Browsing the aisles, she added shampoo, lotion and dental floss to her basket. It wasn’t until she passed the feminine products that she stopped cold. She’d been in town almost four weeks and in Las Vegas three days before that without having her period. Whipping out her phone, she keyed up her calendar and tracked backward.
She should have started two weeks ago. Either she’d skipped her period because she was stressed, or she was pregnant. How was that possible? She and Sebastian had been careful.
A wave of dizziness struck her. Except for that first time. They’d been so caught up in the moment neither one of them had thought about protection. But to get pregnant after one mistake? That just wasn’t realistic.
She needed to find out for sure, and she needed to know tonight. But she couldn’t buy the test here. Everyone would know. Her father would find out. She’d head over a couple towns and hit a pharmacy where no one would recognize her.
In a fog, Missy paid for her purchases and headed to the truck. Forty-five minutes later she sat in the bathroom of a roadside diner and checked her watch for the fifteenth time in thirty seconds.
She was waiting for a blue bar, but she didn’t really need it. She’d convinced herself she was carrying Sebastian’s child. Time rushed at her like a charging bull. Regret squeezed her eyes shut. It was like high school all over again. Except she hadn’t been pregnant then, just the victim of a vicious rumor. Not that it had stopped her boyfriend from dumping her when word got out.
And if she could count on one thing, it was that Sebastian would not react well to her being pregnant. He would think she’d done it on purpose. All her talk of getting married and babies. He would believe she’d tricked him, and who could blame him? It’s what his ex-wife had done.
But he’d marry her. And spend the rest of his life resenting her the way he resented his first wife. Missy couldn’t bear that. She loved him too much to put him through it. So, she wouldn’t tell him.
Her phone rang. It was a Houston number, but not Sebastian’s.
“Missy,” Max Case boomed. “I hope your father is doing better.”
“Yes, much. Thank you.” She stared at the stick and watched the blue bar coalesce.
Positive. Pregnant.
“Glad to hear it. Do you still want the director of communications position?”
She couldn’t be pregnant. She didn’t have a husband. No job meant no income, no health coverage. What was she going to do?
“I’m sorry, Max, you broke up.” What had he said? “Could you say that again?”
“I asked if you’re still interested in Dean’s job.”
This answered the problem of her job situation, but what about Sebastian? A second ago she’d decided that she wouldn’t tell Sebastian he was going to be a father. Could she have his baby and stay working around him at the same time?
“Missy?” Max prompted. “Are you still there?”
“Yes.”
“So, what do you say?”
What could she say? “I’m still interested in the job. I’m just worried about Sebastian’s reaction.”
“Don’t let it stop you from what will be a wonderful career move.”
“You’re right. I’ll take the job. And thank you.”
“When are you coming back?”
She scrubbed her cheeks free of tears and shook her shoulders like a dog shedding water. With her spine as stiff as she could make it, she exited the bathroom and headed for the truck.
“I’ll head home Wednesday,” she said, wishing she could linger in Crusade and hide from her troubles a little longer.
“I’ll see you in the office on Thursday.”
“Max, can you let me tell Sebastian about the job?”
“If that’s what you want.”
“It is.”