Page 30 of Suddenly Pregnant

11

“One more?” asked the bartender of a place called No Regrets.

“Sure,” he said.

The bartender turned around to fix him another Old Fashioned.

It was too late to contact the charter company and schedule his flight, and he wondered about getting a hotel room. Though he doubted he’d been able to get any sleep. Her words wormed in his ears.

Your mother got used to a bad marriage. You got used to a life without marriage in it, because it makes you feel safe.

He’d always feared being like his father one day, but what if he’d been like his mother instead? What if he’d been so worried about not becoming his father, that he ended up inheriting some of his mother’s flaws?

“I ain’t never seen you around here,” said the tattooed bartender when he handed him his Old Fashioned. “New in town? Are you staying at the Canyon’s B&B?”

“Canyons?”

He shrugged. “It’s a fancy bed and breakfast. A lot of people come to the area to stay there. Some honeymooners.”

At the moment, he was as far from being a honeymooner as he could be—and he only had himself to blame. “Not me.”

“You are visiting then. British?”

“Australian,” he said, hoping the man wouldn’t make a tired shrimp-on-a-barbie reference. The day had been long enough for that kind of shit.

“Nice. All alone?”

“I am now,” he said, hating where this conversation was going. Talking wasn’t his forte. Though he imagined a bartender had the listening skill down to an art. Also, they worked for tips.

Someone called the bartender, and he turned around to go help a different customer.

Good. The last thing he needed was having to open up to a complete stranger. He downed the shot, and damn it, the burning sensation didn’t take away any of the hurt. He was hurt at himself, for not considering Billie’s wants… and hurt at himself some more for letting his parents’ relationship dictate his own.

But how could he convince her of that?

Billie wiped the tears. She’d cried in the last week more than she had in a long time. Tonight, Jack was her source of sadness.

He’d left hours ago, and she wasn’t sure where to. Did he use his rental car to drive and find a place to sleep? Did he call some kind of emergency charter service to haul him out of Texas? The next bigger city where they had the airfield was a good hour and a half away. So he could be gone, so gone by now.

The impending sense of loss struck her, and she wasn’t quite sure how to get up.

She paced the living room, restless.

“Any news from him?” Poppy asked.

Kira shook her head, and Billie caught the moment her cousin mouthed, Don’t keep asking.

Billie threw her hands in the air. She regretted mentioning his mom as an example… hell, it hadn’t been a calculated move. Her mouth acted faster than her brain, and now she’d pay for it. Would she take those words back though if she could time travel? She’d deliver them in a much smoother fashion, but her words had been valid. And truthful, the more she thought of it.

“His loss,” said Poppy.

“It’s just a fight,” Kira said gently. “This happens. He’s probably experiencing a lot of different emotions. Coming here, meeting everyone, the jet lag.”

“I can’t blame it on a jetlag,” she said. Though she’d used the jetlag to explain her zany mind space that ended up with her pregnant, so maybe all was fair. “I was rude. I haven’t even met his mom in person, and talked about her like that.”

“You were not rude,” Poppy started. “Okay, maybe a little rude, but you were using her as an example. A good one, too.”

“People don’t have everything figured out on day one,” Kira reminded her. “For me and Luc, it took a while for us to figure things out.” And today, they were happier than ever. She had a twinkle in her eye whenever she talked about her hot French husband.

“Same. I mean… Ethan came with an instant family and I wasn’t looking for one… or that’s what I believed then,” Poppy chimed in. She was now the stepmom to two incredible children.

Billie rubbed her forehead. “We’re both bad at communicating. I should have been more assertive at first, and he should have opened up more.”

“Then you’re bad together and you learn how to get better together,” Kira said. “Think about what matters. Do you love him? Does he love you? And take it from there.”

Billie’s heart skipped for a moment. If only it were that easy. She could work at communicating, but could she make him want to be with her? No. He’d been honest from the start—and she should have listened.