Skyler leaned back in her chair, putting distance between them. She needed this man to leave Blue Falls and quickly. He made her feel and think things that were so unlike herself that they left her jittery.
“Looks like a big project.”
“Yeah. Realistically, it might never happen, but at least we can restore it to what it was before.”
Logan sank into one of the chairs opposite her. “You seem like a pretty determined woman. I’d lay money on you making it happen.”
“Unless someone gives me a money tree or you know someone who’d like to buy a run-down ranch, then I wouldn’t place that bet if I were you.”
“A ranch?”
Why had she even mentioned that? Because she didn’t really have a good reason for not elaborating.
“A family ranch. I’ve been trying to sell it for years, but no takers. Of course, it needs some work done.”
“Ranching is hard work.”
“I know.” It didn’t help that it had been neglected since her mother’s death, and Skyler couldn’t bring herself to even attempt to fix it up. Every time she’d thought about it and driven out there, she’d been overwhelmed and not even gotten out of her car.
Logan gestured toward the sketch. “Maybe you get all of that up and running, and you’ll make enough off the canoe rentals and the concessions to fix up the ranch and make it more attractive to buyers.”
She was shaking her head even before he finished. “I can’t even think about that right now. I already feel like I’m juggling knives and I’m made out of balloons sometimes.”
Why was she telling him all this? Maybe it was because he’d be gone tomorrow. The fact that he was leaving in the morning reminded her of his shirt. She rolled her chair back and stood.
“Going somewhere?”
“To get your shirt.” She hurried into her apartment to retrieve the shirt, but he didn’t stay in her office. Instead, she found him standing right outside her door. She extended the folded shirt to put a barrier between them.
“You know, you should keep it,” he said, the sound of his voice rumbling deep inside her, making her flirt with the idea of pulling him into her apartment. “It looks better on you, anyway.”
“No, I have plenty of T-shirts, thanks.”
He lifted the shirt to his nose. “You washed it?”
“Yeah, I wasn’t going to give you a dirty shirt back.”
He smiled. “I doubt you got it very dirty in the few hours you wore it.” He rubbed his thumb across the soft fabric. “Though I’m glad you did. Now it will smell like you.”
“Logan.” She tried to back up but her door had closed behind her.
“Skyler, this doesn’t have to be a big deal. We’re both adults, ones with needs.”
“Yes, and I need to go to bed.”
“Exactly what I had in mind.”
“Alone.”
Logan sighed, then cupped her jaw. Her breath caught as his lips descended toward hers. She should push him away, but she couldn’t move her hands. His kiss was sweet, gentle. Final. When he pulled back, he ran his thumb over her lips.
“It was nice knowing you, Skyler Harrington.”
Skyler watched him turn and walk away, part of her screaming to stop him, to indulge in one more night with this man before he was gone from her life forever. But she stayed quiet, frozen in place, until he walked through the door to the stairs leading to the second floor.
She lifted her fingertips to her lips and touched them, imagining she could still feel the warmth of him. A warmth she had the horrible feeling it was going to take a long time to forget.
* * *
LOGAN SHOWERED THE familiar smells of rodeo down the drain of the large tile shower. There was plenty of room in the shower for two people, and he hardened at the idea of Skyler in here with him. He’d seen the desire in her eyes, the desire she didn’t want to give in to again.
He turned off the shower and dried himself before wrapping a towel around his waist and walking into the bedroom. He stretched out on the bed and flicked on the TV. After making two complete circuits through the channels without anything that captured his interest, he turned it off and tossed the remote to the other side of the king-size bed. He lay staring at the ceiling, listening to occasional footsteps approaching and then passing his door.
He glanced at the clock and accepted that Skyler wasn’t going to be joining him. Part of him thought maybe he should have stayed at the music hall a bit longer, but that oddly didn’t hold any appeal. No, he’d just get a good night’s rest and hit the road to Tulsa early in the morning.
Normally, he slept like a log after a rodeo unless he was hurt. When he woke a little before six after only sporadic sleep and more tossing and turning than a ship in rough seas, he gave up trying and got up. Time to move on, to leave behind Blue Falls and whatever number Skyler Harrington had done to his head.
Chapter Eight
“It’s looking good, Len,” Skyler said as she examined the nearly completed dock, including a new attendant hut at the end for when she got the canoe rental up and going.
“Yeah, we’ll be done by the end of the day.”
“When you finish, come up to the inn and dinner’s on me.”
She left Len and his teenage son to their work and headed back up the hill. Already the heat was approaching Hades level. She was exhausted from it halfway up the hill. She wanted to kiss her air conditioner the moment she stepped into the lobby.
“Going to be another scorcher,” Amelia said. “It’s already ninety-six.”
“Sometimes I wonder how we don’t all melt into a puddle of goo.”
She headed for the dining area and found Elissa and India already there drinking coffee. It was time to plan the next BlueBelles enrichment class for young girls, their combined contribution back to the community that had elected them the Belle of Blue Falls during their high school days, the three of them holding the title one after another for three consecutive years.
