"I need to have a word with you."
"What about?" Blaine asked. Zara's forceful and direct tone caught him by surprise.
"You and my sister."
"What about us?"
"What's going on between the two of you? What is your relationship with each other exactly?"
"We're friends."
"Just friends?"
"Yeah, of course. Why do you ask?"
"It's probably not my business, but I'm not the kind of person that can just stand by and say nothing if there's a problem."
"What problem?"
"I live here, so I can't help seeing how things are. Every time something goes wrong with your girlfriend, you turn to my sister for someone to talk to. Then you just take off and leave her behind when you decide to try to patch things up with Reese. Do you even think about how that makes Cassie feel or do you only think about her when you need someone to talk to?"
"Of course I think of her. If Cassie ever needed someone to talk to, I'd be there for her, anytime. Does it really look that way? Like our friendship is one-sided? Because I didn't mean for it to be."
"Something here is one-sided . . .I just don't want my sister to be jerked around. I don't want her to start thinking you feel something for her that you don't."
"I'm sorry, but I didn't mean it that way, and I don't think Cassie takes it that way either. We're just friends."
"Then you need to know, so there's no misleading, that Cassie doesn't think of you in that way, as just a friend. She's totally in love with you, and if you-"
"What are you doing?" Cassie cried out. She walked into the room just in time to catch the end of Zara and Blaine's conversation and she was mortified by what she heard. "How could you?" she exclaimed before running out of the house, feeling more embarrassed than she had in her entire life.
"You're pregnant? And you don't want to be?"
Reese was stunned at Amanda's direct questioning and the emotion in her outburst. Her instinct was to deny it, but she couldn't bring herself to outright lie about it. "I- That's not really any of your business."
"How can you be so cruel?" Amanda asked furiously. "You're lucky enough to be able to have a baby of your own and you're just going to throw it away . . ." She glanced down at the informational pamphlets Reese was holding. "or destroy it?"
Reese hid the papers behind her back, ashamed.
"Do you know what I would give to be in your position? I would give anything to be pregnant. I'm willing to do anything I can to make that happen. It makes me sick to think there are women who can get pregnant without trying and who treat it like it's a problem they have to deal with and not a miracle and a blessing. Do you know how lucky you are to have this experience? What right do you have to take it for granted?"
Reese stood dumbstruck as Amanda tore into her, until she finally had the courage to stand up for herself. "What right do you have to try to tell me what I should do? You don't know anything about my life. It's my situation and my body, not yours. This is none of your business."
Reese walked off, leaving a still angry Amanda behind.
As Amanda watched Reese leave the office, she wondered how someone who seemed so smart on other issues, could be so dumb and irresponsible when it came to personal things. Then she realized she didn't really know Reese or her situation at all. She'd only encountered Reese at the office when the company needed her legal expertise. At the office she seemed to have it all together and she knew she was a good lawyer. Chances were her baby, if she chose to have it, would be intelligent too. She wondered how Reese could not think of that. Why was it always the ones who didn't want a baby who got pregnant while the ones who wanted one the most couldn't?
Suddenly Amanda had an idea. She hurried after Reese, hoping to catch her before she was gone. She had a proposal to make.
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