Read Online Seduced by Audra Cole, Bella Love-Wins - Free Book Online

idea why she calls me that. It’s always grated on my nerves.
    I plaster on a smile. “Hello Val.” I pat her round tummy. “How’s my niece today?”
    “She’s amazing. Come in and I’ll show you the latest sonogram pictures.”
    I follow her into the monstrous house and go to her gourmet kitchen, where everything is stainless steel and granite. Valerie retrieves a large envelope from a drawer, and pulls out the black and white pictures, and hands them to me.
    The pictures take my breath away. It’s so amazing to think that there is this little person just waiting to come into the world. Valerie and I may have our differences but I am going to have to set all that aside when she has her baby. I want to be the best auntie ever!
    I take one last look and then carefully slide the pictures back into the envelope and hand it back to Valerie. “Where’s Mom?”
    “She’s up in the nursery. Come on,” she says, heading towards the staircase.
    We go upstairs and down a hallway that seems to go on forever, before arriving at the nursery. I gasp when I walk in. I’m not sure there is a theme, per se, unless color counts as a theme.
    Everything is pink: pink stuffed animals, pink walls, pink clothes, pink bedding, and pink curtains.
    “What do you think?” My mom asks, beaming. She is sitting in a—pink—chair in the corner.
    “Love, right?” Valerie says, expectantly. “The designers just finished last week.”
    The fact that she paid someone money to do this, disturbs me.
    She is beaming and I can’t bring myself to burst her bubble.
    Her big, obnoxious, pink bubble.
    “It’s great, Val. I’ve never seen anything like it before!”
    Which is completely true.
    “Tom thinks it’s a little over the top. I think he is just secretly hoping the doctors are wrong and that it’s a boy. But it’s a girl, I can tell.” She cradles her baby bump.
    Oh, how I hope so. Otherwise…poor kid. I doubt there is a paint primer in the world that could cover this up.
    “So what’s the big emergency?” I ask, wanting to get down to business and get out of this room before the color pink is forever ruined for me.
    “Well, I was calling the bakery today to change the flavor of the top tier of the cake, and it seems they ‘misplaced’ the order for the other pastries and desserts we were going to have,” Valerie says, using air quotes. “They offered to put in the order now, and they said it could still all be done, but I just can’t trust anything they say now, so I cancelled the whole order.”
    “You cancelled the whole thing?” I say, my mind reeling with the implication.
    Who cancels something like that with just about a month to go until the shower?
    “Yes, Charity, I can’t work with people like that.”
    Valerie, that’s who.
    I roll my eyes. “Yes, Val, clearly they purposely lost an order that was worth thousands of dollars of business. That makes total sense.”
    I’m so glad I drove an hour for this…
    “Now, now Charity, this isn’t the time to argue. We just need to find a solution,” my mom chimes in from the corner.
    “I’ve called my second and third choices, but they are all booked up.”
    “You only called two other places?”
    “Yes Charity. I simply do not have time to call all over town. Besides, I want to make sure everything will be perfect. I can’t trust just anyone with this, you know. A lot of very important people will be coming.” Valerie sighs with exasperation.
    It takes all of my energy not to reach out and slap her. I look to my mom for some support but she is nodding along with every word Valerie says.
    I should have known.
    I close my eyes and start to rub my temples. Memo to self: text Brandon that I’m going to need a Xanax to go with that pitcher of margaritas.
    “Anyways, what we wanted to know is if the café you work at could do the desserts and the cake instead,” Valerie continues, turning to me.
    I’m speechless. She gets turned down by three of the top