He Lost Me to His Best Friend novel Chapter 1

"Honey, the baby is a month old today. Can you come pick us up?" Scarlett Langley cradled her swaddled daughter, her calm tone betraying a cautious hope.

On the other end of the line, Yardley Flynn's voice was steady and devoid of emotion. "Something came up. I'll have the driver pick you and the baby up and bring you home."

Yardley had been absent for the birth and her entire postpartum recovery period, always claiming to be tied up with work. Now, as she finished her postpartum recovery, he still couldn't be there.

A lump formed in Scarlett's throat, and she fought hard to keep the tears at bay.

"...All right, I understand."

"Scarlett, you've always been independent. I know you can handle a minor thing like having a baby on your own. Keep it up. You're the best mom."

With that, Yardley hung up.

His tone, like a boss encouraging a subordinate, sent a sharp pang through her chest.

Just then, Yardley's good friend Harbour Quinn called. "Scarlett, something came up tonight. I'm so sorry, but I won't be able to make it to the christening party at the Starlight Hotel. Congratulations on the baby boy!"

Christening party? Baby boy?

Scarlett was completely bewildered. Before she could ask any questions, Harbour had already ended the call.

Her phone chimed with a message notification. Harbour had transferred thousands of dollars as a gift, but less than a minute later, he quickly retracted the payment.

[Sorry, Scarlett. My mistake. It wasn't your baby.]

Harbour quickly sent a voice note apologizing, followed by a dozen apologetic emojis.

But beneath that flurry of groveling emojis, Scarlett sensed something was terribly wrong. A horrifying suspicion instantly took root in her mind.

At eleven o'clock that morning, Scarlett, dressed in a black puffer jacket and wearing a hat and a medical mask, arrived promptly at the entrance of the grand ballroom at Bay City's Starlight Hotel.

The entrance was bustling with people coming and going. A massive poster of a baby stood by the doors, reading: Caleb Croft's Christening Party. The guests milling about were complete strangers to Scarlett.

Assuming it was a false alarm, she let out a breath of relief and turned to leave.

But right at that moment, a familiar voice drifted from behind her. "You just finished your postpartum recovery. Be good and let me hold the baby. Just wait, I've prepared an incredibly grand gift for his christening."

Scarlett's footsteps faltered. She whipped around and saw, not far in the distance, a man taking a plump, fair baby from a woman's arms. That man was none other than her husband, Yardley, who had been missing in action for a whole month!

[Five months already? You've had such an easy pregnancy. Not whiny like other women at all. I'm proud of you.]

[Seeing you walk so briskly every day with no morning sickness, a heavier workload shouldn't be a problem. You've got this. I only trust you to oversee the designs.]

...

In reality, throughout her entire pregnancy, Scarlett had endured every grueling symptom in the book—the morning sickness, the swollen ankles, the spikes in blood pressure and blood sugar, the fainting spells. She had suffered through it all.

It was Yardley's constant words of encouragement and praise that had given her the strength to grit her teeth and push through. From conception to delivery, she hadn't taken more than two days off. She had sometimes doubted him, feeling his attitude was too much like a boss and entirely lacking the tender care a husband should provide.

But that was simply the dynamic she and Yardley had always shared, and she was used to it. He was like that with everyone, or so she had thought.

Until just now. Until she saw with her own eyes how gently he took the baby from another woman's arms, heard his soft, caring whispers, and watched him carefully support the woman's waist, terrified she might trip.

Only then did it dawn on her that he was fully capable of being tender and devoted. He just didn't want to waste that devotion on her.

Realizing this, Scarlett's chest ached with an unbearable agony, as if her heart had been ripped out.

She moved on autopilot, following the flow of guests into the ballroom. She needed to see for herself exactly what kind of surprise her husband had secretly prepared for another man's wife and child.