Chapter 5
Reagan sat at the kitchen table and stared at the piece of untouched toast.
It had sounded good when she’d woken up that morning, along with the mug of green tea and honey that had since gone cold without her taking a sip.
Now, though, she wanted something else.
Pickles and…cheese?
Oooh, cheddar. Or a nice wedge of parmesan to nibble on like a cute little mouse.
As she pondered running to the store for some orange juice and parmesan cheese to go with the dill pickles in the fridge, another thought passed through her mind.
She hadn’t gotten her period.
Straightening with a sharp inhale, she grabbed her phone and opened the app she used to track her cycle.
Holy crap, it couldn’t be.
She was definitely late. Late enough that it was an issue.
A memory from three weeks ago hit her like a freight train: the storage shed in the safari park, the sexy guy with the talented fingers and amazing gray-brown eyes, and the way she’d run like her butt was on fire and refused to contact him even though he’d reached out to her through Rhomi.
She’d even dreamed about him more than a few times, waking up tangled in the sheets and craving him the way she craved cheese and pickles right now.
Pushing away from the table, she went to the hall closet and grabbed her fleece jacket and keys, refusing to put any more thought into the situation until she got a definitive answer.
It took ten minutes to drive to the nearest pharmacy.
Her mind was reeling. Her last period had been mid-October, which meant she’d been in her prime baby-making window when she took a drive on Indio’s stick—without protection.
If she was pregnant, then she was actually three weeks along.
It wasn’t like she was driving anyone else’s stick.
She hadn’t had a funhouse ride in ages before him anyway.
After buying a pregnancy test, she hurried home and took it.
She was so very pregnant the test turned positive almost immediately, but that didn’t stop her from staring at the little word pregnant for almost ten minutes just in case it miraculously happened to change to not-pregnant.
Which it didn’t.
So she was pregnant, and that actually explained quite a bit.
Her boobs were a little tender, but she’d chalked that up to PMS, along with the odd food cravings and crying during a commercial for a local dog shelter.
His name passed through her mind again.
She should call him. He deserved to know.
She picked up the phone and opened Rhomi’s text, scrolling to where she’d forwarded his number. Her thumb hovered over the number but she didn’t press it. Instead, she got back in her car, and for some reason she couldn’t really explain, she drove to her mom’s.
Her mom had never been a comforting person, so Reagan wasn’t sure why she even went over there, except that she needed to talk to someone and her neighbor Darla was gone for the weekend.
As she sat at the kitchen table and talked to her mom about the pregnancy, she didn’t get any reaction she’d had some mild hope of expecting. No joy, no support.
The first thing her mom said was, “Well, don’t tell him. Men leave, you know. They always leave. Just keep it to yourself, raise the baby on your own. You’ll be fine, I was.”
Reagan found herself defending him, for reasons she couldn’t fathom. “Mom, you don’t know him.”
“You had a one-nighter and he hasn’t called, right? So forget him.” She waved her hand dismissively as Reagan’s cheeks flamed. She’d told her mom it was a one-night stand but hadn’t told her that it was Reagan’s decision to only see him that one time.
Was he still waiting for her like he’d said? Was that even possible?
Tears surfaced as she struggled to get her mom to see that she just needed some maternal love and support, but there was none to be had.
She’d all but called Reagan a slut, suggesting she’d gotten herself in a mess and needed to protect herself, because what if he’d already moved on?
Because quality guys were few and far between, they never had one-night stands, and they never waited around for girls to get their heads out of their butts.
Emotionally wiped out and too upset to sit a second more in her mom’s kitchen, she walked out without a word and drove home, feeling worse than she had when she’d seen the positive pregnancy test.
When she pulled into the driveway, her phone rang. For a moment, she thought it might be Indio and hope sang a sweet song in her heart. But it was expertly dashed when she saw her Aunt Kara’s name on the screen.
Putting the car into park, she pressed the button to answer the call.
“Hi, Aunt Kara,” she said.
“Oh, honey, are you okay? You sound depressed.”
Not about to get into anything , she cleared her throat and said, “Just allergies. What’s up?”
“Would you please, please take the monsters to the park for me?”
“Park?” Her heart started to pound.
“The safari park. You were going to take them a while ago, remember? Any way, I have a gift card for the avian show that’s going to expire this month, so you have to take them.”
