One
It’s all fun and games until two little pink lines appear.
Shit was about to get real.
“I’m pregnant.” Hailey Donovan stared down at the test in her hand and blinked several times to make sure she was seeing the correct results.
Did the two lines mean it was positive?
Is that really a second line?
Frantically, she reached for the instructions, looked at the diagram, and then her results.
“Yup. Pregnant.” The shaky breath came out as she slowly sat on the edge of her bathtub, quickly followed by a wave of panic.
To say this wasn’t planned was an understatement.
Dozens of things immediately began to race through her mind—like how she was going to tell her parents, her boss, her friends, and siblings.
Oh, and the father.
That one was going to be a little tricky because…well…they had met at her cousin’s wedding, had spent a wild and sexy weekend together, and then said goodbye. Hailey lived in Fort Lauderdale, and he lived a thousand miles away up in Sweetbriar Ridge. They hadn’t exchanged phone numbers because it didn’t seem necessary. Logistics weren’t on their side and neither even hinted at wanting to attempt a long-distance thing. So she took it for what it was—an amazing weekend she would remember for a long time.
“I’m certainly going to remember it for the next nine months,” she murmured as her hand automatically went to rest on her flat stomach. “Oh, God…what am I going to do?”
She already knew the answer.
She was having a baby.
It was everything else that needed to be worked out.
“Just…not right this minute.” Standing back up, Hailey stared at the pregnancy test again before dropping it in the trashcan. Chances were she was going to take at least another one or two—or five—of them before going to see her gynecologist. “Probably should try to get that scheduled first before I freak everyone out. For all I know, that was a false positive.”
Instantly, her mood lightened. Walking out to her living room, she forced herself to breathe and think positively. There was definitely a chance of this being incorrect. Maybe she peed on it the wrong way or something. Maybe it was a faulty test.
But then…
“And maybe my period just happens to be two weeks late.”
And just like that, light mood, gone.
Dropping onto the couch, her head fell back against the cushions. An organizer by nature, her mind instantly started making a list of things she had to do. The obvious place to start was the doctor’s appointment. “Okay, it’s only four o’clock, I can easily do that now.”
So she did.
Ten minutes later, the appointment was made, and she lucked out by getting one for early next week.
“ thing down, a million more to go.” But before she could think of what needed to come next, her phone rang. Her sister’s name appeared on the screen and for a moment, she considered ignoring it. But tonight was girl’s night and maybe hanging out with Sloane was exactly what she needed to calm herself down. “Hey! What’s up? Are we still on for tonight?”
“Of course! Want to try the new Korean barbecue place over on Sunrise? My friend Janie went there last weekend on a date and raved about it.”
“Um…any chance you’d want to just hang out here? I’m just in a funk and would kind of love a quiet night in. We can order dinner, watch a movie…”
“You know what? That actually sounds great. I had a crappy day too. If I could afford to quit my job, I would have done it today.”
“Oh, no! What happened?”
“Ugh…I don’t want to talk about it.” After a long sigh, Sloane asked, “Do you want me to bring anything?”
“Actually, could you please pick up dessert? I’ll take care of everything else, but would love it if you could pick up something sweet.”
“I can totally do that. What are you in the mood for? Cake? Cookies? Ice cream?”
“Yes,” Hailey joked. “Is there any way we can have all of them?” Laughing, she quickly clarified, “Maybe sundaes?”
“Ooo…good call. Okay, I just need to take a quick shower and change and…”
“You don’t need to do all that, Sloane. We’re just hanging out at my place. You can totally freshen up here. Just run to the store and get all the stuff for sundaes and come over.”
“You’re right! It’s not like I need to impress you,” she said with a laugh. “So, I guess I’ll see you in a little while.”
“Great! Pick out all the yummy stuff! Love you!”
“Love you too! Is there anything else you need?”
It was on the tip of her tongue to ask her sister to pick up another pregnancy test, but that was the sort of bombshell you drop when you’re face to face, not on the phone.
“Um…no. I think I’m good. Go and I’ll see you soon!”
Placing the phone down, Hailey let out a long breath and considered telling Sloane the news over dinner. Seriously, her sister was her best friend, and they told each other everything. It just made sense that she would tell her this.
Maybe.
Possibly.
“Or I can just see how the night goes and play it by ear.” Decision made, she got up and stretched before walking around and straightening up. She pulled out a pair of yoga pants and a T-shirt for Sloane and put them on the corner of her bed. Fortunately, Hailey had showered and changed after her last yoga class of the day, so she didn’t need anything for herself. Today had been brutal—she’d taught four of them—but now she was looking forward to a relaxing night in eating Chinese food and ice cream sundaes.
