My Fiancé's Childhood Sweetheart Chapter 1

I'd been away on a business trip for half a month. The second my plane touched down, I rushed straight home.

On the way, I tried calling my fiancé, Brandon , a bunch of times, but he didn't pick up.

I figured I'd stop trying and just surprise him when I got home.

But when I used my key to open the door, for a second, I thought I’d walked into the wrong apartment.

Why was there a woman inside? And a baby?

* * *

I stood there in the doorway, luggage handle still in my grip, completely stunned.

"Hey, Lynn, you're back?" Brandon greeted me like nothing was weird. "Pam Tong had a fight with her husband, and she just had the baby, so she's crashing here for a few days."

He looked totally casual. "Actually, since you haven't even taken your shoes off yet, could you run out and grab some stuff? The baby still needs a lot."

I couldn't catch my breath and snapped at him.

"What do you mean? Did you even talk to me about this?"

"Look, we can talk after you get back with the stuff," Brandon said, trying to nudge me out the door.

Just then, the baby started wailing.

It looked so tiny, like it was just born. I bit back my anger. Fine. I’d go get the stuff first, then deal with this.

He handed me a long list – formula, diapers, changing pads, everything.

There's a baby supply store just down the block from our building. Walking there, I got angrier and angrier.

Pam Tong was Brandon’s childhood friend, the one he grew up with. When we first started dating, we fought about her constantly.

She always seemed to tag along on our dates. Brandon bought her gifts for holidays, same as me. Whenever we hung out with his friends, they'd always tease Brandon and Pam about being a couple.

The worst time was during a game of Truth or Dare. Pam was dared to kiss a guy in the room, and she went straight for Brandon.

Right after, she turned to me and said, "Lynn, sorry, couldn't help it, Bran and I are just that close, you know? You're not mad, right?"

Whenever I brought her up during arguments, Brandon would brush it off. "If we were going to get together, we would have ages ago. We're just buddies. You're being way too sensitive."

Luckily, she got a boyfriend not long after and moved out of state with him. Things quieted down for a while after that.

So why was she back now?! And staying at my place postpartum?!

When I got back with the bags, I swallowed my rage and planned to go see her.

But Brandon stopped me. "Don't go in there yet. You just came in from outside, you'll bring a chill in. She's still recovering, you know."

That was it. I yanked my arm away. "Are you insane? How could you let her stay here to recover?"

"Come on, she's a friend, just helping her out, what's the big deal? She fought with her husband, had nowhere else to go."

Brandon looked completely unbothered. "We'll sleep in the spare room. Let her have the master bedroom. She'll leave after she's recovered."

"And now that you're back," he continued, "she just gave birth, dealing with all that postpartum stuff… messy. And I'm clumsy with babies, not like you women. You can help take care of her and the kid."

I was so furious I actually calmed down.

"You want me, an unmarried woman with no kids, to take care of someone I barely know, who just had a baby? Are you out of your mind?"

I grabbed my suitcase handle again.

"Good thing I haven't unpacked. I'm staying somewhere else tonight. Tomorrow, I don't want to see her in this apartment."

With that, I slammed the door behind me.