Skyler poured her own cup and grabbed a bran muffin from the buffet. As she turned toward the table, her head spun and she had to reach out to steady herself on the back of a chair.
India noticed and started to stand before Skyler waved her off.
“Are you okay?” India asked as Skyler reached the table and took her seat.
“Fine. Just the blasted heat. What I wouldn’t give for some rain.” She grabbed a glass of water off the table and pressed it against her forehead.
“Your face is almost as red as your hair,” Elissa said.
“Just call me Lobster Girl.”
They dived into planning their next class, but Skyler had trouble paying attention when her stomach started rolling.
“Are you sure you’re okay, Skyler?” India pressed the back of her hand against Skyler’s forehead. “You don’t feel any warmer than normal.”
“I don’t know. I don’t feel very good.” The words were barely out of her mouth before her stomach really started doing somersaults. She jumped up from the table and hurried down the hall to her apartment. She barely made it to the bathroom before she threw up.
Suddenly, her friends were there with her, holding her hair out of the way and rubbing her back. When she was finally through retching, she sat and leaned against the wall. Elissa handed her a wet cloth so she could wipe her mouth.
“Did you eat anything weird last night?” India asked.
“No. I guess I could have picked up a bug from one of the guests, though I don’t remember anyone being sick.”
“Well, I think you need to take the day off. You work all the time, anyway.”
Skyler smiled at India. “Sure you’re not talking about yourself?”
“I take off more time than I used to.”
“Gotta keep that hot cowboy happy,” Elissa teased.
Elissa’s comment sent Skyler right back to the night she’d spent with Logan. The longer he was gone, the easier it got to not think about him. The question that wouldn’t stop plaguing her was why she thought about him at all. It wasn’t as if he was the only guy she’d ever had sex with.
When she looked up, relegating her thoughts to the past where they belonged, Elissa had a strange expression on her face.
“What?”
“Could you be pregnant?”
“What? No!”
“Are you sure?”
“We only had sex twice, and we used protection both times.”
“Any chance the protection failed?”
“No.” She paused, thinking back to that night. “I don’t think so.” She would have noticed something like that and started freaking out immediately instead of now, three weeks later. This couldn’t be happening.
India took her hand between hers. “Don’t panic yet. It may be nothing more than a stomach bug.”
Please, let that be it. That she could get past in a few days. A kid? That was a forever kind of thing.
“Come on,” India said as she helped Skyler to her feet and to the sink so she could wash out her mouth.
“I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Skyler glanced up at Elissa as she headed toward the bathroom door. “Where are you going?”
“To get a pregnancy test.”
“No, there’s no need for that. I can’t be pregnant.” Maybe if she said it enough, believed it enough, she could make it reality.
“How about we make sure?”
That was actually a good idea. She could tinkle on a stick, get the negative sign and stop panicking. Instead, she could curl up in her bed and sleep until she felt better.
As Elissa made another move to leave, Skyler grabbed her arm. “Don’t tell anyone.”
“I won’t. I’ll just pop by the clinic with a fresh bunch of flowers, wander to the back to see Chloe. She won’t say a word either.”
Chloe Brody grew up on the ranch just down the road from Skyler’s family’s ranch. Her brothers and dad still ran the ranch even though Chloe had gone to medical school before coming back to Blue Falls as a doctor.
Skyler nodded, then allowed India to help her to the bed. “I feel so weak and tired.”
“That’s probably your nerves more than anything.”
Skyler sat on the side of the bed and started shaking her head. “I can’t be pregnant. I just can’t.” She planned for everything, and this definitely wasn’t in the plan. Well, maybe someday, but not now. She’d like to be married to someone she loved first.
Logan’s image formed in her mind, and she nearly growled at it. That face was what got her into this mess.
India sat beside her and wrapped her arm around Skyler’s shoulders. “Listen, you’re getting ahead of yourself. You very well might not be pregnant. And if you are, you’ll manage.”
“How am I supposed to manage a kid? I have a business to run, projects to finish.”
“Hon, single mothers manage every day.”
“And some of them end up in early graves because of it.” Tears pooled in her eyes at the memory of how hard her mother had worked when Skyler’s dad was off on one wild-goose chase or another.
India pulled Skyler’s head onto her shoulder and kissed her forehead. “You know your mom had a heart condition. It had nothing to do with taking care of you. She would have passed even if you weren’t in the picture.”
Skyler knew what India said was true, but she couldn’t stop thinking that her mother might have lived even a little bit longer if she hadn’t had so much riding on her shoulders.
“Now, why don’t you rest until Elissa gets back?”
She didn’t think that was possible, but she lay down, anyway. India left the room, leaving Skyler to stare at the ceiling and let questions consume her. What was she going to do if she was pregnant? When she started showing, everyone in town would know. Would it affect her business? She imagined whispered conversations at the Primrose full of speculation about the identity of the father.
