An Arranged Pregnancy with a Jerk

Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Meet the Boss

After the initial shock, and Connor stopped choking on his food, the evening was a little tense. Both Allison and Connor spent the better part of the night screaming at their parents on the phone and arguing over what to do. At last they fell asleep on the couch watching late night re-runs of Full House. 

When she woke up, Allison barely had time to get ready. She had to skip the shower and use extra strength deodorant and curl her hair about five times to get it to stay. She scrubbed all remaining food stains off her teeth and face, and even managed to put on a little make-up to hide the circles under her eyes. At last Allison headed out the door, five minutes late. Good thing she set her clocks ten minutes early.

Driving to the vet's office was interesting. She found myself yelling at every speeding driver and stopping completely for at least five seconds at every stop sign and became an extremely considerate yet annoying driver. By the time she actually got there, even Allison was annoyed at her driving. (I mean, honestly, we all know that everyone hates the woman that makes them twenty seconds later on the freeway because she is obeying the law, right? Yeah, that's what I thought.)

"Sorry I'm late, Cathie," she said breathlessly to the woman behind the front desk. 

Cathie looked up and shot her a fleeting, concerned look, but can't hide her smile. "You're still early, actually. But you're late by your standards I suppose. So... how'd Connor take the news?"

Allison stared at her blankly. Cathie got a guilty look on her face and holds up the phone. "I forgot to disconnect the phone when she called. Sorry. Do you want to talk about it?"

Allison laughed, but it sounded cold and empty. "Of course not. i've been talking about it to many people for the last eight hours. The last thing I want to do is talk about it." She threw her bag on the chair by the window and hopped up on the counter. After a long pause, she finally said what had been nagging at her. "But she's being crazy, right?"

Cathie looked up, and Allison continued. "I mean, she's gone completely off the deep end. A baby?! A baby is a major life decision, one that a couple should make together when they're ready, not when their parents decide it's time. And I can't believe they're springing this on us just like that! Poor Connor started choking on his dinner! Which was delicious, I must add. But I'm right, aren't I?"

Cathie looked flustered, but regained her composed expression quickly. "RIght about what? That having a baby is crazy?"

Allison groaned. "No, about my parents making us have one!"

"Well, of course it's crazy! In fact, I've never even heard of anyone ever doing that! An arranged marriage, that's fairly common-"

"Ha! Fairly common... why don't you get one then?"

"-but an arranged baby? What does that even mean?"

Allison flopped down on the counter. "Exactly! LIke i'm ready to be a mother!"

Before they could continue, Allison's boss walked through the front door looking disgruntled. Allison quickly jumped off the counter and pretended to be rearranging some papers on the desk. After a moment of glancing at the message board, he looked up. "Ahh, you're here Miss...."

"Mrs. Danielson. It's great to finally meet you, I'm so sorry I started while you were on vacation! Did you at least have a good time?"

He scoffed. "No, of course not. My ex-wife decided to show up and ruin everything, and on top of that i was worried about my vet clinic being in the hands of an amateur!"

Allison stepped back as he charged through the office. He turned as he reached the back door that led to the exam rooms and the rest of the building. "Well, are you coming or not?"

She barely had time to shoot Cathie a helpless look before she was whisked away to start her new life. "Well, Miss. Danielson, we'll just call you Allison, then. I'm Doctor Barret, that's BAR-RET. Not BARRAYE. Not like the french hat. Let's not mistake that, alright?" Allison nodded quickly but he didn't notice- he was already in the dog area. "Now, this is the area where we keep the-"

"Please, sir, I'm sorry to interrupt, but I've already had a tour and I know where everything is. I've been working on keeping the post-op animals in healthy condition."

Doctor Barret gave her a condescending look and left the room, leaving Allison to scramble to catch up behind him. "Well, then, seeing as how you're a pro around here, why don't we move you up to a more challenging job, eh?" Allison looked around and noticed they were back in the reception area. "You will be in charge of manning the front desk today. Cathie will look after the animals in back. Have fun."

He walked away without saying another word. Cathie laughed at Allison's face and grabbed her shoulders. "He's great, right?"

"Yeah. Great," Allison mumbled without enthusiasm.

"He really is a great vet and he can be a, hmm, okay person when he's not in a bad mood, like today. Well, I should probably get back to the animals in back... will you be okay?"

Allison nodded, still reeling from the sudden change. Cathie walked away quickly and Allison sat down slowly in the comfy, cushioned chair. Glancing at the clock, she noticed that she had five minutes of free time before the clinic opened. She looked down and read the appointments for today and brought her head up quickly. Of course.

Her mother had an appointment in five minutes.