Office Expectations: An Older Man Younger Woman Secret Baby Romance Read online

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1 – Moving On

  Chapter 2 – Seeing Red

  Chapter 3—The Move

  Chapter 4 – More Than Meets the Eye

  Chapter 5 – A Change is About to Come

  Chapter 6 – Fear v. Certainty

  Chapter 7: The Reveal

  Chapter 8: A Twist

  EPILOGUE

  Office Expectations

  An Older Man, Younger Woman Secret Baby Romance

  Copyright 2017 by Arlo Arrow; All Rights Reserved.

  Cover Design Copyright 2017 by Natasha Snow.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1 – Moving On

  Chapter 2 – Seeing Red

  Chapter 3—The Move

  Chapter 4 – More Than Meets the Eye

  Chapter 5 – A Change is About to Come

  Chapter 6 – Fear v. Certainty

  Chapter 7: The Reveal

  Chapter 8: A Twist

  EPILOGUE

  You're Invited

  Also By Arlo Arrow

  Subscribe to my newsletter and ARC Team Invitations here: http://subscribepage.com/arloarrow.

  Chapter 1 – Moving On

  Sarah

  I couldn't believe I was getting ready to move not only from one place to another but from one plan to another entirely. When people talk about goals, they expect to hear big ones. So I usually kept mine to myself and spent all my time planning them out only in my head.

  My plans were smaller in most peoples' opinions, but to me they constituted big dreams. I married Jake and I was supposed to be a housewife and eventually a stay at home mom. Life would be perfect, with not only a white picket fence but also one of those ironic mailboxes signifying that it's a holdover from a more ancient time when people used to count on snail mail rather than messages in their social media inbox.

  Mine would be painted like that bird that is the Twitter logo. If that wasn't some kind of copyright or trademark violation. I kept meaning to look it up, but never got around to it before Jake and I fell apart so then it was the least of my concern. But, leave it to me to painstakingly plan the most minute detail that would never come to be.

  Despite all of these plans, in two days I, as a divorced woman, would be starting work as a secretary at a big, prestigious law firm. My boss would be one of the partners, who was a billionaire and one of the most prominent men in Boston. It was still mind-blowing to me that any of this was soon to be my new reality.

  It had been years since I’d held down a job, at least not legitimately. Sure, I’d clean a house or two here or there just to make ends meet. I'd cut hair for some of the local girls around my way. But nothing like this.

  It was all happening out my control. Strangely, it felt fated, as if there was some reasoning behind it all, but I just didn't know what it was yet. Someone wise would tell me to be patient and wait for the reason to reveal itself, but in my opinion patience— like ironic mailboxes— was for the birds.

  As I sat with my coffee at my favorite coffee shop for the last time, movers were at my home, getting ready to transport me elsewhere. It felt all too overwhelming. I didn’t even know if I was ready. Although I wasn’t about to admit it out loud.

  As I drank my homemade cappuccino, I locked eyes with Martha Grecco, the owner of Grecco’s Coffee House. She had known me since I was a little girl. She wasn’t just a barista – although she did make the most incredible bottomless cappuccinos probably anywhere in the world – but she was also my second mom. I smiled at her as I wiped a little whip cream off my nose that had accidentally landed there while I had been sipping from the giant mug.

  Martha had been the one to introduce me to Jake. She was like a God-send. And now, as if I needed another reminder, her eyes confirmed for me that this was really the last moment, the end of a chapter.

  My coffee was almost empty and the movers were texting me that it was just about time for them to hit the road. The tears began to well up as I imagined the long journey before me and the one I was about to leave behind.

  There hadn't been a day in my life that I had ever pictured myself leaving this beautiful place I call home. After all, this is where Jake Wharton and I first met. This is where I cheered on the varsity team at every one of his football games. This is where we planned to raise our children someday.

  We had had it all, all of it. It had been so carefully planned. We would have a boy and then a girl. The first would be Jackson and his sibling, we’d name Lucy. It was all so beautiful… naïve, but beautiful. So many firsts happened right in this town.

  Gazing through the glass for a brief daydream, it seemed suddenly magical – my town. The day was sunny, the Rockwell picture, not lost on me. As I looked out from Grecco’s store front window, in the corner at my favorite table, I could see the football field for Kennedy High School and the Burlington Heights Hotel, where Jake and I had Prom, and the skate shop where he worked all through Junior High.

  I could see just a smidge of the bleachers sticking out from behind the school. The first time he kissed me was on those bleachers. Mrs. Mullen told us to tone it down although I think she was little late with her request as he already had his fingers in my shorts.

  Oh, and all the way down the road was the drycleaner where we snuck my prom dress in for cleaning, desperately trying to get the red wine stains out before my dad saw. I thought for sure he would know that I drank that night, got sloshed, and spilled it all over myself.

  Once I moved away, I wondered now as I reminisced, would all these memories fade when they weren’t so ever-present in my day-to-day life? I half hoped they would, since less thoughts of this town would also have to mean less thoughts of Jake and the future we were supposed to have but now never would.