Logan. She didn’t even know where he was. If she was freaking out at the idea of having a child, she could only imagine what someone like him would do. He’d likely head for the farthest point on the globe from her. Which was probably the best thing. He wasn’t exactly father material.
Skyler thought she might go crazy before Elissa returned from the clinic and pulled a plain white bag from her purse. It looked so ordinary, like a sack that could be filled with a school lunch. Instead, it held a little magic stick that would tell her whether she had making school lunches in her future.
She pulled herself back to the side of the bed and accepted the pregnancy test. Her hand shook as she grasped the box. When she stood, another wave of dizziness hit her. But she took a deep breath and it passed.
“Do you need help to the bathroom?” India asked.
“No, I’m fine.” At least she would be the moment she saw the negative sign.
Once inside the bathroom, she sat atop the closed toilet and stared at the test. It felt as if she was about to open Pandora’s box. With a deep breath, she ripped open the package and did what she needed to do.
Then the waiting began. The horrible, interminable, fate-of-her-world waiting. She stood and straightened all the toiletries on the vanity, lotions and face creams and brushes that didn’t need straightening.
“You okay?” Elissa asked through the door.
“Yeah.”
“Come out and have something to drink while you wait.”
“I’ll be out in a minute.” She glanced at the clock. Actually, she wasn’t leaving this room for another two and a half minutes. And if she didn’t like the result of the test, she might just stay in here forever.
She moved to the towel rack and made sure the edges of the towel lined up precisely, then picked at imaginary lint. She knew what was happening. The more anxious she was, the more her tendency to fixate on everything being just so showed itself.
Another glance at the clock revealed that only twenty seconds had passed since the last time she looked. The pregnancy test sat there on the back of the toilet, mocking her with its lack of answers. By the time another minute passed, she’d decided the makers of home pregnancy tests should be flogged for inflicting cruel and unusual punishment.
She listened to someone pacing in her bedroom. It had to be India. Elissa wasn’t a pacer. She was more of a “let things happen because they happen for a reason” person. Skyler couldn’t imagine what reason Fate could possibly have for scaring the living daylights out of her like this. She rubbed her chest, afraid the heart disease that ran in her mother’s family was about to claim another victim.
Not wanting to start pacing the confines of her bathroom, she sank onto the edge of the tub and closed her eyes. She focused on breathing slowly and deeply so she didn’t pass out before she got her answer. She resorted to counting “one Mississippi, two Mississippi” in her head to help pass the time. When she was pretty sure the full three minutes had passed, she opened her eyes and stared at the pregnancy test. Now that it probably held an answer, she was afraid to move close enough to see it.
“Skyler?” India said through the door.
She didn’t respond. Instead, she stood and forced herself to look at the stick. Tears pooled in her eyes and quickly obscured the result. The door to the bathroom opened, and Skyler felt as if she was moving in slow motion as she turned toward her friends. They knew as soon as they looked at her, but she found the words tumbling from her lips, anyway.
“I’m going to have a baby.”
* * *
“SUCK IT IN, sister,” Elissa said as she tried to zip up Skyler’s bridesmaid d
ress.
The moment the dress was fully zipped, Skyler turned and stared at her friend. “I think your purpose in this world is to be an ever-present thorn in my side.”
Elissa had the nerve to smile. “You know you love me.”
“You just told me to suck it in. I’m pregnant, not fat.” It had been a week and a half since the pregnancy test followed by a quick trip to see Chloe just to make sure, and she still couldn’t believe there was a tiny life growing inside her. Every morning when she woke up, she was convinced it had all been a dream. No one other than Elissa, India and Chloe knew, and Skyler intended to keep it that way until she had no choice but to tell people.
“You forget I saw you mow through half a dozen of Keri’s cookies last night.”
“I could do that before I got pregnant.”
Elissa cocked an eyebrow at that.
“Well, I could,” Skyler insisted. “Her lemon cookies are seriously addictive, and you know it.”
“Whatever, chubs.”
Skyler swatted Elissa with her bouquet. Elissa just laughed and moved to help India with her veil. India looked so beautiful in her bridal finery that Skyler nearly started crying. Who was she kidding? Commercials about puppy food could make her cry now. Damn hormones.
Skyler knew that Elissa’s teasing was her way of trying to keep her upbeat, to prevent her from worrying every moment of every day. Everything from whether she was exercising enough or too much to the best kind of diapers to what her friends and neighbors were going to think of her plagued her nonstop. She was so anxious that Chloe had told her in no uncertain terms that she had to cut out the constant fretting.
She was trying to focus on other things, but it was easier said than done when she was packing the kidlet around with her 24/7. Add to that the fact that a month in and she was already tired, cranky, her boobs hurt and, yes, her clothes were getting a little tighter. At this rate, she was going to be enormous in no time.
She’d already caught Verona giving her a couple of suspicious looks. How long would it be before other people started noticing things were off? And what about when Jesse found out? Would he figure out it was Logan’s and tell his cousin? Did she want him to? No, she couldn’t think about that now.
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