It was as if I had summoned him.
My heart felt like it plummeted to my feet. Why was this my life? His hand reached down and grabbed a pamphlet. With the last piece of documentation gathered, I slowly got to my feet. I wanted to be anywhere but here.
Ryan handed me the glossy pregnancy passport, but he didn’t let go when I took hold of it. Jesus, something fierce flashed in his eyesbefore it disappeared.
“Jo.” That one word identified his look… it was accusation.
“Thanks.” My voice was louder than I intended.
He tipped his hat. “Ladies.” He nodded and continued down the road.
Fuck, fuck, fuck!
With unsteady hands, I opened my door. At that point, I didn’t care whether Amara followed me.
Ryan knew I was pregnant.
I continued up the stairs and dumped everything on my counter. I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs! God, a glass of wine would be so perfect. However, it wasn’t an option, not with a baby growing inside me. I didn’t need to read the literature I’d been given to know that.
“Jo?” Amara called softly.
I shrugged her off and ignored the hurt in her expression. “Please give me a moment,” I told her gently.
CHAPTER FIVE
RYAN
The main street was quiet, with only a few people left, locking up their businesses and making their way home as the evening settled in. I sat rigidly in the cab of the rental truck, vigilant as a sentry on watch, my heart rate steady, my gaze fixed on the door to Jo’s apartment. Amara was still with her cousin. The hour felt like a long workday. My thoughts occupied my time as I waited for Amara to leave.
The conversation that I’d travelled all this way to have with Jo would have to wait. A part of me was relieved to put it off.
First, I had questions.
The moment I glanced at the pamphlet’s subject, I knew. Jo was pregnant. I didn’t know how I felt about it. Our lives were about to be turned upside down.
Was it presumptuous of me to assume it was my child?
No. Maybe. Probably.
Either way, I had to get to the bottom of things.
Jo owed me answers. The most pressing question was: When was she going to tell me about her condition?
I owed her answers as well, but my questions took precedence. We had been alone earlier, and she’d dismissed me without sharing the news.
Did it take priority? Part of me wondered.
I had been away for four months, which was a significant amount of time. I hadn’t expected it to be so long. One moment I was away visiting my mother, and the next I found myself back at Silver Creek. I couldn’t, and wouldn’t leave until I had my shit together and felt like I was back in control.
Surprisingly, amid all the chaos and turmoil, I clung to one thing. Well, one person.
Memories of Jo, a radiant light I clung to in the suffocating darkness, flooded back unexpectedly. Seeing her again proved what I had discovered when I wasn’t myself. Jo had become important to me.
After an hour and a half, Amara emerged from the apartment. I waited until the way cleared before heading to Jo’s door.
Jo’s voice echoed down the stairwell as the door swung open immediately after I pressed the doorbell. The town was safe, but it didn’t sit well with me that she hadn’t asked who it was.
“Come on up,” she instructed.
