Why Not Tonight (Happily Inc. #3)

“No way.”

Del and Maya exchanged a look. Ronan didn’t know what they were thinking, but he caught the intimacy in the gaze, and for a second, he felt a surprising jolt of envy. He was careful not to look at Natalie—he didn’t want her to misunderstand or think he’d changed his mind about wanting more than they had. But for a second, just a second, he wondered what it would be like to be comfortable enough to want more and know it was possible.

“We haven’t decided where yet,” Maya said, still looking at her husband. “But we’re definitely leaning toward Fool’s Gold. I don’t have any family and I want to be close to Elaine.”

Ronan’s good mood started to fade. Natalie reached across his lap and took his hand in hers, as if to calm him.

“Elaine?” Nick sounded surprised. “Not that I don’t love my mom, but why would she influence your decision?”

Maya flushed slightly. “I don’t have my mother around anymore and, well, we’re going to have a baby.”

“What?”

“No way!”

“That’s fantastic!”

Everyone started talking at once. Ronan looked more closely and realized Maya had taken cider, too. He could tell by the color in the glass. And Shelby’s glass was—

“Us, too,” Aidan said proudly. “Shelby just passed the three-month mark.”

“No way,” Mathias said, eyeing his wife. “Carol?”

She smiled. “We were going to wait another two weeks to make the announcement, but sure. Why not?” She shrugged. “I’m eight weeks along.”

Everyone laughed and then toasted again. Ronan felt as if he’d been kicked in the gut. He was the only one of his brothers who wasn’t married, let alone with a pregnant wife. What the hell was going on?

Involuntarily, he glanced at Natalie, who looked happy as she clinked glasses with her friends. He told himself he didn’t see anything in her eyes, only he wasn’t sure if he was simply fooling himself. Natalie wanted kids—she’d downloaded that baby app, after all. Not that she’d mentioned it much lately, but who knew what she was doing when she was alone. Maybe she was researching sperm banks or something.

He grew less comfortable by the second and thought longingly of escape. It was all too much.

Time slowed as his brothers and their wives discussed pregnancy, birth, names and hoped-for gender of their soon-to-be children. Natalie joined in the conversation, but Ronan stayed quiet.

The only bright spot was the upcoming challenge. Pallas pointed out they all needed a good night’s sleep and the dinner broke up shortly after dessert.

“Are you all right?” Natalie asked as he helped her into the truck.

“I’m fine. Thinking about tomorrow. Nick’s expecting us to win and we have no idea about the competition. I hate to see his competitive heart broken.”

As he’d hoped, Natalie accepted his words at face value and grinned. “You’re right. Someone could be bringing in a few ringers and then what? We’ll just have to see.” She leaned back in her seat. “All right, young man. Take me home. You shouldn’t be distracted by a woman tonight. You have to save yourself for the competition.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

He did his best to sound teasing rather than relieved. He’d been wondering how he was going to avoid spending the night with Natalie. He needed to be alone, to process everything. The sensation of being trapped only grew and more than anything he wanted to run.

He dropped her off, kissed her once, then was on his way up to his place. At the edge of town, he hesitated. The highway beckoned and in a matter of hours he could be in another state. He could just drive until he got lost for good.

His hands tightened on the steering wheel. No, he told himself. He wasn’t going to run. He was going to see this out. Although he had no idea what “this” was, nor did he know what seeing it out meant. He just knew that if he screwed up this time, if he got himself lost, he might go so far that he would never be found. And even he wasn’t sure he really wanted that.

*

THE MORNING OF the competition was cool and clear with heat promised for the afternoon. Ronan arrived still wrestling with all the emotional crap from his family. The last thing he wanted was to endure the competition, although he told himself once he had a good, hard workout, everything would look better. He hoped like hell he wasn’t lying.

There had to be at least a hundred people milling around, all wearing different-colored shirts with numbers on them. His brothers were already there and had checked him in. Aidan and Shelby had stayed with Mathias and Carol while Del and Maya had stayed with Nick and Pallas. He’d been the only one alone the previous night. By choice, he reminded himself. That was how he liked things. Quiet. Solitary.

“Wondered if you were going to show,” Mathias said, handing him a bright green T-shirt with their team number clearly marked on the front.

“I’m here.”

“Good.”

Natalie rushed up and hugged him. “I’m so excited. You’re going to do great.”

Just seeing her eased the tension inside of him. His gut unknotted and he found himself thinking more clearly. He kissed her. “You’re going to watch?”

“I’ll be here with your sisters-in-law.” She grinned. “We’re going to be talking about everyone, so brace yourself.”

“No bracing required. I won’t be able to hear it.”

She laughed. “Good luck.”

She ran back to join the wives.

For just that instant he allowed himself to believe it was real, that he could figure things out and convince her they belonged together. Only he knew that was impossible. There was too much for him to overcome. He couldn’t trust who he was and there was no way he would consider having children, while Natalie was born to be a mom.

“So here’s how it’s going to go,” Nick said. “We have the 5K followed by a scavenger hunt through the wooded part of the park and then a tug-of-war. The better we do in the first two parts, the higher our ranking in the final one. The last two teams compete against each other first in the tug-of-war, with the winner taking on the next highest ranked and so on.”

“The higher you are, the fewer number of turns you have to take,” Del confirmed. “No problem. We’ve all been training for the race and Aidan will get us through the woods, no problem.”

Mathias looked around. “Maybe it’s just me, but doesn’t that guy over there play professional soccer?”

“Ringers,” Nick muttered. “I knew it.”

Ronan chuckled.

“If the teams will head to the starting line, please.”

The instruction came over the loudspeaker. Ronan and his brothers lined up for the race. Some of the teams were all women and others were mixed gender. There was friendly bantering at the starting line. Then the gun went off and everyone sprinted along the course.

An hour and a half later they’d completed the 5K and gotten through the scavenger hunt in the forest. Aidan had studied the map and found the shortest way through while the rest of them had worked the clues. They’d finished third out of twenty-five teams, giving them plenty of time to rest before the final event.

After a water break, they headed over to the tug-of-war area to watch the other teams. A long rope stretched over a shallow gully filled with mud. It was about ten feet wide, and while not that deep, it was going to be plenty messy, not to mention humiliating, for any team that got pulled in.

The two last-place teams took their place. A group of women easily defeated a team of guys in their late teens who were too busy laughing and joking with each other to notice the round had started.

“Never underestimate the power of a woman,” Aidan said as the young guys went sprawling.

“We’ve got a bit until it’s our turn,” Del said. “We can relax. This has been fun.” He made a fist and lightly socked Nick in the arm. “Thanks for arranging everything. We should do it again.” He looked at Aidan. “Is there anything like this in Fool’s Gold?”

“There has to be. We have a festival nearly every week. If not, we can start something.”