Gathering the supplies he’d need out of the exam room drawer, Darby handed Blake a ten milliliter syringe with a large-gauge needle attached. Their fingers brushed, their eyes met. Her breath caught and held.
“Blake?” She couldn’t hold back the emotion bubbling inside her. They hadn’t touched since that weekend, and instantly Darby was filled with longing, filled with memories of their making love.
His gaze narrowed, grew cold. He turned his back to her, explaining quite loudly to Mr. Rogers what he planned to do.
He’d snubbed her, rejected her all over again.
Darby’s hope that things would get better between them died a painful death.
She’d taken a chance the weekend of the reunion, and she’d lost. Lost not only the hope that Blake might someday love her, but lost him from her life completely—because she couldn’t stand this hostile environment.
Couldn’t stand to breathe the same air. Not when seeing him, smelling his spicy scent, hearing his voice, only served to remind her of what could have been had he only loved her.
She left the room, intending to check on Mr. Rogers’ lab results. Instead she found herself dialing Mandy’s number.
“Coulson Realty.” Mandy had gone to work at her father’s real estate company. “Mandy Coulson speaking.”
“Mandy, this is Darby Phillips. Is Mack Donahue’s place still for sale? I want to make an offer.”
The following week, Darby stared at the blue lines on the test.
Pregnant.
How could she be pregnant? She and Blake had used protection. Maybe the test was wrong. Although most accurate with an early-morning sample, she hadn’t waited. From the moment she’d realized her period hadn’t arrived last week, not knowing had driven her crazy.
No doubt about it. Even with the time of day, and only being a week late, the positive had been strong and almost immediate. Hcg hormone was present in her urine.
The implications caused her head to spin.
Pregnant.
She was having a baby.
There was a baby growing inside her body this very minute.
Her, a mother.
She’d have to schedule an appointment with her gynecologist.
She’d have to tell Blake.
Blake.
They’d made a baby together.
How would he react?
Not well. With each day that passed they grew further apart, making her long for the days of his teasing, making her long for his touch.
She missed him, hadn’t realized just how much time she’d spent with Blake until he’d blaringly exited her life.
Oh, he was still physically around. They worked in the same office, did rounds at the same hospital, but he went out of his way to avoid her and, unable to stand the regret in his dark eyes, the wince that often followed his seeing her, she’d taken to avoiding him, too.
Not only that, but she’d signed a contract on the house and five acres of the Mack Donahue estate in Armadillo Lake, and had been trying to decide just what that meant. She missed her family, was desperately needed in Armadillo Lake, but was she really planning to move home? Was she giving up on Blake?
She kept hoping they’d slip back into the easy relationship they’d always shared. After all, time healed all wounds.
Now she knew that was an impossibility.