As if on cue, her phone started dinging with several incoming texts.
And then kept dinging.
“What is happening right now?” she murmured, reaching for the phone.
Sloane: What flavor ice cream are you thinking?
Sloane: Cookies and cream? Rocky Road? Butter Pecan?
They all sound good, Hailey thought.
Sloane: And what about bananas and chocolate syrup?
Sloane: Sprinkles and whipped cream?
Sloane: Maybe some regular chocolate ice cream too?
Sloane: And brownies?
Sloane: And peanut butter cups?
Sloane: Is that all too much for sundaes? I feel like maybe it’s too much.
Laughing and shaking her head, she tapped out a quick response.
Hailey: Get all of it and we’ll figure out what we want after dinner!
It was way more than they could possibly eat, but she had a feeling she was going to need all of it over the next week. And that’s when her thoughts immediately went back to her predicament and the man who was equally responsible.
incredibly sexy man.
Just thinking of Max Calloway had her sighing dreamily. She had met him at the rehearsal dinner the night before her cousin Billie’s wedding. They had flirted almost shamelessly the entire night, but it was a family event and nothing happened. Then she’d seen him again at the wedding—Billie married his brother—and the two of them had laughed and danced and kissed and…
Another sigh.
It had been the hottest, sexiest, most satisfying night of her life.
Well…two nights.
It had been a fun weekend fling, and that had been perfectly fine with her. But it was almost a month ago, and she had come home to Florida and hadn’t thought about him much.
Okay, she’d thought about him a little.
Each day.
And especially at night.
“Ugh…now is so not the time to be thinking about this. Sloane will be here any minute.” From this moment on, she vowed to focus on girls’ night—Chinese food, sundaes, whatever movie they decided on, and just hanging out and relaxing.
So…until her sister arrived, she was going to think about something else—like placing their dinner order and making sure it would get here in a reasonable amount of time.
Fifteen minutes later, Sloane texted that she was out front and needed a hand.
“Hey!” Hailey called out as she jogged out to the car. “Sorry. I should have been watching for you because I knew you’d need a hand.” She was instantly at the trunk pulling out shopping bags. “I appreciate you picking up dessert.” There were more bags than she expected, but the two of them carried them into the house and went straight to the kitchen.
“I hope the ice cream didn’t get too melty,” Sloane said as she quickly tossed it all into the freezer. “Some days I can’t stand the Florida heat!”
It was something Hailey had been thinking about a lot in the last year. She was so ready for a change of scenery and had even considered moving up to Sweetbriar Ridge by her cousins and…wow. Now that might actually happen if Max wanted to be involved with the baby.
If there was a baby.
Ugh…think about something else!
“So, what happened at work today? You mentioned that it was a crappy day.”
Sloane waved her off. “Just the usual BS. Nobody does their work, and it all gets dumped on me. Same old, same old.” When the last of the food was put away, she asked, “Did you order dinner already?”
“Yup. I got all our favorites, and it will be here in thirty minutes. So why don’t you go and freshen up? I put out some jammies for you. Well, yoga pants and a T-shirt, but they could totally be jammies if you wanted them to. They’re on my bed.”
“You didn’t have to do that, but I appreciate it.” And before she left the room, she gave Hailey a hug. “You’re the best!”
While she waited for her sister to get changed, she looked over all the sundae toppings and tried to figure out which ones she was going to use, and all the possible combinations.
Suddenly Sloane appeared in the doorway. “Um…what the hell is this?”
Turning, she saw the pregnancy test in her sister’s hand.
Uh-oh…
“You know I peed on that, right?” was all Hailey could think of at the moment.
Sloane threw the test at Hailey. “ Ew! Gross! And that’s not an answer!”
“Well, I need a minute, okay? And why were you fishing through my garbage?” she snapped.
“Okay, first, I wasn’t fishing through anything. It was right there on the top and I saw it when I was getting changed!”
“Oh.”
“That’s all you have to say? Oh? There’s a positive pregnancy test in your trash and you weren’t going to say anything?”
Before Hailey could respond, Sloane stormed from the room. The townhouse was small, so it wasn’t like she was going to go far, and she found her flopping down on the living room sofa.
“Honestly? I wasn’t sure if I was going to say anything,” she admitted as she sat down beside her. “I mean…I literally just took the test right before you called earlier and I’m still processing it.”
