Friends to Lovers (Heart of Hope 6)

I held up my hands in surrender. “Stop speculating on my love life. We aren’t a couple. But…” For some reason I wasn’t sure I wanted Lora to know about the baby. It wasn’t that I was afraid she’d be mad. Or maybe I was afraid she would be and then wouldn’t help my mom.

“But?” Lora prodded.

“She’s having a baby,” I blurted.

Lora’s brow arched again.

“My baby,” I clarified, in case she didn’t understand. Which was silly. Of course, she did. Why would she be coming if she was having someone else’s baby?

“Oh.” There was no hiding her disappointment. “You forgot about birth control when you were in the SEALS?”

My jaw tightened. No, I forgot about birth control when I was yanking that sexy witch outfit off the woman who’d been bewitching for a year. Of course, I wasn’t going to tell them that.

“These things happen,” my mother said. “I know from experience.”

Jesus. This was going nowhere. I left them to chat and I took care of my mother’s list of things to do before Petal came. I purposefully avoided being alone with Lora because I didn’t want to have to talk to her about Petal and the baby. Luckily, when my mom laid down to rest, Lora said she had to go.

On Saturday night, I drove to the airport to pick up Petal. For some reason I was nervous about seeing her again. I’d been hard on her when I last saw her, and at the same time, I felt justified. She’d withheld the knowledge of my child. Her reasoning wasn’t good enough. Whether I had a fiancé or sick mother or not didn’t matter. I had a right to know.

Whether she deserved my anger or not, it was nice of her to come simply so she could meet my mother. And God, sometimes I really missed her.

I waited for her as close to the gate as I could get and steeled myself for seeing her again. When she appeared, it wasn’t pain or anger that rose to the surface, it was longing. She was on her phone, pulling a small suitcase behind her. She wore jeans and a pastel green sweater that brought out the green in her eyes and auburn of her hair.

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nbsp; When she saw me, she stopped short for a moment. She slipped her phone into her purse and simply watched me. As it turned out, I’d stopped too. Finding my momentum again, I moved to her.

“Is everything alright?” Should I hug her? She was the mother of my child. And oh, how I wanted to hold her. But she’d lied to me, so I simply stood in front of her.

“Yes. I left Libby to close to the shop by herself, but April came to help. I was just checking that everything went alright.”

“Thank you for doing that. I know it’s a lot to ask you to leave your shop. My mom is happy to be able to meet you.” I reached over and took her bag. It was odd that I was bringing her to meet my mother considering we were only friends, estranged friends at that. “I’m parked out front.”

It was cold outside, but being from North Dakota, Petal didn’t seem to notice. I helped her into the car and then started the journey home.

From the day I met her, Petal and I had no problem chatting. It was one of the things that had endeared me to her as I wasn’t known for my friendly personality. Not that I wasn’t a friendly guy, but I wasn’t very outgoing in that respect. But I’d taken to Petal instantly.

But now, an awkward silence filled the car as I drove us home. I asked her if she was hungry. No. Did she have a nice flight? Yes. She didn’t sound angry or terse, but she also wasn’t her usual effervescent self. Maybe she was tired. Or maybe she didn’t want to be here. Or maybe she was nervous. The fact that I didn’t know when in the past she’d have told me, said volumes about how broken our friendship was.

32

Petal

Leaving Libby and April to close the shop was a little nerve-wracking. Not that I didn’t trust them, but I’d never left the shop in anyone else’s hands before. What really had me shaking in my boots was seeing Cy again. Was he still angry?

When I first saw him at the airport, my heart stopped. He wore jeans and a button shirt with a jacket. Normally I saw him in suits, so it was a different look. He also looked tired and uncertain, which I’d never seen in him before. I wanted to run to him and hold him. I wanted him to hold me. But I’d ruined that by not telling him about the baby.

I was also scared to death to meet his mom. What would she think of me? I was a woman who slept with her friend and got pregnant, then didn’t tell him about it. But I owed him this, so I got on the plane, and made the just over two-hour flight.

We ended up in a neighborhood with single-family homes. He pulled up to a house.

“Shit,” he said as he parked next to another car.

“Is something wrong.” If I was nervous before, now I was downright terrified.

He sighed. “Lora is here.”

I swallowed. “Oh.” I didn’t know what to say. Did I offer to go home? Then I had a fear that he and Lora might try to get custody of the baby once they were married. I pressed my hand over my belly, making a secret vow to never let anyone take my baby from me.