“Great,” she answered brightly. “It’s laid-back. Everything is very quiet.”

“Good.” He stood for another uncomfortable moment. When it stretched on too long, Jamie gestured at their to-go boxes.

“Can I offer you a slice of pizza?”

The fact that Jamie had spoken seemed to jolt Victor back to reality. “No. Thank you. I just wanted to say hello. Have a good afternoon.”

Olivia held her breath as he walked away. After a few seconds had passed, she let it out slowly. “I’m sorry. That must be weird.”

Jamie shrugged one shoulder. “It’s fine. But I know it’s upsetting for you. Seeing her…”

Olivia frowned. Actually, it hadn’t been upsetting. Not this time. In the past she’d always burned with a terrible mix of betrayal and discomfort and hatred, but now… Now she just felt vaguely ashamed of him. And of how much she’d given up for him. “No,” she said. “It was just…fine. I didn’t feel much at all.”

“Mmm,” he said, his eyes darting toward the pizza boxes, then toward the front door. He didn’t meet Olivia’s gaze.

“Jamie? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I already paid, I just need to sign the slip.”

“Okay, but, why are you being all shifty? Are you having a fling with my ex-husband?”

He barely cracked a smile at that, so Olivia reached to touch his wrist as the hair stood up on her arms. She didn’t like this feeling. He was lying, and this kind of obvious lying foretold disaster when it came to charming men.

“What’s going on? The truth.”

He sighed and set down the pizza box he’d been rearranging on the table. “This is just a theory. I shouldn’t even say anything.” His gaze was soft with worry when he finally looked her in the eye.

“What kind of theory?” Olivia asked, easing her body back into her chair to brace herself. “About what?”

“Did you notice…?”

“What?”

Jamie cleared his throat, and his eyes darted around one last time. He slumped a little and sighed in defeat. “When Allison walked past, she was moving so quickly that her dress sort of blew back into her body, and her stomach looked…” He gestured toward his belly, forming a little round bump with his hands.

Shock slammed into Olivia so hard that she gasped. “No fucking way.” She hadn’t meant to curse, and she hoped the words had run together enough that she didn’t offend the couple next to them. “I mean…are you sure?”

“No, I’m not sure, but…let’s put it this way. If I saw you looking like that about five months from now, I’d shit myself.”

“Holy crap,” Olivia breathed. She racked her brain for the memory of what Allison had worn to that last party. A red dress. Gorgeous and low cut, but it had been rather flowy from the bust down. “Oh, my God, do you think it’s possible?”

“It depends on whether they’ve consummated their courtship or not, I guess.”

Olivia couldn’t believe it, but she managed a smile at that. Jamie really was an amazing man.

“If it’s true…will you be okay? I mean, were you two trying…?”

“What? Us? No, we weren’t.” Olivia was a bit lost, trying to figure out the answer to his first question. Would she be okay? Did she have a choice? If Victor had a child with another woman… If he remarried… In the end, all she could find within herself was a feeling of pity for everyone involved.

“You know what? I think I would be okay. But the question is, will Victor be okay? We weren’t trying to have kids because he didn’t want them.”

“Do you?”

She wasn’t sure if that was an honest question or a test, but she chose to tell the truth. “If I could, then yes, I’d like kids. But I’m not a man, and I’m about to run into a big brick wall.”

“Are you talking about your age? Thirty-five is still pretty young for starting a family these days.”

“It might be young society-wise, but it’s not young to Mother Nature.” Once she’d realized her marriage was over, she’d done a little reading. “I’d need to know where I stood. What my future would look like, long term.”

Tags: Victoria Dahl Donovan Brothers Brewery Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net