Page 35 of The Chef's Kiss
“Jorgie.” Ruby dropped to her knees at my side and pulled my hair out of my face. “Are you okay? Are you sick?”
“She’s not sick,” a deep voice said from the doorway. “She’s pregnant.”
“Oh no,” I whispered. “Tell me he isn’t here right now.”
Ruby looked from me to my oldest cousin, Harrison, who stood in the doorway, looking as stunned as I was at what came out of his mouth.
“How … Harrison, what are you doing here?” I sat back on my heels and took the tissue Ruby handed me to wipe my mouth.
He looked back over his shoulder, as if he didn’t know if he should stay or go. “I had a meeting with your father, but it wasn’t winery business, so we held it in his office here.”
I would have laughed if I didn’t think it would make me throw up again. “And how did that go?” I hadn’t seen my cousin in years, but my father wasn’t a man who changed. I doubted his relationship with his brothers or their children had improved at all.
Harrison sighed. “He gave me a check.”
“A check …”
“The funding source we acquired for the community center was a one-time boon, and it’s going to run out.”
The community center my brother Carter ran. “Dad’s funding it?”
“I haven’t decided if I’m going to deposit the check.” It was a hard decision. Knowing Carter, he’d see it as our father trying to buy him back. And maybe that was exactly what he was doing. But Carter also wouldn’t want the kids to suffer for his pride.
I swallowed down the bile that tried to rise again. “How did you know I was pregnant?” There was no use denying it.
Ruby chose that moment to get to her feet. “I’ll just take care of this.” I tried to protest when she took the trash can. She shouldn’t have to clean it, but she was already gone.
Harrison’s tired face softened. There were new lines there that hadn’t existed before, a weariness in his eyes that belied the most responsible of the Ashford offspring. He should have been my father’s son. He’d have made him proud.
As mayor, Harrison dealt with a lot, but he also owned a hardware store and was a volunteer firefighter. It made me tired just thinking about it.
And yet, here he was with no words left to say.
I sighed. “Come in and shut the door.”
He did as I asked. “I heard you came back from school early.”
“That doesn’t explain how you guessed the one thing I haven’t told anyone.”
He folded his arms across his broad chest. “Conrad said something was wrong with you. He just didn’t know what. He says you’re not … yourself. Not totally. That’s why I’m here. He asked me to stop by after my meeting to see if you were here.”
“That would be because I haven’t answered any of his calls since yesterday.” Conrad worried too much. “I’m alive. You can tell him that. But it doesn’t answer my question.” I felt like death, like a giant steamroller had flattened me only to have someone blow me up with air. Bloated and nauseous didn’t begin to cover it.
“It was an educated guess. The first person you went to see when you got back to town was Colin Hillson.”
“And?” I’d ask how he knew that, but Harrison seemed to know everything that happened in his town.
“You normally would have come right to your father unless there was a reason you couldn’t face him.” He paused, red creeping into his cheeks. “It’s not Colin’s, is it?”
“No.” I hugged my arms around myself. It was so much worse than that. “He’s just a friend.”
He nodded. “When I found you throwing up, I just guessed. And you didn’t deny it.”
How did he see so much? “You barely know me, Harrison. Why do you even care?”
He pushed a hand through his hair. “We’re Ashfords.”
I snorted. “Yes, from feuding sides of the Ashford family.” I’d grown up with Jake, and a few of the others were too young for me to have seen around much, but Harrison was different. He was the most influential Ashford, other than my father.
