Read Online Suspicions by Sasha Campbell - Free Book Online Page B

tomorrow, I’m calling Tiffany and asking her Chauncey’s last name and then I’m looking him up in the clinic’s database. Someone that fine had to have contracted something at least once. Maybe then I’d stop thinking about him.

7
    Noelle
    My best friend and I had just spent the entire afternoon shopping at Orland Square Mall. Now I knew what the expression “shop ’til you drop” meant, because after nine hours, I was dead on my behind. Macy’s, Carson Pirie Scott, Coach, you name it, we were there.
    â€œWhitney, I’ll grab my bags later.”
    She climbed out of my Acura TL, frowning. “When? After Grant’s gone to bed?”
    â€œYep,” I said, and giggled because she knew me too well. “Grant told me to shop for our trip, but I think I went a little overboard.” I couldn’t help it.
    A perfectly arched eyebrow rose. “A little? Try a lot. You tried to buy out the whole damn mall.”
    This was our first vacation and I was actually looking forward to getting away and spending time together in Aruba. Grant thought it was because I was excited about us being alone, but the truth of the matter is, I was looking forward to the trip because it was a week of sex and I was hoping to get pregnant. I know I promised Grant I would forget about having a baby, but I couldn’t help it. It was all I thought about. We were in a financial position now that I could spoil my child. Grant and I got married right after I graduated. We struggled for years. I did hair while Grant went to school to be a teacher. I even did braids at home, trying to make all the money I could for almost four years until he graduated and got a teacher position. However, living on a teacher’s salary, we never had much money. There were lots of things we went without. But not this time. I owned the hottest beauty salon on the south side of Chicago, and Grant had gone back to school two years ago and got a master’s in English. We were financially in such a good position that our baby girl wouldn’t want for anything. Ballet. Gymnastics. I know I was getting ahead of myself. I had to get pregnant first, and Aruba was the perfect location. A week ago, I stopped taking my birth control pills. The rest was now up to nature and the sexy little bikini I bought on clearance this afternoon.
    â€œWhitney, before you leave c’mon in and have a slice of coconut cake. I baked it this morning.”
    â€œOooh! Yes, I will. You know I love your cake.” I helped load the trunk of her Lexus with her packages, then signaled for her to follow me up the stairs. Whitney’s hands were planted on her round belly and I felt so jealous. I couldn’t help it. I didn’t want to be jealous, but I was. Whitney wasn’t even married. I was. She and her baby’s daddy weren’t even together. Not that she cared. She wanted a baby, not a man, or so she says, although Whitney could have any man she wanted. Only she was very insecure and never knew just how beautiful she was. Whitney was tall and thin, and wore a short razor cut that was made for her heart-shaped face. I couldn’t stand women like her. She was five months’ pregnant and was barely showing, where someone like me looked nine months’ pregnant when I was barely five. But despite how fat I looked, I loved being pregnant.
    â€œIt’s crazy that all I want to do is eat.”
    â€œA baby will do that to you.” I was talking from experience. She wouldn’t know anything about that. I moved up the stairs and stuck the key in the lock.
    â€œNoelle, what’s that?”
    I glanced over in the direction Whitney was looking and paused. “I don’t know.” We have a long wraparound porch. I walked over to what looked like an infant’s car seat. “Somebody must have left . . .” That couldn’t possibly be what I thought it was.
    â€œIs that a baby?” Whitney