  Martha came over to take my mug. I put down a ten and she smiled.

  “Sarah, it’s on me, baby girl. It’s your going away coffee present. I’m gonna miss you, sweetheart.”

  I choked back tears and whispered, “I know Martha. Me too. But we’ll chat by phone and email.”

  We hugged. She took my mug and I decided to sit for a just a little bit longer. The pang of nostalgia that was washing over me - it was something of the kind that I wasn’t quite ready to let go…

  Then I thought of all the what-ifs. What if Jake hadn’t left me? What if things were different? Would I be leaving still? Is life a pre-destined event? Would I be moving to take the job at the law firm anyway? Do certain decisions and events change the course of things?

  I just didn’t know right at that moment. I guess I was afraid.

  Jake Wharton was my high school sweetheart. Our families knew each other even though he was clearly from a different part of town – the bad side – although I’d never say that aloud.

  My mom and dad were prominent in the community. My dad had been on the Mayor’s Council and he was a professor of political science at the community college. My mom was a nurse.

  Jake was a little more home-grown. His mom was a single parent and she worked at the junior high cafeteria. She used to sneak the tough girls single cigarettes. Then they would go out back and share a Marlboro Red.

  Jake's mom was nice enough. Geraldine was her name. But I was way too proper in junior high to get caught up in that.

  Jake was the youngest of three. His other two brothers were in jail for drugs or something. It was a sore subject that no one talked about. But he was different, so sweet and cute. Although he was very much a nerd in junior high. And I wasn’t even considering boys at that time.

  Something happened
though, just as he got to high school, something changed. His freshman year, he started to get taller. I did notice that and that he had started to fill out. He kind of looked like a cross between Harry Potter and Harry Styles but cuter – and probably taller. But he was still sort of on the skinny side.

  Then one day when I was celebrating my birthday with ice cream and cake at Grecco’s, Martha walked up to me when I was picking a flavor at the counter – I think Butter Praline - and she turned to Jake who was also there and said:

  “Sarah, have you met this fine young man, Jake Wharton? He works at the skate shop across the street and he is such a sweet kid, he sweeps up for me at night.”

  Jake turned eight shades of red. I said “hi” as did he and walked away. That was my infamous introduction.

  Still, through the years, he would always say “hi” to me and hold doors for me which I thought was so adorable. The truth is though I was kind of full of myself. By that time, I had really become pretty popular and the guys were lining up. I probably wouldn’t have noticed him if he laid down in front of me.

  I liked the bad boys anyway – one in particular – Taylor Hecht. He was dark, super dark. He looked like an extremely mean but sexier version of James Dean. So funny, I had a poster of James Dean on my wall in fifth grade and I’d swear on a Bible they were related in some way.

  Taylor, Hecht that is, smoked filter-less cigarettes and drank Jack Daniels right out of a flask on the front steps of school and not one teacher said a word. Part of the reason - I always assumed - his dad was the most respected judge in the county. My personal thoughts, looking back, he was probably having sex with every teacher there – including the men.

  Still, I was so in love with him. I could care less where his dick had been. As long as I was his main girl. And I was. The girls on the Water Polo team absolutely hated me.

  Why water polo? Well those girls were the only jocks who were not only pretty – likened to cheer team - but they had the added element of bad girls. All of them were stoners and every one of them was blonde. It was sort of a weird trend. But guys knew that and they also knew that they could get laid easily if they attended a water polo party.

  Jessie Smith almost took me out once during cheer practice on the track field. I was coordinating a pyramid and she stormed over. Apparently, she realized I was dating Taylor. She was big too – like a foot taller than me. Suddenly I was looking at her nose as she confronted me, pushing up right in my face. My teammates jumped back in a panic.

  “Hey Sarah, why are you such a slut? Taylor and I have been dating for a year. You freaking know that. Is it too hard for you to keep your legs closed? Yeah that must be it. I hear your dad is thinking about sending you out of the country before you bring home an STD and shame the Laughton family name.”

  Suddenly as if a guardian angel had coordinated the timing, Taylor walked up in the middle of the scuffle, pulled me in close to his body and started making out with me. Then he said to her while leaving me breathless:

  “Hey Jessie – problems?”

  She stormed away. I was so wet I thought for sure everyone on the team at practice could tell.

  Jake happened to be coming out of the locker room and saw the embrace. He looked sad. All of a sudden, I started to see him differently. But I wasn’t quite over Taylor yet. I was still notorious at school for being the good cheerleader girl with the bad, bad boy. It was a truly great feeling.

  Not much has changed. I still like danger.

  Taylor picked me up every day in his sweet, metallic silver Camaro and I’d run out in my too-short cheer uniform and he’d drive away so fast, I’d nearly throw up. We had a routine. I’d hoped it would never end as you do when you are young.

  Every day, he’d drive away from the confines of school and park behind the green acres dairy farm and even as I knew it might happen, he’d manage to swoop up, without notice, right under my skirt. He’d just put his head under it and take over. It’s like he couldn’t get enough or I couldn’t. Some days I thought I might fly off the planet he’d have me so hot.

