“Yes, I can. Trust me, Piper. It is not even a possibility.” Of all the things he’d been considering over her week-long silence, that was not one of them.
“Do you think there is even a tiny chance that someday you might fall in love with me?” She buried her face against his chest and waited for his answer.
He wanted to lie; it would make things so much easier, but he could not. “If I was capable of falling in love, I already would have.”
“You really believe that?”
“Absolutely.”
Her head tilted back so he could see her glare. “Everyone is capable of love.”
“That is debatable.”
“Yes, I guess it is.” She grimaced. “There are certainly people that make a great case for that point of view anyway. I never considered you one of them, however.”
He could not help that. He shrugged. “What else scares you?”
“Oh, the usual, what will happen to my business, what if I lose the baby, what if I’m a terrible mother, am I going to turn into a whale, can I learn Greek?” Her litany of worries came out in a voice garbled by suppressed tears he did not know what to do about.
to marry me.” Why else
this situation from every side until I’m sick with it. If I don’t marry you, we’ll have to share custody and I’m not naive enough to think you are going to settle for being a weekend dad. You’ll fight for at least equal custody, if
She realized that.
try to
“I wasn’t going to.”
incipient moisture in her troubled blue eyes. “Good. We can’t build a marriage on
“I agree.”
wasn’t
was not?” What could have worried her
was the certainty that if I didn’t marry you, one day you would marry someone else and build a whole family with
to clarify. She had left him without any sort of
course it does. I
inside his chest
“Yes.”
a friend.” He
head, those terrifying tears of hers
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
The Novel will be updated daily. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!