Page 53 of Bailey

“Maybe another time,” Bailey said out of kindness.

An excited look painted across Joey’s face, and she reached out and squeezed Bailey’s forearm. “It’s good to see you, Bailey. I’m so glad you moved back here.”

“I’ve got your food,” a woman said, holding up a tray with Reeves’s sandwich. “Where are you guys?”

“We’re in the back,” Reeves said, and that broke up what was sure to be an awkward parting. Bailey nodded at Adam and smiled at Joey again, and then she followed Reeves and the waitress carrying their food and headed toward the back room.

Silence settled over her and Reeves as they got situated at the table. She picked up one of the wrapped straws he’d gotten and ripped off the paper top. He doctored up his coffee. She unwrapped her silverware, each of them performing different parts of the same dance, neither of them looking at one another.

Finally, Reeves exhaled a long breath and looked directly at her. “She made you a little nervous.”

“A little bit,” Bailey admitted. “That’s OJ’s sister.”

“Ah.” Reeves nodded, stirred his coffee, and then lifted it to his lips. “He manages Country Quad.”

“He sure does.” Bailey smiled. “Do you know him?”

“I recognized him,” Reeves said. “I spend a lot of time on social media.”

She knew he did, and she wasn’t truly surprised that he’d recognized Adam.

“They didn’t seem to recognize you,” she said. “I don’t think either of them are the outdoorsy type.”

Reeves smiled at her. “They’re going to drive somewhere and probably sit in the front seat as they watch the sunset.”

Bailey grinned. “What a travesty,” she said dryly.

Reeves chuckled, and she was simply glad that the awkwardness between them had disappeared.

“I wasn’t sure if you were nervous because of who you were talking to,” Reeves said. “Or the topic.”

Bailey tilted her head and watched him for a moment before she stirred her fiesta dressing into her southwest salad. “The topic?”

“Yeah,” he said. “I definitely sensed something when Joey said she was pregnant.”

Bailey’s stomach tightened again because she’d forgotten how observant Reeves could be. “Yeah.”

“Do you not want any more kids, Bailey?”

“I don’t have any kids right now,” Bailey said. Their eyes met, and thunder and lightning moved through Bailey.

She’d never gotten to a point in a relationship where she was talking about kids with her boyfriend, and while she and Reeves had only been dating for about six weeks now, she couldn’t believe they’d made it to this conversation.

He reached across the table and curled his fingers around hers. “You can tell me anything. Remember?”

She swallowed, trying to get her thoughts to line up with her emotions, and then those to form themselves into words that would make a coherent sentence. It took several long seconds, during which Reeves took another sip of his coffee and then a bite of his sandwich. The silence between them now didn’t feel as charged, and Bailey appreciated that he gave her time to find the right thing to say.

“I don’t know if I’ll be a good mother,” Bailey said. A bolt of fear moved through her at the truthfulness of those words. “I’m not very nurturing.”

“Well, I don’t think that’s true,” Reeves said. “I’ve seen you care for your animals.”

“But that’s just it,” she said. “They’re not my animals. I bring them home for a few days, get them feeling better, and give them to someone else.” She leaned forward, her eyes darting past Reeves to the hallway, though no one came toward them.

“I gave another human being away,” she said, her voice quiet but urgent. “And that kind of thing changes a person. I think I’ve learned how to remove myself from relationships and friendships, so when it’s time to make an exit, I can do it easily.”

He simply blinked at her, no expression on his face that she could read.

“So I don’t know about being a mother,” she said. “Because you can’t walk away from that, and that scares me a little bit.”