, Myraj?”

“Yes, Micaiah, the baby is yours.”

He sat back in his chair but kept my hand in his.

“I know it’s a lot; it was a lot for me, but I thought you needed to know. I want you to know that you can take some time and process it, and we can discuss it later,” I explained at the look of apprehension on his face.

“Are you sure that it’s my baby?”

I inhaled, trying not to be offended, because I knew that we didn’t know each other well. “Yes, the baby is yours.” For some reason, I wasn’t ready to disclose the gender yet.

“Can we meet this Sunday and discuss this further?”

“Sure.”

He wiggled his fingers. “Let me see your phone.”

“Why?”

He just stared at me, and I unlocked and then handed him my phone. He released my hand, typed on my phone for several seconds, and then handed it back to me.

I glanced down to see that he had saved his number in my phone under “Book Bae,” and he had texted himself a message to lock the number in.

Micaiah stood and dropped a kiss on my forehead. “I have to go handle some business, and yes, I do need time to process this. But I promise that I’ll be calling you and coming to see you, okay?”

“Okay.”

“You be easy.”

I watched as he walked out of the room. I wasn’t certain what I was feeling other than apprehension. Although I hadn’t planned for my child’s father to be in their life when I was going the IUI route, it was different now that I knew her father, now that I knew it was the man I had dreamt of since that weekend—the man I had fallen in love with that weekend, despite telling myself not to.

SUNDAY (2 DAYS LATER)

“You might run shit in your hood and in those streets, but you ain’t running shit over here, G.” –Heart of Stone, MJ Stone

“I know that these events can become tiring, but it’s important for you to tour the country for this latest release under Mike Jamison.”

“I don’t think it’ll make a difference. Shit, my sales were doing well before I started this tour.”

“And they’re going to do even better now. People are coming out because they want to see you in person.”

“You act like I wasn’t already a household name.”