“I get it.” He seemed thoughtful now. “Lenore’s attitude matters. I just, well, I have trouble trusting her. Now that she knows about the baby, I’ve started to worry she’s goingto blurt out the news to Shane before we have a chance to tell him ourselves.”
Riley shook her head. “No. Honestly, Josh. Lenore has her issues, but she’s a good mother. She wouldn’t do anything that could hurt or purposely confuse Shane. I trust her with Dillon, and she has never given me cause to do otherwise.”
“Well, that’s reassuring,” he said in a low, thoughtful tone.
“And yet you still look doubtful.”
“Because I am,” he said flatly.
“Hmm. Maybe asking for her input is a little too much, but giving her a heads-up before we talk about the baby with the boys… How does that sound?”
“Yeah. That makes sense. That’s just good communication.”
“Okay, then,” she said. “I was thinking we would tell the boys toward the end of the month. So if you’ll tell Lenore in the next few weeks that you’ll soon be sharing the baby news with Shane, we’re good to go.”
He looked at her sideways. “So…four weeks to go until we tell the boys, and yet we’re working out the logistics now?”
“Hey. I’ve been thinking about it a lot. Because it’s complicated. Our sons are best friends, and now they’re going to share a sibling, and you and I aren’t getting married.”
“That’s not on me,” he said in a guarded tone.
She met his eyes directly. “You’re right, Josh. It’s totally on me. I’m the one unwilling to get married. And I do know it might be easier for the boys to understand if we did get married.”
“But…”
“But we’re not.” She felt more than a little flustered bythen. He smelled so good, like cedar branches and wood shavings—and somehow, she’d lost her train of thought. “Uh, where was I?”
“You were explaining how complicated this situation is.”
“Yeah. I was. I mean, do I talk to Dillon and you talk to Shane and then we all four get together for a group hug and answer any other questions the boys might have? I just really want to do it right, and I’m not sure how…”
“Hey.” His voice was gentle now. “It’s okay…” He pulled her closer, and she let him. Because it felt good to lean on him. Because she’d missed him so much in the past almost-two weeks. And now he was here, and she was glad and sad and miserable and determined all at the same time.
Resting her head on his shoulder with a sigh, she confessed, “I really have no clue what I’m doing. I’m feeling my way around in the dark, trying to do the right thing and probably just messing everything up.”
“Riley…”
“What?”
He pressed a kiss to the top of her head, and she probably should have reminded him not to do stuff like that. But she didn’t. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. We’ll work it out.”
She looked up at him again, and they shared a smile. “I’m so glad you’re here. I missed you a lot.”
“I missed you, too.”
“So we’re really okay now?”
“Yeah.” He rubbed her shoulder. “We’re good. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Still friends, then, no matter what?”
“Yeah, Riley Jane. Friends no matter what.”
* * *
“We need to talk,” said Annette the following Monday. She was standing in the open doorway to Riley’s office.
“Sure,” Riley replied. She gestured Annette forward. “Come on in and shut the door.”
