Chapter Eight

Eric could not help but worry about Annie and his child as he waited for Doctor Myers feedback on his talk with her.

He had no doubt she was going to freak out but he wanted to be there for her and their little miracle.

As at the time Eric left for his apartment, there was no news from Myers. After changing into his nightwear, he got comfortable on his bed and dialled his family Doctor who picked up immediately.

“Good evening, Doc.” he greeted nervously.

“Hello, Eric. Sorry for not getting back to you on time.”

“Did she take the news well? Will she be okay?” He asked truly concerned which earned a smile from Doctor Myers on the other side.

“She didn’t take the news well, Eric. She went pale when I told her but I was able to calm her down. Maybe you should give her some time to process the news.” He advised.

“Okay.” He answered, knowing it was hard for her as well as it was for him. “Please, can you give me her phone number, email address or any other thing I can contact her with?” Eric asked. He decided not to leave her a message on Facebook so she would not think that he was stalking her. Scaring her away would be the last thing he will ever think of doing.

“I will text you her number. And on that note be patient with her and please take very good care of her or you will have me to deal with.”

“I will, Thank you Doc,” Eric assured.

‘Calling Annie now wouldn’t be a good idea.’ Eric thought to himself as he struggled not to dial her number. He wondered if she had someone to lean on, like a friend or her mom. He wished he was there with her; to make her understand that He meant no harm.

Eric will be going to Paris for the weekend with Laura, his younger sister, to celebrate her birthday as promised and he wanted to see Annie before he left.

He knew it was too early but did it anyway. He wanted to let her know he will be there for her so he unlocked his phone and sent her a text message.

He waited for her reply but there was none till he fell asleep.

•••••••

“I can’t believe you made me do this.” Ella groaned as she unlocked the door to Annie’s home, stepping in with Annie behind her.

“Don’t blame me, It’s your god baby in action,” Annie said with her mouth full of strawberry flavoured ice cream.

After dinner, Annie kept whining that she wanted Ice cream so they had to go out to buy some.

“Thank you for escorting me, Ella. I’m usually not like this. It’s just that I was craving ice cream so bad that I couldn’t wait for tomorrow.” Annie said sincerely. She felt bad for forcing Ella to go with her at this late hour in search of Ice cream.

Annie needed Ella to drive her because of her eyesight. She was under strict instructions from her optometrist not to drive at night because her eyesight was usually blurry and she was in the process of correcting it with the glasses handed to her which she uses once a while.

The last time Annie drove late at night, she almost had an accident which is why she avoided driving at nighttime, especially now that she was expecting a baby, she didn’t want to risk their lives.

“It’s okay babe, What are friends for?” Ella smiled giving Annie a side hug before going to the kitchen to place the extra tub of Ice cream in the fridge.

Ella came back to the living room and found Annie staring strangely at her phone.

“What’s wrong Ann? You’re looking as if you’ve just seen a ghost.”

“I just got a text from an unknown number. It’s him." She replied, not looking up from her phone.

"Him?" Ella asked.

"Eric."

Ella made her way towards Annie “what does it say?” Annie passed her phone to her.

“Good evening, Annie. I know it may seem too early to reach out to you but I couldn’t help it. I just want to let you know that you can always count on me. You and our baby mean the world to me. Please don’t hesitate to let me know if you need anything. Again, I will like for us to meet before Friday evening because I’ll be leaving for Paris. Please let me know when you’ll be free and take very good care of yourself and our baby." Eric Ivan-James.

“Damn, he’s into you already.” Ella giggled as she handed Annie back her phone.

“He isn’t. He’s just trying to be nice because I’m carrying his child.”

“I don’t think so Ann, Just be nice to him. Who knows, you guys may end up liking each other and you may end up being Mrs Ivan-James.”

Annie tried to stop her blush. “I don’t think I’m his type, Ella. I’m not even close to all those models that move around with him.”

“You’re smart, beautiful and amazing; He must be silly if he doesn’t feel anything for you.”

