The Baby Arrangement (The Daycare Chronicles 3)

He had to let her go. This was their life.

“Thursday afternoon would work better for me,” he shot out at her.

She stopped, nodded, then reached for the door handle and was gone.

Leaving him, once again, feeling like a jerk.

Mallory was more excited than nervous—and eerily calm, too—for most of that week. Her plans were solid. Right. She had no doubt about that.

Just as Bray’s new plans were right for him.

She didn’t doubt that, either.

Hence the calm. Three years ago they’d chosen to live life on individual paths, rather than one path together. It had been the right choice for both of them.

No doubt on that score.

So why was she so incredibly sad all of a sudden? Not overall. Not all day. Or every minute. But in bouts. Unexpectedly throughout the day, for a minute or two.

L.A. was only two and a half hours away. Knowing Braden, he’d still be in San Diego at least once or twice a week. He wasn’t going to leave the San Diego headquarters hanging.

Unless...

Was he planning to sell the complex? Would the new owner raise her rates to something she couldn’t afford without passing on higher fees to her clients? Many of her clients worked in the building and couldn’t afford any higher fees. Would some of the smaller businesses be forced to move? Would she?

She couldn’t believe he’d do such a thing.

And yet, things were changing so drastically. She was taking very real steps to have a family again. To be a mother.

Braden was not only supporting her, but doing everything he could to make the way easier for her.

She had no business putting any kind of a guilt trip on him about his plans.

But maybe she was a little more on edge than she might have been when they met in the parking lot of Braden Property Management Thursday after lunch. He’d suggested they drive to the clinic together. Considering the distance, she couldn’t come up with a reason why they shouldn’t. It made absolutely no sense to take two cars from San Diego all the way to Marie Cove.

Coming from work, he was still in his suit, looking confident—and too sexy for her immediate peace of mind. She’d changed from jeans and a Bouncing Ball polo shirt to a calf-length, colorful, flowing skirt and a short-sleeved, figure-hugging purple shirt with sandals.

The ladies who worked for her knew she had a doctor’s appointment. They didn’t know why. No one did. Not even Tamara.

When she was pregnant, she’d share her news. Until then, she needed to keep things low key.

They got in Braden’s dark blue luxury SUV without discussing whose car they’d take. The vehicle was new since their divorce. She’d ridden in it a handful of times. The tissue holder attached to the passenger-side sun visor was one she’d purchased for him years before.

Kind of ironic, considering that her crying—and thus needing tissues—had contributed to the reasons for their divorce.

“Thank you for doing this,” she said as he maneuvered through traffic and pulled onto the highway heading north.

The appointment ahead was bound to be awkward for him, going into a room with the express purpose of...

Yes, well, she wouldn’t be there and needed to steer her mind away from that thought. He’d be having a somewhat personal medical procedure. Administered by himself.

Details not her concern. But she couldn’t help thinking about that particular part of his anatomy. She knew it well. Had loved it well.

Again, not her business.

Her business came immediately after his. A short procedure. And then, by the time she was on the opposite side of that very highway later that afternoon, she could be pregnant!

She wouldn’t know, of course. It would take a couple of weeks before she could hope for accurate results from a home pregnancy test.