That got Sloane’s attention. She sat up with a dramatic sigh. “Was it the groom’s brother? Billie’s new brother-in-law?”
Hailey nodded.
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m probably going to eat my weight in ice cream tonight, and then take a few more pregnancy tests before I see Dr. Wheeler next week.” Her shoulders sagged. “Believe it or not, I’m trying really hard to not freak out.”
The next thing she knew, Sloane grabbed her in a fierce hug. “I am here for you. Always. No matter what you want to do, I will support you one hundred percent.”
Her arms went around her as tears rolled down her face. “Thank you.” They stayed like that for several long moments before Hailey pulled back and wiped her tears. “This is obviously a bit of a shock. If I really am…you know…pregnant, I have to figure out how I’m going to tell mom and dad.”
Groaning, Sloane fell back against the cushions. “That’s not going to be fun.”
“Exactly. And then I have to figure out how I’m going to tell Max. We didn’t even exchange phone numbers, so I don’t have any idea how I’m going to get in touch with him. Plus, we barely know each other!”
“Well, maybe a little more than barely. You kind of spent almost the entire weekend naked with him. I think that qualifies as knowing him.”
“Sloane…”
“Okay, okay, but you know what I’m saying. It’s going to be awkward, but you said that Max was a great guy. Maybe that means he won’t completely freak out.”
“Maybe.”
They sat in companionable silence again for a few minutes until the doorbell rang.
“You get the drinks,” Hailey said, “and I’ll grab the food.” And within minutes, they were back in the living room with their dinner on the coffee table. They were making their plates when Sloane said her name.
“I know you’re freaking out, so the last thing I want to do is put any pressure on you to talk about this. Just know that when you’re ready, I’m here to listen.”
Tears stung her eyes again as she whispered, “Thank you.”
Right now, it was nice to focus on dumplings and wontons and whatever British rom-com her sister announced they were going to watch.
And for the next few hours, she was able to push the real world aside. Lord knew it was going to come crashing back in soon enough.
“And that’s the last of it.”
Max Calloway looked at all the boxes around him and groaned. Moving into the guest space above his brother’s garage seemed like a good idea, but maybe he should have left more of his things in storage.
Scratching his head, he murmured, “What the hell was I thinking?”
But he knew. He had been living with his father in his childhood home and was desperate to have a space of his own again. Life had been pure chaos for the last two months, but now he felt like he was finally settled back in Sweetbriar Ridge. His original plan to move back had been based on his father’s health and needing to live closer to him. Then Marcus moved back and married Billie Donovan. So really, the timing was perfect for him to be here too.
“Let’s just hope the whole living above a garage thing doesn’t last too long.”
Honestly, he was beyond thankful that Marcus and Billie offered him the space. He didn’t consider himself to be an overly picky person, but finding a house that he liked was proving to be impossible. So, for the time being, he had this studio apartment that he could call his own.
While secretly telling himself he was a fully grown man with a successful career who wasn’t living in a room over a garage.
“Yeah, I’m going to have to work on that.”
“Knock, knock!” Billie called out from the bottom of the stairs. “Is it okay to come up?”
Grinning, he replied, “That depends. Do you have cake?”
Her laughter filled the stairwell. “Pfft, like I’d come without it!”
“Then come on up!”
She appeared at the top of the stairs and Max immediately walked over and took the giant pink bakery box from her. The expression on her face spoke volumes.
“It’s a lot of boxes,” he blurted out. “I know.”
“Wow. It really is.” Slowly she stepped further into the space. “I’d ask if you need help unpacking, but I have a feeling it’s going to be a process. And maybe…”
“I think some of it’s going to have to go back into storage. I was cluelessly optimistic.” Laughing softly, he put the box down on the small kitchen counter. “Thanks for the treats. How are you doing? I’m guessing you went back to work today.”
Turning, she nodded. “I did. It was good to be back, but I think I’m going to cut back on my hours finally. Everyone’s been encouraging me to do it for a long time, but there wasn’t ever a reason to. Now that we’re back from our honeymoon and settling in to married life, I realized I have a lot of living to do. Marcus and I lost so much time together, and we want to make up for it.”
“My brother’s a lucky man,” he said. “You have no idea how happy I am that the two of you found your way back to each other.”
Her smile was serene as she walked over to him. “You know, I don’t think I’ve thanked you.”
Frowning, he asked, “For what? Watching the dogs while you guys were on your honeymoon?”