Annie rolled to the other side of her bed. She read his text again, this making the Seventh time. She sighed. Thinking of what to do (whether she should reply to him or not) sleep overtook her.

••••••••••

The first thing Eric did when he woke up was to check his phone if there was a reply from Annie. Unfortunately, there wasn't one which made his heart sink.

Reluctantly, he got up from the bed and proceeded to the bathroom to do his morning rituals after which he dressed up for work.

“Good morning, Son.” Nora greeted him.

“Good morning, Nora.” He placed his briefcase on the sofa, approached Nora and kissed her cheek.

Nora was Eric’s housekeeper. She has been working for him for a while now. Eric adores and respects her; She was like a second mom to him.

Nora comes to work every day except for weekends which were her days off. She cooks and cleans for Eric.

“How are you this morning?” She asked him.

“I’m okay.” He replied but she could tell something was wrong. His eyes were dull and she could see worry in them.

“Breakfast is ready, the table is set.” She said to him. He nodded and walked towards the dining room with Nora behind him.

Eric had no appetite; He forced himself to eat the small portion Nora served him. As he ate, He couldn’t help but wonder if Annie already had breakfast.

“What is wrong, my child? You know you can talk to me about anything.”

Eric gave a sad smile. . He didn't want to reveal Annie’s pregnancy without talking to her first.”

“I will tell you when the time comes.” His voice held promise and Nora nodded in understanding. She decided not to push any further, knowing he would come clean when he was ready to talk about what was bothering him.

After breakfast, Eric left for office. He got to the office and buried himself with work. When it was almost lunchtime, he decided to make it up to Annie. He called a restaurant and ordered for lunch to be delivered to Annie’s workplace. He ordered her favourite. He knew what her favourite was because of all her YouTube videos he watched.

…………..

“There you go ma’am,” Annie said as she did the finishing touches of her customer’s nail.

“I love it.” The beautiful brunette grinned and Annie smiled at her.

“You can pay over there.” Annie pointed at where the cashier was and the customer nodded.

One of Annie’s staff called her attention that there was a delivery for her.

She found that very weird as she did not order anything and neither was she expecting anything from anybody. She made her way to the entrance of her beauty parlour and saw the delivery guy.

The delivery came from her favourite restaurant. She could tell by the delivery guy’s shirt and cap and the bags he was holding which had the restaurant’s logo on them.

“Miss Annie Davis?” The delivery guy asked and she nodded.

“This is for you!” He stretched out the two plastic bags he was holding for her to collect.

“But I didn’t order anything.” She replied, confused.

“Yes, ma’am. It was ordered on your behalf and I was asked to deliver it to you.”

“Okay, Thank you.” She collected the bag from him.

“Do I need to pay anyth…..”

“Everything has been covered, have a great day!”

Annie went to her office with the bags and placed them on her table. She brought out the contents in both bags and saw that they were all her favourite.

She reached for her phone in her handbag to confirm from Ella if she was the one that decided to surprise her with a free lunch.

She unlocked her phone and was greeted with a text from Eric.

“I ordered lunch for you. Bon Appetite.” Eric Ivan-James.

She smiled, wondering how he knew her favourite food and workplace.

Annie proceeded to the adjoined bathroom in her office to wash her hand. She came back, sat behind her desk and dug into the food.

Halfway through her meal, she was full so she decided to leave the rest for later.

Remembering she hadn’t replied Eric to thank him for the food, she reached for her phone and did just that.

“Thanks for sending me lunch.“Annie.

Eric replied almost immediately. ”You’re welcome. I’m happy you replied. How are you and the baby?” Eric.

“We’re fine, thanks.” Annie.

“Good to hear. Will you be available on Friday evening? I would like to see you. Please?” Eric.

“I’ll let you know before then if I will be free.” Annie.

′Okay. Have a great day!′ Eric.

Annie couldn’t believe she just had a chat with Eric. She made a mental note to check her Friday schedule to see if she would be available to meet Eric.