her voice deceptively light.
He met her gaze and held it. “One thing is for sure, Tori—I can’t go back to New York and pretend that this isn’t happening. I’m going to be a father. I’m not going to abandon you or my child.”
Tears stung her eyes and she looked down at the napkin in her lap. It was lovely to know that he accepted the pregnancy and wanted to be a part of their baby’s life. But it stung that they were no more than an obligation to him; that he was tied to them out of duty and DNA and not affection.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“And whatever you need, you only have to ask. You need to know I’m willing and able to support you financially.”
Financially. She clenched her fingers into fists under the table.
“Tori?”
She’d been silent so long he reached over and touched her arm, prompting her to look up. She took a deep breath, met his gaze and said quite clearly, “Thank you, Jeremy. But I’m quite able to provide for us.”
His expression grew puzzled as his brows knit together. “Then what do you want from me?”
“Honestly? I don’t know. Time, I suppose. To figure this out.”
He looked at her tummy and then back to her face, and a hint of a smile quirked at the corner of his lips. “Well, we are on a bit of a ticking clock, don’t you think? And it’s halfway to midnight.”
She raised her eyebrow in response. “I’m hardly Cinderella. Or a damsel in distress that needs rescuing.”
At that moment their lunch was served; piping-hot bowls of soup along with bacon-and-avocado paninis that seemed to satisfy some sort of craving of Tori’s right now.
“This smells delicious.”
“It is. I’m kind of addicted to these sandwiches. I’m not sure if it’s the avocado or the bacon that the baby likes so much, but it’s my favorite.”
They ate in silence for a few moments, and then Jeremy spoke again. “This feels so weird. Last summer…”
His voice trailed away and Tori’s cheeks heated. Last summer she’d felt about ten years younger and stupidly carefree. Days on the beach, toes in the sand, love in the middle of the day. She’d told herself she deserved a bit of fun, but she’d been careless. They both had.
“Last summer was just…what it was.” She wiped her lips with her napkin and tried to calm the rapid beat of her heart. “We got carried away. We were impulsive, and now there are consequences. We can’t be impulsive this time, Jeremy. We have to make the right decisions.”
“I know.”
She thought of her mom, who was both dismayed at how the pregnancy had occurred and ecstatic about being a grandmother. There were just the two of them now. She was an only child, a bit of a miracle baby, really, since her mother had been told she’d probably never conceive. Her grandparents lived in Newfoundland and she rarely saw them. Her father had died two years earlier. Tori felt a certain responsibility to be there for her mom. Without Tori, Shelley had no family.
She looked at Jeremy. “Do you have brothers and sisters?”
“One of each.”
The topic had never come up during their few weeks of bliss. Now that Tori thought back to those sun-soaked days, she realized that anytime she had gotten close to talking about his family, he’d changed the subject. Even now, he didn’t offer any explanations. Just “one of each.”
“And your parents? Are they both back in New York?”
“My mother is in Connecticut. My father lives in the Virgin Islands. They divorced when I was little.”
He picked up his sandwich and took a bite, but his face was set in a grim expression even as he chewed. Her heart sank a bit. It would be a shame if he wasn’t close with his family. What would that mean for their child?
“Cousins? Favorite aunts and uncles?”
He swallowed and wiped his fingers on his napkin. “What’s the point of this family tree examination?”
All the warmth from earlier was gone from his voice, and she withdrew a little bit. “We just…don’t know much about each other, that’s all. And it seems strange under the circumstances. Besides…” She lifted her chin a bit. “These people are going to be our baby’s family, too. Isn’t it right I know more about them?”
He took a drink of water and put down his glass, then placed his napkin on the table as he rose. “I’m sorry, but I really should head out to my appointment. Thank you for lunch.”
He took a step to pass the table and she reached out to put a hand on his arm. “Is your family so bad you won’t even talk about them?”
He looked down at her, and she couldn’t read his eyes at all. They were flinty gray and shuttered, keeping her from seeing anything too personal. “It’s not something to discuss over lunch.”
“Then later?”
He moved his arm out from beneath her hand. “I’ve got to go, Tori.”
The way he said her name at the end told her he wasn’t as closed off as he appeared. Perhaps what they really needed was some time away from prying eyes to discuss properly what the pregnancy meant—to both of them.
“Drive carefully,” she replied and shifted in her seat, letting him off the hook.
When he was gone she tried to finish her sandwich, but her appetite had gone with him.
The hot shower was exactly what Jeremy needed after the long day. This afternoon he’d visited three different properties along the South Shore, looking for the perfect home for his client, Branson Black, who was also a former classmate and one of his closest friends. Black was nearly as rich as Jeremy, but he wanted little to do with the money, which Jeremy couldn’t quite understand. His instructions were to find a property with a view of the ocean and away from just about everything else. Jeremy was all about giving the client what he or she wanted, but he worried that Bran was trying to hide away from life and not just recover from recent trauma.
Still, he’d found one that he felt was perfect, and under three million. It even came with its own lighthouse, which, of course, was defunct but still lent the property an air of history and uniqueness. He had appointments to see several others during the week, though, before narrowing the choices down to send to Bran.
Being next to the ocean all day, walking the properties, had chilled him to the bone. He’d warmed himself during walk-throughs and by cranking the heat in the car, but the hot shower and warm hotel were more than welcome once he returned.
The hotel might be cozy, but Jeremy’s thoughts were not.
He kept messing things up with Tori. He should have known that she’d start asking questions about his family. She was that type. Girl-next-door, nurturing, home-and-family type. He’d
