put a protective hand on her middle. Her eyes turned sad. “I wanted to. Tried. Sorry.”
At the sound of footsteps, they both glanced up the hall in the direction of the committee room. It was one of the other members coming their direction.
“Please, let’s not make a scene,” Zoe begged.
Gabe took her elbow. He was gentle yet firm. “Come. We need to talk.” He led her to a small alcove some distance down the hall from the restrooms.
Bile rose in his throat as Zoe stepped as far away from him as the space would allow. Just months ago, she’d been so alive in his arms. He took a deep breath in an effort to regain control, perspective.
“This isn’t the time or the place for this.” The desperation in her eyes and tone was unmistakable.
He glared at her. “Would you have ever told me if you hadn’t had to? Did you really think I wouldn’t notice? Did you manage to forget I’ve seen all of you, knew your body down to the smallest detail?”
Heat filled her cheeks. It was plain she remembered as well as he did, perhaps more clearly.
Gabe watched her closely. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Her hand went over her middle again. “This wasn’t supposed to happen. I take full responsibility. I just thought you deserved to be told to your face.”
“It seems to me that you could have at least picked up the phone and called.”
“I know I should have, but I just kept making excuses. Then I knew I was going to see you here, but you didn’t come to the dinner last night...”
The tension in his shoulders eased. She must be under a lot of pressure. Could he believe her? “I got stuck in surgery. Look, you’re right. Now isn’t the time for us to talk. We’re expected back in the meeting. When does your plane leave?”
“Just after the meeting.” Zoe glanced at the opening as if anxious to leave.
His voice softened. “You can’t change it?”
“No. I have to get home to see about my mother. Just being gone overnight has become a problem. I’ve got to go.” She shifted toward the opening.
“Okay. We’ll have to figure something out later. But we will talk.” He nodded his head toward the opening. “Why don’t you go back ahead of me? I’ll be along in a minute. I’d rather there be as little talk as possible.”
With a curt nod of apparent agreement, she slipped past him and hurried away.
He was going to be a father. Gabe’s chest had a funny ache in it. Was it joy? Being a father had never been in his plans. He’d always been so careful. Zoe had changed that.
He’d grown up without a father. That had been the deciding factor in his decision to forgo the family route. Yet now that his plans for his life had just been rewritten permanently, he was determined no child of his would grow up not knowing his father. Zoe could protest that he wasn’t obligated all she liked. If she’d thought that feeble opposition would make him walk off as if nothing had ever happened, she’d badly underestimated him.
More annoying still was his body’s reaction to her nearness. She’d been standing so close. Her soft floral scent still lingered in his nostrils. That fragrance would forever be hers. Memories washed over him. Zoe soft and willing in his arms. The sweet, lilting moan she’d made as they’d joined. It was a night he’d replayed over and over in his mind. Yet this wasn’t the outcome he’d planned. But one he would accept. Deal with.
In the last few minutes his world had altered irreversibly. In a few months he would be a father. Next month he would be in a new job. A very visible one. He needed to look professional, be in control of his life. Gabe took a deep breath, gathered his emotions. Life had just grabbed him by the tail.
* * *
Zoe made her way back to the conference room on weak knees. Gabe had been right. They didn’t need to return at the same time, especially after one of the committee members had caught them arguing. Had the woman overheard what they’d been talking about? Yet Gabe’s sensible suggestion that they enter separately troubled her. Was he ashamed of her?
Maybe it was best. They shouldn’t draw attention to themselves, so that they’d have to explain what was going on between them. All she’d planned to do was tell Gabe and now he knew. She didn’t expect anything more from him and had made that plain. They would part ways today and that would be it. He’d have his life, his career, on the West Coast and she and the baby theirs on the East.
Except Gabe had said he wanted to talk. Would he be making demands? She had been surprised by the ferocity in his tone when he’d stated he would be in his child’s life. Where had that come from? Especially after he’d told her he wasn’t interested in a family. It must have been the shock of learning he was going to be a father. That was all it was.
She had just settled her shaking body in the chair when the moderator called the meeting back to order. Gabe slipped into his chair a minute later with an apologetic nod in the chairperson’s direction. Zoe refused to meet his look, the one she felt on her. The rest of the day would be long. Picking up her pen, she doodled on a page of her agenda to keep herself from glancing at him. The few times she dared to look, his thoughtful light blue gaze was fixed on her. She still found him attractive.
At their lunch break, Gabe started her way but was stopped by someone asking him a question. That gave her the chance to grab her meal and hurry back to her place, avoiding interacting with him again.
By midafternoon the meeting was ending. Zoe hadn’t heard much of it. She had been busy berating herself for failing to think through the consequences of not telling Gabe sooner.
“Dr. Marks,” the chairperson said, and the room erupted in clapping.
Zoe’s head jerked up. What had just been said? She gave a half-hearted pat of her hands as she watched Gabe. He smiled, nodding, as he looked around the room.
His gaze met hers briefly before he said, “Thank you. I look forward to becoming the head of transplants at National Hospital.”
The earlier fluttering in her stomach took off like a covey of quail. Gabe would be moving to the East Coast. To the same area as her!
She stared at him in disbelief.
He shrugged.
The rest of the people in the room stood and gathered their belongings. Zoe didn’t move. She’d believed Gabe would be three thousand miles away when he’d talked about being involved with their child. Now he would just be down the road. He might want to see the baby not only during the summer, while taking a few weeks of annual vacation, but regularly. He could even want part-time custody. This situation was spinning out of her control.
By the time she pulled her thoughts together, the room was practically empty. Gabe was still being congratulated by a couple of people when she was ready to go. In a stupor of shock, she snatched up her purse and grabbed the suitcase handle, hurrying out, unable to think clearly. Gabe had upended her envisioned future as a happy single parent.
“Zoe.”
She looked over her shoulder to see
