Page 2 of After this Summer
Because in the span of a heartbeat, my entire world has come crashing down around me and I have no idea what I’m going to do.
My business.
This baby.
And I still need to tell Beau Sterling he’s the father…
1
INDIE
BEAU: I can’t wait to see you
INDIE: Me too
Istare at the messages and will my heart to slow in my chest. It doesn’t, but I’m not sure if that’s because of anticipation or the nausea that is a constant reminder of the weekend I spent with Beau Sterling this past December.
Or the fact that after two weeks, I still can’t get ahold of Toni.
But I can’t think about that right now because Beau will be here any minute.
I can do this.
Letting my eyelids flutter closed, I brace my hand on the counter behind me and take a deep breath. That weekend had been one of the best of my life—aside from my best friend not getting married—and my connection to the eldest Sterling brother hadn’t waned in the time we’d been apart.
Constant messages and a dozen phone calls had me wearing a constant smile, his charm and swagger kicking up a swarm of butterflies in my belly.
But then that swarm of butterflies had turned into me emptying the contents of my stomach each morning. That and a pregnancy test I’d had stashed in the back of the bathroom closet in my apartment with two pink lines.
Two pink lines.
I’d run right out to the store and bought two more boxes only to have five positive tests staring back at me a few minutes after I returned home.
Knock. Knock.
The sound against the front door has my heart pounding in my chest all over again, the moment of quiet gone in an instant.
Forcing myself to move, I pad across the hardwood floor and pull the front door open before I lose my nerve. Beau Sterling looks like a dream from his baseball hat to the fitted jacket, jeans, and boots. He’s gorgeous, and the sight of him has my eyes welling with tears.
Stupid hormones.
“Hey, what’s?—”
I don’t let him finish the question before launching myself into his arms. He catches me with ease, dropping his bag barely over the threshold and kicking the door closed behind him as my legs wrap around his waist.
It’s not just about the baby—it’severything.
The salon. Toni.My life savings…
Hints of pine and bergamot settle over me like a warm blanket, and I thank anyone in the universe listening that the smell doesn’t have me bolting for the bathroom.
Because I need this moment of reprieve.
“You need me to take care of someone? I brought my good jeans, but I can buy another pair if they get ruined.”
I choke on a laugh and shake my head against his neck, my lips pressing a gentle kiss against his skin.
I needed him.
