“No. I’m at lunch,” he said.
And glanced over to see Cassie watching him. Like she could somehow see that he hadn’t been enough for the woman on the other end of the line. He hadn’t been romantically interested in her, where he could have been, and he hadn’t been enough to attract her interest, either. Not in that way.
Elaina was asking if he wanted to do dinner. Another perfectly normal question between them. He agreed. And rang off.
“Your ex-wife?” Cassie asked, scooting to the edge of the booth, her bag on her shoulder.
“Yes.”
“Everything okay?”
He stood as she did, pulling cash for the bill out of his pocket and leaving it on the table as he grabbed his credit card. “Fine,” he told her, the truth loud and clear in his voice as he followed her out.
She continued to be friendly as they walked back to their vehicles. His truck was just beyond her car, so he stopped as she split from him.
“Thanks for lunch,” she said, turning at the driver’s door to look back at him, standing just off the rear bumper.
“What time do you want me to pick you up on Wednesday?”
She hesitated, and he waited for her to tell him she’d changed her mind and would go alone. “I’d really like to be there, Cassie,” he said softly. But the decision was hers.
She nodded. Connected gazes with him for a second, and then said, “Seven-thirty in the morning would be great. I need to get there early for prep time...” She waited only long enough for him to nod and then was in her vehicle with the door shut, reaching for the safety belt.
He’d been dismissed. Or felt as though he had. And didn’t blame her. Or Elaina, either.
Didn’t blame anyone.
He just didn’t like how things had changed between them the second Elaina’s call came through. And wondered how much of the change had really happened and how much he’d read into the situation.
He knew Elaina thought he should make more of himself...it didn’t mean she was right. Or that Cassie, another highly educated woman, would agree with her. It also didn’t mean that if he’d gone to college, become some high-powered real estate magnate or developer, that their marriage would have worked.
His brother had been the love of her life. He’d known that going in.
And the knowing didn’t keep feelings of failure from his doorstep. Because maybe...if he’d been more, different somehow... Elaina could have fallen for him, too. Or at least found him attractive. In a husbandly kind of way.
He hadn’t gone into the marriage expecting that kind of attraction, and yet, somewhere along the way, he’d begun to doubt himself when it didn’t happen.
Shaking his head, he started his truck, attempting to rid himself of the malarkey.
He was who he was.
And that was going to be enough.
Chapter Five
Things might be fine for Wood. They weren’t fine for Cassie. Sitting there with Wood, talking about movies and jobs and games on their phones...she’d forgotten that he was just a medical part of her insemination process. For a second or two, she’d even forgotten that she was pregnant. She’d been a woman enjoying a meal alone with a man.
A man she found incredibly attractive. A man whose gaze could settle the fears and doubts pushing up from inside her.
A man who’d paid for her lunch.
Kind of like a date.
And therein lay her problem. For a second there, she’d felt like she was on a date. Wished it had been a date. For a second...
And then his ex-wife had called. Bringing reality crashing back down around her. He hadn’t asked her out on a date. He’d asked her to lunch to discuss their situation. He had his own life.
Still shared a residence with his ex-wife. Still took her calls and...