  The surprise, the rebellion, he’d tease me. Or stop right in the middle and light a Camel and squintily look out the window, just leaving me wet and throbbing. I’d look over and he’d be contemplating some life decision— or at least I thought that then.

  He’d hold his cigarette with his thumb and forefinger and smoke out of the corner of his mouth. I’d look at him like “Really?” And he’d ignore me just a tad bit too long until I relaxed and then he’d take me again.

  There was nothing but moaning and sometimes screaming. There was nothing I could do but surrender to it. Sometimes I’d get so wet just reimagining it over dinner or during a conversation, I’d have to leave the table. I figured then that if he ever left me I’d probably never feel that hot again. That part may have been right on.

  Jake wasn’t nearly that outrageous – or at least I didn’t think so – and I liked the element of danger that was there. I noticed him trying to get my attention a few times but it wasn’t to be.

  The summer of my junior year, I went to drop something off for my dad at Burlington Heights Community College. The football team would sometimes have scrimmages at that field. And there he was, Jake Wharton, now a junior.

  Something very different had happened. This was not the scrawny guy from years ago and I suddenly couldn’t take my eyes off him. He was a quarterback now on the football team, muscular and absolutely beautiful.

  His dark wavy hair and olive skin made it hard to believe he was the same gangly teenager, all grown up. After I dropped off my dad’s files, I went to sit in the bleachers and watch him play.

  Taylor had cheated on me multiple times by this point and I was over the whole bad boy thing anyway. As far as I was concerned, Jessie could have him.

  I watched Jake coordinate plays with his wide receiver. I watched him run and throw and connect the plays and I remember thinking right in that moment as if someone had handed me a script – I am going to marry that boy someday.

  After the scrimmage, I ran down to catch up with him. And much to my surprise, so did several other girls. I pushed my way to the front.

  “Hey you. How goes it? Congrats on making first string Quarter back for varsity. That means we’re gonna see quite a lot of each other.”

  He barely noticed me now.

  “Yeah cool.”

  One thing about my personality that has always served me well is that I never lose. I thought, oh no he did not just ignore me.

  I walked right over to him and barked at him.

  “What, are you so conceited now that you think you’re too good for me? Better get over yourself. You haven’t won a game yet. And you better hope I’m cheering loud and not just saving face because it’s fourth quarter and you blow it. That wouldn’t be a good look. Oh, and by the way, I won’t cheer you on if you suck. See ya.”

  I stormed away letting him watch my ass. Then I looked back. He was watching me leave. And right there I knew I had him. I look away and kept walking. By the time I made it to the parking lot, there he was.

  “Hey Sarah. What was that about? You took it the wrong way I think. I’m not that guy. I’m not conceited at all. Anyway, are you still with Taylor?”

  I laughed and shook my head no.

  “Great. Want to grab coffee with me at Grecco’s? I need a huge coffee frapp or something. I’m beat. They are the best the way Martha makes them. Want to join?”

  I smiled, nodded again, and hopped on his super sexy motorcycle, leaving my car in the lot. To say I had a knack with men was an understatement.

  From that point on, we were inseparable right up until the day we married on my 21st birthday. We eloped, actually. He jumped out of bed one day after a completely epic night of lovemaking, and said:

  “Let’s just do it. Fuck it. I don’t want to wait until we have the money or your parents think we are ready. I am ready. You are ready. Let’s do it.”

  And we did it. We w
ent up to a local ski resort and hired a minister to do the do, and that was it. The chair lift on the way down said just married.

  It should have said “just out of diapers” but who knew. I thought I had it all figured out back then. Jake and I decided right away that we’d have kids. I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom and he felt really good about his options for getting a coaching job.

  He had been recruited to a top school for football and he played all four years. He didn’t make the pros as he’d hoped but he majored in sports medicine and had big dreams. Unfortunately, I really didn’t. Only the little dreams, as I'd said.

  I graduated from high school and kind of skated through college taking fluff classes and cheering. I thought maybe I’d major in accounting but when that was too hard, I opted for an associate’s degree in business.

  So, while Jake finished his last two years, I clubbed by night and cut hair or baby sat by day. It was fine, I really had no ambitions beyond having Jake’s kids and being the coach’s wife. That was my plan.

  But, as I said, plans change. Mine sure did, without any input or agreement from me. Apparently, plans don't require one's permission to change.

  Jake and I had been trying for what felt like forever to get pregnant, without success. We went to a fertility doctor who said the problem was on my end and that we probably would never be able to.

  Just like that, Jake was gone. He didn't leave so much as a note. When I tried calling, it said his number had been changed.

  And then I got divorce papers in the mail. I guess the future children and I were a package deal. Without them, Jake didn't want me.

  That was definitely a twist in plans that I wasn't expecting. And there was nothing in the world I could do to change things— Jake had made that pretty clear with his silence.

  He generously gave me some alimony in the divorce— probably to get me to agree to it, which I would have done anyway. I didn't see any point in trying to stay married to someone who didn't want to be married to me anymore. Maybe he was also trying to assuage his guilty conscious.