Though she looked beautiful as always, he had to be careful to keep his distance, both physically and emotionally. He didn't want her getting any wrong ideas about their relationship. Or lack of one. For him, things between them had ended the night they'd gone to Lacie's joint.
"So why make the trip north?" he asked.
"Sit." She gestured to the fabric-covered chair.
The flowers jumped out at him, big and ugly and as frightening to him as her somber tone of voice.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Did I ever tell you that my mother never married my father?" She let out a high-pitched laugh. "In fact she never knew who my daddy was."
They were over. Why in God's name were they talking about personal things like her past and scary notions like unmarried, pregnant women? "What's the point?"
She bent down and reached for his hand, "I don't know how to tell you this-“
"Just say it" His heart pounded a mile a minute and icy tentacles of fear crept up his spine.
"I know we used protection but…I'm pregnant." As if on cue, large teardrops fell from her already watery eyes. "And before you ask, yes it's yours."
"I wasn't going to ask," he lied.
She gave him a forced smile. "You're a good and decent man," she said softly and for a split second, guilt for distrusting her crept into his gut.
Then he reminded himself that this was a woman who'd slept with more ballplayers than just him. He'd never asked what she did when he was out of town, which had been most of the time, and she'd never offered details. He should have questioned, he realized now when it was too damned late. She was placing the responsibility squarely in his lap.
Damian was soaking in sweat, worse than when he played in Florida's sweltering heat, but somehow he maintained his composure and didn't let her see how badly his nerves had kicked in.
He ran a shaking hand through his hair. "Look Carole, you must realize this is a shock."
She nodded. "Of course I do. I've had some time to take in the news and you haven't."
"So you know I can't make any decisions right now." Hell, at the moment he couldn't even think clearly.
Only the irony of the situation swirled in his head.
He'd always been so careful. He'd always looked out for himself and the women he was with. Wasn't that the point of protection in the first place?
"Dammit!" He slammed his fisted hand against the cocktail table, rattling the drinking glasses.
Carole wrapped her arms around him and laid her head on his shoulder. To her credit, she didn't try anything sexual. She merely touched him, emphasizing that they were in this together.
He patted her back uselessly. He didn't know how to help her, let alone how to help himself. "I need to go."
She rose to her feet "I understand."
He drew himself upright. "I'll be in touch," he managed to promise.
"I know you will. You're a good man, Damian."
Her calm behavior was baffling him and he narrowed his gaze. The Carole he knew was all about how she looked and what she could get out of life. She epitomized the idea of me.
So why didn't the idea of having an unwanted baby have her ranting and raving? And why did she keep extolling his virtues? The answer was obvious. Because she wanted something from him. Whether it was marriage or money or something else, he wasn't going to sit here and try to figure out what right now. He needed to be alone to decide what he wanted.
Damian headed for the door and only began breathing again when he was solo in the hallway. Out of the blue, his entire life was in upheaval and nothing made sense.
One thing he did know with unqualified certainty- he didn't want to spend the rest of his life saddled with Carole as his wife.
MICKI NEEDED A SOCIAL LIFE. She needed something to think about other than her time on an island off the Florida coast with Damian. Not even waiting for Lola to talk to Spencer Atkins about a merger was enough to distract Micki's thoughts. Resigned to getting no agency work done while she was in this kind of mood, she turned to personal business instead.