Billie shook her head. “No. For being the one to bring Marcus back to Sweetbriar Ridge. If you hadn’t interfered…”
Max held up a hand to stop her. “It wasn’t a big deal. My initial reason for forcing him to come home was really for dad. And a little selfishly for my sake. I needed help after being the only one around for so long. But once we knew he was coming, it was a joint effort.”
“Really?”
“Yup. From the first time my father walked into Books & Beans and saw you, it was all he could talk about—how he wished you and Marcus would get back together. So really, if you need to thank anyone, thank him.”
“Tomorrow night at dinner, I will. Plus, I’ll bake him his own box of goodies too.” She turned again and looked around. “You’re coming too, right? Six o’clock? I’m making a lasagna.”
“Heck, yeah! I’ll bring the wine. Any requests?”
“That is your brother’s specialty. Ask him. You know how snobby he can be.” She said with love and a hint of laughter. “So, what can we do to help you? Anything?”
“Um…no, but thank you. I need to figure it all out. It’s not going to be pretty up here for a while, but hopefully it will be functional while I get it all organized. Right now, all I need is my laptop and wi-fi. By next week, hopefully, I’ll have the rest of my office set up. I’ve been working out of boxes for far too long.” Walking over, he slung his arm around her shoulders. “And in case I haven’t said it, thank you for letting me live here temporarily.”
“Max, stay as long as you need to. The house is far too big for Marcus and me right now. I’m glad someone could use the space.” She paused, looking up at him. “And in case I haven’t said it, thank you for taking care of the dogs. I can already tell that you did some training with them.”
He laughed again. “The little guys are wild, but I had a lot of fun with them.” He was about to say more when Billie’s phone rang.
Glancing at her phone, she sighed happily and held it up for him to see. “That’s your brother. No doubt he’s wondering why I came up here to see you before going into the house and seeing him.” She gave him a hug before heading down the stairs. “I’m on my way, Marcus,” she said with a giggle.
As soon as Max heard the door downstairs close, he knew he needed to get to work.
After having a snack.
The boxes could wait, but he wasn’t willing to take a chance on a brownie or piece of cake getting stale.
By the following evening, he had only managed to unpack about a half dozen boxes. And, if anything, it made more of a mess than it should have. Knowing he had to drive into town to pick up wine was the perfect excuse to call it a day. Glancing around as he grabbed his keys and phone, he grimaced.
“This is never going to be organized.”
Still, he made his way down the stairs and out to his car.
“Max!” his brother called out, jogging toward him. He was smiling, and seeing him so relaxed was still a bit of an oddity. “Where are you off to?”
“I told Billie I’d bring the wine. Then I sort of lost track of the time today, so I’m running into town. Need anything?”
“It’s a good thing I caught you then,” Marcus said. “I already took care of the wine, so you’re off the hook.”
“Oh, um…”
He nodded toward the house. “Come on inside and relax. Billie told me you were a little overwhelmed with unpacking. I was going to come up earlier to see if you needed a hand, but I got stuck on a call. Sorry.”
They made their way toward the house. “No worries. I took too much out of storage. Now I need to go through it all and organize it so I can move around without tripping.” Laughing, he shook his head. “I think I was just so excited about having my own place that I wasn’t thinking it all through.”
“That makes sense.” They walked into the house, and Marcus led them down to the finished basement. “Check this out, I got a pool table and a dartboard. We decided having a rec space would be great for entertaining. The only thing missing is a bar. What do you think?”
The bark of laughter was out before he could stop it. “Honestly, I’m thinking who are you and what did you do with my brother!” Max walked around, checking out all the improvements they’d made to the space. “This is all great. A bar would have really been an awesome addition, though.”
“But…?”
Shaking his head again, he explained, “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you looking so happy and relaxed. Marriage obviously agrees with you.”
Grinning, Marcus agreed. “It really does. Can I get you a drink? The kitchenette is fully stocked. I know it’s no bar, but we’ve got beer, water, soda…”
“Is the wine upstairs?”
“Yup. We can go up and have a glass, but I wanted to talk to you before dad got here and without my wife chiming in.”
“Uh-oh. What’s up?”
Grabbing them a couple of bottles of water, Marcus motioned toward the large sectional for them to sit on. “We got the pictures back from the wedding.”
“Wow! That was fast.” He took a sip of the water. “And this is a secret from dad and Billie why?”
Marcus didn’t respond right away, instead he just had a look of mild amusement on his face.
Very un-Marcus like.
“Dude, come on. I’m clearly missing something here.”
