Savage Cowboy (Whiskey Valley: Bryant Brothers)

Hailey rubs my back. "I'm telling you, I can't even look at him without feeling sorry for him. He's not a man that's happy. I don't know what's happened, but there's some reason that he let you go, and he's not happy about it."

I sigh deeply. "I'm going to tell him, but first I need to take a test to be sure.”

And that seems all I need to say to Hailey. She walks out the front door of the bookstore and then comes back ten minutes later with a test in her hand.

I put the closed sign on the front door, and we go up to my apartment. I pee on the little stick and then sit in the living room with Hailey, my nerves getting the best of me. She gets me a Sprite and some crackers from the kitchen, and I sit and nibble them as we wait.

"I can't look," I tell her.

She stands up. "Do you want me to?"

I think about it and shake my head. "No, I'll do it."

I go into the bathroom and look at the stick. Sure enough, it has a plus sign. “I'm pregnant,” I murmur. The tears start to free fall again, and Hailey is right behind me, her arms wrapped around me as she rocks me back and forth. “It's going to be okay. Whether or not you are with Chance, this baby and you are a part of our family. I'll be with you every step of the way, I promise."

For the first time in a long time, I let someone else soothe me. She stays with me all afternoon talking to me and keeping me calm. When she leaves, I promise to her that I will tell Chance on my own time. I just need to wrap my head around it first.

Chapter 15

Chance

For the last month, I've had an inner war with myself. I understand that Amanda doesn't want to live on a ranch, and I've tried to think of everything that I could do besides ranching. The truth is, I've never tried anything else. But I'm so close to stopping and pushing my pride out of the way, because if this is what life is like without Amanda, then I don't want it.

I'm at the main house on the Double B Ranch pretty much because my brothers insisted that I come to dinner. They've all been worried about me, and I can't say that I blame them. I've been a mess. But I know the only thing that's going to fix it is seeing Amanda. It seems that I've made a mess of things, and I'm going to have to make a change.

We're all sitting around the table, and everyone seems more quiet than usual. I barely pay attention to the conversation around us until I hear Griffin ask Hailey, "Did you get any books today at the bookstore?"

Before she can answer, I interrupt her, "You went to the bookstore? Did you see Amanda?"

She looks at me with her lips pursed and practically spits the word at me. "Yes."

It’s a sore subject, but I can't stop, "How is she? How's Amanda?"

She leans across the table and points her fork at me. "If you're so damn worried about her, why don't you check on her yourself?"

The whole table gets quiet, and everyone looks between Hailey and me.

She looks as if she's about to cry as she drops her fork, stands up, and looks at me with venom on her face. "You're an asshole, Chance."

And then, she turns on her heel and walks out of the room. I look at Griffin. "What was that about?"

Griffin shrugs his shoulder. "Amanda was all upset today."

Hearing that, I’m on my feet in an instant, and I follow behind Hailey with Griffin right on my heels. Before Hailey gets out the front door, I say to her, "Why was she upset?"

With her hand on the doorknob in front of her, she turns and looks at me. "Because you broke her heart."

I shake my head. "I did not. She didn't want anything serious."

Hailey throws her hands up in the air. "Are you serious right now? She loves you. She's pregnant with your baby and—"

But before she gets any further, I say to her, "Pregnant? Amanda’s pregnant?"

Haley crosses her arms over her chest. "Yes, she found out today, and I was with her and held her as she cried in my arms, unsure what to do."

"Unsure what to do? We’re going to have it. She's going to have our baby," I insist.

Hailey shakes her head side to side. "That's not what I meant. She's about to be a single mom, and she's upset about you dumping her. She's just trying to figure it all out, Chance. None of it is making sense to her."

I start to walk toward Hailey to get out the front door. "I'm going to go and see her. I'm going to go and make this right."