Read Online Lullaby and Goodnight by Wendy Corsi Staub - Free Book Online Page B

Rita says with a smile, shaking her head. “Sandwich complications. Talk to you later.”
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    â€œYou were right. This is a great restaurant, Peyton,” Allison announces around a mouthful of Tequila Moon’s famous refried beans. “Do you come here a lot?”
    â€œPretty much every day lately, the way I’ve been craving cilantro.” Peyton dips another tortilla chip into the restaurant’s addictive salsa. “Good thing it’s only a block from my apartment. Then again, I’d be more than willing to take two subways and a bus to get here if I had to.”
    â€œThat’s pretty much what I have to do to get my Indian food fix. Only it’s one subway and two buses.”
    As they share a laugh, Peyton marvels at how quickly she and Allison have bonded over cravings and nausea, layettes and maternity catalogs, even a mutual hobby of collecting classic children’s books.
    It’s only been a few weeks since that first Pregnant and Single meeting, but Allison feels like an old friend, more so than the other members of the support group.
    Kate has already delivered a baby boy and advanced to the foreign land of breast pumps and colic. Julie is a bit too militant in her views on home birth and neonatal care, and Wanda is caught up in the ongoing drama of her affair with the married father of her child.
    Still, Peyton has more in common with all of them than she does lately with coworkers she’s known for a few years. Those at the office who have children are married; those who don’t seem to be determined nonbreeders. In fact, Peyton wonders how she never noticed until now how often her boss, Tara, seems to make disparaging remarks about children and motherhood. It’s almost as though she might suspect Peyton’s pregnancy and is hinting that she’s about to derail her career.
    â€œDo you think I should talk to Tara on Monday?” she asks Allison, who is a longtime secretary at a midtown law firm and a self-proclaimed expert on corporate politics.
    â€œI thought you were going to wait until you’re really showing.”
    â€œI was going to, but . . . I mean, why wait? What’s she going to do, fire me?”
    â€œMaybe.”
    Peyton sticks out her tongue. “Let her try. I want that promotion when Alain leaves in a few weeks, and I’ve worked hard for it. Nobody deserves it more than I do.”
    â€œThen don’t tell your boss you’re pregnant until after she’s promoted you. Tell her now and she’ll have you flying down the mommy track so fast you’ll need Dramamine. Trust me. I see it happen all the time at the firm.”
    â€œSo why doesn’t anybody sue? They’re lawyers.”
    â€œWho knows? Maybe because once they become mothers, they aren’t as passionate about their jobs. You’ll see.”
    â€œI doubt it. I know I’ll love the baby, but I also love my career.” Less at the moment than ever before, but she’s worked hard to build it, and she’s certain she’ll regain the passion. “And anyway,” she goes on, heaping her fork with spicy yellow rice, “I’ve got to support the two of us somehow.”
    â€œMaybe you’ll find a nice rich husband. Like Dr. Lombardo.”
    I never should have told her about those dreams.
    Peyton knows her cheeks must be redder than the habanera chiles on her plate.
    â€œI don’t want a nice rich husband,” she assures Allison. “And anyway, Dr. Lombardo is already somebody else’s nice rich husband.”
    â€œOkay, then how about a great-looking husband with a good sense of humor? Because I was thinking that one of the lawyers at the firm would be perfect for—”
    â€œI don’t want any husband, Allison. Trust me. I don’t want to answer to anyone.”
    â€œHmm, let me guess: your fiancé was a total son of a bitch. Am I right?”
    Peyton shrugs, not in the