A Million Little Things (Mischief Bay, #3)

He had on his usual uniform of jeans and a white T-shirt. She found it strange that she had once thought him handsome. She supposed that came from seeing him differently. She’d never been able to depend on him—not the way she depended on Steven. He’d been such a relatively small part of her life. Now she only saw him as someone she used to know. What they had seemed so long ago—all baby evidence to the contrary.

She motioned to the sofa and he took a seat. For a second she allowed herself to hope that he’d decided one more kid was more than he could handle and that he would give up his rights. Not that she was really expecting that to happen. So far her luck hadn’t been that good.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“Fine. I saw the doctor and everything is going well with the baby.”

“Good.” He rubbed his hands together, then stood and walked to the far side of the room. He faced her. “I’ve been thinking.”

Oh, please, oh, please, she chanted silently.

“About us and the baby. The thing is...” He swallowed, then moved close and sat next to her. He smiled. “Marry me, Zoe. We can make it work.” He took her hand in his. “I mean it. Marry me. You always wanted that, right? Well, now you can have it. The ring, the wedding. Whatever. You’ve got a really nice house. It should work for the baby. I’ll probably keep my apartment, you know, for when I have my kids. But that’s okay.”

She drew back her hand and told herself this wasn’t happening. Chad hadn’t just proposed.

Marry him? There was no way. They couldn’t... She couldn’t...

“Zoe?”

“Chad, no. We’re not getting married.”

“Why not?

“For one thing, we don’t love each other. We didn’t have a relationship. We had something that was convenient to both of us.”

“But you always wanted us to get married. You talked about it. You said it was why you bought this house.”

Something she would always regret. Not the house—wanting to marry him. “Things have changed. I see now that I was wrong. You don’t love me. You don’t even want to give up your apartment. You never wanted anything more than what we had. You were right. We aren’t good together.”

“But we’re having a baby. When a couple gets pregnant, they should get married.”

Jeez, he sounded like her father. “That doesn’t change anything. I’m not marrying you, Chad. I’m sorry. You’re sweet to ask, but no.”

He shifted back on the sofa, then stood. “I thought you’d want to.”

“I don’t.”

“I’m not giving up my kid. I want to see him or her.”

She held in a sigh. Disappointing but not surprising. “I figured. You were always very devoted to your other children. We’ll figure out a parenting plan that works for both of us. It will be a little complicated while the baby is breast-feeding, but we’ll make it work.”

He shook his head. “I thought this was what you wanted,” he repeated.

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“I was going to buy you a ring.”

“I appreciate that.”

“Is there someone else?” he asked.

She nodded. “He’s a great guy. You’ll have to meet him at some point.”

She thought there might be some kind of reaction but Chad only sighed. “My ex remarried over the holidays. What is it about you women and locking down some guy?”

Zoe opened her mouth, then closed it. “Your ex-wife got married and you didn’t tell me?”

“I didn’t think it was important.”

But they’d been together when it had happened. He should have—

She mentally put on the brakes. Not her problem, she reminded herself. None of this was anymore. Chad would always be Chad. It was why she wasn’t with him anymore.

She rose and crossed to the door. “We’ll talk again soon. I’ll get the parenting plan started with my lawyer. I don’t know if you want representation, as well. You should probably think about it.” She thought about mentioning the fact that she wouldn’t want him in the delivery room with her, but they were a long way from that happening. Months and months. Anything could happen. Well, anything except her getting back together with Chad.

He walked to the open front door and stepped onto her porch. “You’re sure?”

“I am. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Okay.”

She didn’t wait to close the door. There was nothing left to say. When she heard his car drive away, she returned to her office and sat in front of her computer. But she didn’t start typing right away. Instead she leaned her head back to keep her tears at bay.

She’d totally messed up. Everything about this pregnancy was so unexpected. She put her hand on her stomach.

“Even you,” she whispered. Especially the baby. Still, there were blessings. A year ago, she would have jumped at Chad’s proposal. Talk about a disaster. She didn’t want to marry a man who talked about keeping his own apartment, not that his inability to fully commit was even the biggest problem. They didn’t love each other. She was pretty sure he’d never been in love with her at all. As for herself, she had no idea when her feelings had faded. All she knew was that they were gone now.

She was going to have a baby and Chad was going to be the father. She couldn’t seem to escape either fact. There would be a parenting plan and visitation and child support. None of which pleased her, but it was the price of doing business, so to speak. Because she was having this baby.

Her phone chirped. She glanced down at the screen and saw she had a text from Steven. It was a picture of a page for an organic seed catalog.

The accompanying text read: Can’t wait to see you tonight. I’ll be the guy with the promise of butter lettuce.

She laughed. Looking forward to it.

She put down her phone. At least the Steven part of her life was going well, she thought. How could she resist a man who tempted her with organic lettuce seeds? It was physically impossible and she would be a fool to try.

*