“Billie and I viewed all the pictures last night,” he began slowly. “Multiple times.”
“O-kay…”
“And there’s one picture that made us both sort of…um…it shocked us. That’s the only way I can describe it.”
“You could also describe it by actually describing it,” Max murmured.
Again, his brother didn’t respond right away. This time, he pulled his phone from his pocket and began tapping and scrolling. No doubt to get to the shocking picture. When he finally got to it, he held the phone out to Max. “Here.”
At first glance, it looked like a picture of everyone on the dance floor laughing and having a good time. But considering this was something that both Marcus and Billie had such a strong reaction to, Max knew he was missing something. So he zoomed in and looked around and…
Found it.
In the background, he and Hailey Donovan were kissing for the first time. He could still feel her soft curves pressed against him and the way she had hummed sexily right into his mouth.
“Care to explain?” Marcus asked, interrupting what was about to become a very sexy memory.
Now it was his turn to take his time answering. Without a word, he handed the phone back and shrugged. “I met a beautiful woman at your rehearsal dinner and spent a very enjoyable weekend with her.”
“And?”
“And that’s it,” he said. “I know she’s Billie’s cousin, but…she lives in Florida and I’m here. We didn’t make any promises to each other, and it seemed awkward to suggest a long-distance relationship.”
“But you slept with her,” Marcus stated.
Max felt himself tense up. “That’s none of your damn business. Is Billie upset about this? Has she talked to Hailey? Is there something I’m missing here? Something I did wrong? Because I can tell you with great certainty that everything that happened that weekend was completely mutual.”
“Okay, first of all, relax. I’m not accusing you of anything, but you have to realize this has the potential to be awkward if Hailey ever comes to visit. The Donovans are a huge family and they’re all very close. The last thing I want is for anyone to feel like they can’t come and visit because my younger brother couldn’t keep it in his pants for the weekend.”
Grinning, he took another sip of water. “What can I say, I’m very appealing.”
“Max…”
“And so was she,” he added with a wink. When he noticed his brother still didn’t look amused, he sobered. “Look, we’re all adults, Marcus. We didn’t spend a whole lot of time talking about all the what if scenarios if she ever came to visit. That wasn’t what the weekend was about. So if you’re looking for me to give you some sort of definitive answer to any of this, I don’t have one.”
Muttering a curse, Marcus raked a hand through his hair. “Look, you have to understand where I’m coming from. I spent a lot of years screwing things up for Billie and me, and I certainly wasn’t her family’s favorite person. The last thing I need now that we’re married and deliriously happy is you making problems for her family.”
“Would you please relax?” he said with a laugh. “No one’s making problems, okay? Trust me, I would love to see Hailey again. I’ve been kicking my own ass for not getting her number and at least trying to keep in touch. She’s a great girl and I think if we’d met under other circumstances, I would have definitely asked her out and not…you know…slept with her right away. We could have taken our time and gotten to know each other. But you know how weddings are, right? Sometimes you get all caught up in the whole thing and…”
The frown on his brother’s face spoke volumes.
He had no idea how weddings were.
Time for a new tactic.
“I’m not going to apologize for what happened, and—like I said already—it’s no one’s business. If Hailey came to visit, I’m sure everything would be fine. How often does that happen?”
“Um…not…very?” Marcus slowly replied, but he didn’t sound the least bit confident.
“Do us all a favor and stop looking for trouble. Chances are it will be years before Hailey Donovan comes to visit. In the meantime, can we please go up and have a glass of wine and maybe something to eat? Dinner already smells delicious, but I’m sure Billie has some appetizers ready. She knows Dad and I love to snack.” Grinning, he stood, and so did Marcus.
“I guess you’re right. Obviously, I’m just trying to do damage control preemptively.”
They headed toward the stairs and slowly made their way up to the kitchen. “You have nothing to worry about, bro. It was just a weekend. Nothing more. But if it would make you feel better, get me Hailey’s number and I’ll call her and make sure everything’s cool. It’s no big deal.”
“I don’t know if it needs to come to that, but good to know that you’re not going to blow her off completely.”
Damn. He was this close to having a legit excuse to get her number, but maybe his brother wasn’t the key to that. Billie. He’d definitely ask Billie. Hopefully, after dinner while he was praising her cooking, he could squeeze that question into the conversation.
And maybe find out if there was a possibility of Hailey coming to visit sooner rather than later.
Suddenly, dinner wasn’t the only thing he was looking forward to tonight.