The 5-Year Plan (Friends to Lovers Romance Book 1) Read Free Page B

Victoria, she had to admit a touch of jealousy—Sue might complain about the diapers and teething, but there were times Victoria wished they could swap places. Despite their hectic schedules, they’d managed to hold on to their friendship. Sue was a good bouncing board for a lot of Victoria’s ideas, and she always gave great advice. Besides, it was fun to sometimes see a flash of jealousy on Sue’s face when Victoria talked about work.
    Sliding into a seat, Victoria smiled. “I thought you texted that you’d be late?”
    Sue pulled a face. She’d cut her hair again and the short Pixie style suited her narrow face and made her brown eyes look even bigger. “Almost. Liam threw a vase on the floor just as I was about to step out. Naturally, I had to calm him down, but the babysitter said she’d clean up the mess. I swear that boy is getting naughtier with each passing week.”
    Victoria recalled the cherubic face of Sue’s boy—all pudgy cheeks and gooey grins. He had Sue’s eyes and his dad’s strong chin. Envy crawled into her chest and clamped down. She wanted that kind of domestic bliss, the cute baby, a happy family. But it looked as if this particular dream would have to wait. “It can’t be worse than the chaos in the office.” Victoria gave Sue a run down on the information leak.
    “Management must be banging their heads against the wall. That’s terrible.” Sue ordered a wine spritzer. Victoria toyed with the idea of the same, but went for a raspberry ice tea instead. When their drinks arrived, Sue asked, “So who is suspect number one?”
    “More like number none. No one has a clue. Trent has his own ideas. He thinks someone may be hacking into the system.”
    Sue opened the menu. “Sadly, it’s possible. What’s even sadder is I still can’t lose those last ten pounds of baby fat. It’s going to be salad for me.”
    Victoria ordered the same and then leaned in closer to Sue. “Not everyone is good with computers. Hacking into a system undetected would require skills. Somehow, I just don’t think that’s the case here. And Trent—he may be lazy, but he’s good with computer. I can’t see him leaving a hole that someone could use.”
    “Maybe it’s just an intimate knowledge of the current system that’s being exploited. Did you discuss any of this with your boss?”
    “Peter? No. I don’t want to want him to tell me to leave it to security. And given the source of the idea, that is Trent, I’d rather keep my mouth shut. If it wasn’t for Trent, I might have caught the thief last night.”
    “What?”
    Their salads arrived. After the waiter left, Victoria’s gave a rundown on last night’s events. Sue laughed. “All that was missing was the black stretch outfits.”
    Victoria wrinkled her nose. “Not on me. They’d make my hips look huge.”
    “Oh, like you have to worry. But surely, you didn’t expect to catch the thief in the office. How would you even know it wasn’t someone working late? But I’m bummed I’m missing out on all your fun. One more year and I swear I am getting back to work. I’ve done my share of diaper changes, wiping up vomit from the floor, and rocking a child to sleep. Let Shane do his work now. I told him he should take off a year and take care of Liam.”
    Since her husband was a lawyer with a thriving practice, Victoria didn’t see that happening any time soon. “Why don’t you hire a nanny?”
    Sue wrinkled her brow. “I don’t know…it’s hard to leave my baby with someone I don’t know. Besides, Liam will be old enough for preschool next year. But yeah! I do miss work like crazy. It’s not easy sitting at home while you have all the fun.”
    “What happened to the joy of motherhood?”
    “Still there.” Sue popped a lettuce leaf into her mouth. “But I don’t want my brain to rot. It’s very sad that I know more about SpongeBob SquarePants than I do about the current stock market numbers.”
    “You should think of yourself as