“I’m not really feeling up to it.”
“You have to! Please. Please! I’ll be your best friend.”
She snorted. “I don’t think you’re supposed to say that kind of thing.”
“Come. On.”
Maybe…it would be okay. She didn’t even know what he did in the park, but she’d met him near the safari tour, so she would just make sure not to go there.
Because even though her heart hurt at the thought of not seeing him, she needed time to think.
Really think. And figure out what she was going to do.
Aside from keeping her baby far, far from her mom’s patented brand of misery.
“Fine.”
“Yay! I already told them you were coming, so make like a bunny and hop-to.”
“You owe me.”
“I already said I’d be your best friend,” she said with a sniff. “What more could you want than the fabulous me ?”
“I’ll be right over, I just need to change.”
“The monsters will be waiting with bells on.”
“Not actual bells, right? Because that one time at Christmas with the bell necklaces? I wanted to stick icicles in my ears.”
“You’re such a spoilsport.”
The call ended and Reagan stared at the screen for a long moment, then she got out of the car. One foot in front of the other, she made her way into the house on autopilot to change into something other than the sugar skull tights with the old hoodie she’d donned earlier that day.
Because who the heck knew what the day would bring?
It couldn’t possibly be worse than finding out she was pregnant from a single tryst with a stranger that she was unable to stop thinking about.
As six-year-old Lily and eight-year-old Jake bounced in the backseat of Reagan’s car and talked animatedly about the aviary, Reagan’s heart was hammering out a staccato beat that would put the bossa nova to shame.
Aunt Kara had been blissfully ignorant of the thoughts in Reagan’s head when she’d picked up the kids and taken the coupon, promising to repay her times a thousand for taking the kiddos off her hands.
Aunt Kara didn’t call them monsters for nothing. They were a wild pair, but they always made Reagan laugh and she adored them.
“Maybe we can do the safari tour this time too,” Lily said.
“Hell no.”
“Ah, you said a swear. That means we get ice cream,” Jake said.
“Ice cream? I thought it was a dollar in the swear jar,” Reagan said.
“Not since Daddy said the swear jar wasn’t working,” Lily said.
“Fine. Ice cream if they have it at the park, but no safari tour.”
“Why not?” Jake asked.
Because I might see Indio, and I might forget my plans to figure things out before I talk to him. She was going to reach out to him. That much she’d decided since she left her house and picked up the kids. Just not today.
“Because I’m allergic to the gorillas.”
Both the kids dissolved into a fit of laughter, and she smiled despite the churning in her stomach. She was going to the park where she’d met the most incredible guy and ran away like a loon. Embarrassment made her cheeks heat.
Why couldn’t she just have asked for his number like a normal girl instead of climbing him like a tree?
She sighed deeply, suddenly tired, and also craving cotton candy and peanut butter together, as she turned into the safari park, paid for parking, and found a spot in the lot.
Gathering the monsters, she held both their hands and walked through the entrance, showing her phone with the online tickets she’d bought before leaving their house.
“The show’s in about an hour,” the woman said with a smile after finding out they were going to the avian show. “You should have time to ride the carousel since we’re not too busy today.”
“Oh, can we?” Lily asked, turning her big blue eyes up at Reagan.
“Sure, kiddo. Let’s see what mischief we can get into before we see the birds.”
Holding both their hands, she herded them into the park, ignoring the urge to do anything but go to the carousel.
Armed with the directions from the ticket-taker, they made their way to the old-fashioned carousel, where a couple stood talking quietly by the control panel and the pipe organ music played.
The woman welcomed the kids, who hurried on board to find a horse to ride, while Reagan stood just outside, leaning on the fence that circled the big carousel.
She felt him before she saw him.
A warmth she couldn’t explain, followed by the smell of him she’d never forget: sandalwood and sunshine.
“Reagan?”
Tears burned her eyes immediately, the carousel blurring as she turned slowly to face the man she’d run from because she was ashamed.
She could hardly breathe.
He was just as gorgeous as she remembered.
“Did I do something wrong?” he asked, his voice low, his eyes gleaming with hurt.
She tried to speak, but nothing came out. She was being choked from the inside out, inundated with fear and guilt and hormones.
Voice raw, her whole body shaking, she blurted, “I’m pregnant.”