Best Friend’s Daddy – Accidental Marriage & Surprise Pregnancy Romance

Chapter 1-2

Two years later

I FLINCH AT THE SUDDEN burst of laughter around me, drawing me out of my thoughts, and I look behind for the source of the sound. The fog clears and relief trickles through when I realize it’s just Ryan and Jess. They’re my friends. Friends who wouldn’t hurt me, unlike the people in my past. The only friends I truly let in, because they’ve been in my life before the disaster ruined the prettier parts of me.

I’ve known Jess since we were in kindergarten - by all means and definitions that makes her my best friend, despite us growing up to become polar opposites. True, we are both interested in marketing. But, with baking being my religion and the pursuit of new recipes my holy grail, I study new trends with the goal of opening my own bakery chain one day.

Jess? Well, Jess is her own religion, her brand having a hundred thousand followers and counting. Clothes, accessories, lips, hair, makeup, nails, boobs - the whole sassy shebang. I guess what Jess markets is... herself? And she does a bloody damn good job of doing so; her IG and Vlogs are runway success stories. After all, at first glance, her beauty on a scale of one to ten, the girl is an eleven.

While I do try to keep up, those trends don’t excite my old soul. Maybe I’m stuck in the past - in more ways than one - while Jess is all about the ‘now’. Regardless, I’ve been her cheerleader since she switched from pigtails to purple highlights, she’s attended bakery classes with me since forever, and we stick up for each other—because that is what best friends do.

Ryan, on the other hand, is the closest male friend I have; a buddy I met and clicked with in our high school library. Such a cliché. There is a twist in the tale, though. He has a crush on me that’s almost as old as our friendship. However, that doesn’t stop me from inviting him over to hang out with us, because he’s never been a sleaze-ball about his feelings for me. I appreciate him not being a jerk about being friend zoned, either.

Of course, he is not without faults. Being cleverer than the average Joe does not entitle him to look down upon everyone through his black-rimmed spectacles, something he often does. His words can cut sharper than glass and his ego is too big to see an issue with the way he treats people. But mostly, we get along like two peas in a pod.

At times, I actually feel sorry for him. Unrequited crush aside, he has bigger woes that he ‘prefers not to talk about’. Typical. But from what I’ve learned over the years, it’s somehow connected his estranged millionaire dad who refuses to sponsor his dream. I imagine that’s why we never go to his place.

Just like how Jess and I are polar opposites, Jess and Ryan are polar opposites, too. He has no patience for flash, and she is all about the flash. Regardless, we are an odd trio, and we somehow make it work. In fact, there are times they’ve been invaluable to me. Had it not been for them, I might have spiraled into bat s**t crazy territory after Mom’s passing and then the whole ordeal with Dominic and his asshole friends.

Frankly, they’re the closest I’ve had to a healthy relationship. Mom? Well, my relationship with Mom was shaky on the best days. On one hand, she was all I had growing up after dad left, so I was grateful not to become a foster home statistic. However, unfit moms can do as much damage as foster homes can. Dad’s abandonment left her insides resembling a frayed bundle of nerves, and she made me the target of her ever-growing insecurities.

“If you’re too fat, people will bully you.”

“If we’re too poor, we won’t matter.”

“Baking is not a real job. No one will ever take you seriously.”

And those were the nice ones. Some days I wondered if I was really her kid.

Because of her negative attitude, I got into innumerable arguments—both for her and with her—indoors and out in public. By the time I came to realize how toxic our relationship was, she was gone. But like a legacy, she left behind those insecurities deep within me, and I catch myself wrestling down her voice every now and again.

“Hey,” Ryan’s soft voice breaks through my daze, again pulling me back to the present where we are browsing around a bookstore downtown. He replaces the tech magazine he’d been rifling through. “Any luck with the job hunting?”

My eyes shoot up from the colorful pages of the pastry book in my hand. “Nope. Not yet.” It’s been a week since the company I was temping as an admin-assistant got shut down. I need a job. Desperately. My college tuition and other expenses are about to start piling up. But, like Ryan, I prefer not to talk about my money woes.

“OMG, Hannah Plower’s new book is out!” Jess suddenly shrieks, startling me. She jerks the celebrity baker’s book from my reach when I try to grab it.

“You should become a social media influencer with me. I have an idea!” Her blue eyes brighten, glimmering like crystals. “You can do cute little cooking videos! Like mint-choc-chip ice cream with coffee... or ramen hacks.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that.”

“Come on. It’s the best idea ever. Although... hmm...” She scrutinizes my baggy outfit, scrunching her face like she just stepped in dog s**t. “First, we need to fix that mess.”

I push the glasses up my nose before giving her a frown. “What mess? I look just fine, thank you very much.”

She’s wearing a red crop top and ripped black shorts that probably cost twice as much as my phone bill. It is a very good look, especially when accentuated with those designer shoes and purse, but it is still too much for a stop at the bookstore. Meanwhile, I’m wearing a flannel shirt that’s half-a-size larger than my petite frame and a pair of jeans that is yesterday’s fashion.

Next to her, I must look like a farmer. I’ve never been fashionable, unable to coordinate colors and styles. I usually prefer trawling through spice racks rather than clothes racks, anyway; at the moment, I don’t have a paycheck to do something as basic as that. But even if I did, I wouldn’t be splurging on red crop tops and ripped mini shorts. Jessica Pruitt can pull ‘sexy’ off. I can’t.

“I think I’ll pass on the vlogging offer, Jess.”

“Imagine Ash giggling on screen, like you or one of your many blonde sidekicks do?” Ryan mocks, flashing me a playful smile before looking back at Jess. “I doubt your bimbo — I mean brainy viewers would approve.”

Jess blows him a condescending kiss, then she shuts him and the conversation down by sticking up her middle finger.

While I’m clamping down an incoming chuckle, Ryan rolls his eyes. “I don’t know how your boyfriend puts up with you.”

“He doesn’t... which is why I’ve kicked him out,” Jess quips before popping her bubblegum. “You can have him if you want. I can put a word in for you.”

My laughter dies down, and I bite my tongue so I say nothing. It’s a trigger topic from both sides. Jess had been teasing Ryan since we caught him on a gay porn site in high school. So what if he was a little bi-curious? Weren’t we all? Ryan tries to act like he doesn’t care about her teasing, but the ticking muscle in his jaw tells me everything I need to know.

Also, I don’t know how she does it, but Jess manages to snag a different rich guy every month. Politicians, CEOs, celebrities, you name the profession, and I guarantee she’s been with someone from the industry. But she’s a little too adventurous, which will eventually f**k her up. I just know it.

“Stay away from boys. Boys only want one thing.”

Should have listened to the one thing Mom was right about. Anyway, a broken heart and many tears later, I’m listening now. Trust me, I’m staying a safe mile away from the whole boyfriend bullshit.

Don’t get me wrong. All hope’s not been lost. I don’t plan on dying a virgin with a dozen cats in my will. I am still approached by guys, although I’m no longer the girl I was in college. I don’t care about looking pretty as long as I’m comfortable. And in this town, beauty and comfort rarely go together. I don’t know what they see in me and I don’t really care. But even though I turn them down, there’s still a romantic hiding somewhere inside who believes fairytales are not a complete myth.

However, guys don’t feature in fairytale endings - men do. Gentlemen. And I’m waiting for the right man, someone with maturity and experience. One whose idea of a date is spending a quiet night at my kitchen after a walk in the park, rather than at a club drowning in booze. One who values stability just as much he values s*x. One whose rivers of passion and loyalty run deep. A Prince Charming. Of the million men, there has to be one out there for me.