Page 80 of Her Christmas Wish
Neighbors.
Something else struck then. She’d heard about interest in the cottagebeforeshe’d told Gray that she could be pregnant.
And had heard that the potential buyer had inquired about the place several days before.
Their sex on the beach, her possible pregnancy, hadn’t changed anything as far as his wanting to live close was concerned.
At least not yet. He might change his mind, run for a cliff house someplace, if she found out she was pregnant.
And he might not. Maybe, living down the road, without full responsibility, or the ability to affect the life inside a home, would be enough to keep him around.
Her smile was a bit tremulous, but she got it out there. “No, of course not,” she said, both hands clasped at her lips. “I have no problem with us being permanent neighbors.”
No problem that she’d put on him, at any rate.
She was in love with the man. Possibly carrying his child.
Felt a little like she’d just been given a little Thanksgiving miracle. Something extra to be thankful for that year.
She might be a fool to want him around, even just as a neighbor, but the truth was, if that was where he wanted to be, she wanted him there.
Neither of them mentioned the very real danger inherent in having Gray living so close permanently. That at some point, they could find themselves in a situation similar to the previous Saturday night.
They both knew it was there, though.
And that afternoon, when she went shopping, she slid a new item into her cart.
A box of condoms.
Just in case she wasn’t pregnant.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Was she or wasn’t she? Gray woke every morning of that next week with the question in mind. Sage could start her period any minute of any day.
Then he’d get up, focus on the day’s tasks and refocus every time his mind strayed. It was an exhausting process, but it worked.
And though he was incredibly busy, he made a point to be on the beach three of the five evenings. He may have been a little tense around Sage, needing answers, feeling as though his entire future was in the balance. But there was no way he was going to have little Leigh think that he was mad at her, or didn’t like her.
Why his opinion seemed to matter to her, he had no idea, but knowing that his absence had affected her negatively, he made certain not to be absent.
His plan had only been loosely formed. It wasn’t like he was thinking he’d head down to Sage’s and hang out with them. On the contrary.
He was trying not to think about the woman he’d been carelessly ecstatic with on the beach.
As it turned out, the four-year-old took care of the situation for him. As soon as she’d see him, she’d run up, give his legs a hug and run off. Or call out to him asking him to “Watch this!” He’d been treated to everything from somersaults to throwing sand as high in the air as she could. She showed him she could skip. And at one point, had crooked her finger at him, instructing him to bend down, and had whispered that Mommy had forgotten to punish her for running down to see him and so could they please keep it a secret so neither of them had to take a time-out.
He’d agreed immediately. With the caveat that she’d never run off again, and he would always tell if he knew she was breaking a rule. To which she’d solemnly agreed.
He saw Sage, too, but only in a group on the beach. Never alone. He caught her eye a time or two, but one or the other of them would look away.
They talked on the phone several times, pertaining to business. They’d been granted a hearing with the judge assigned to the GB Animal Clinics case the next week, and would know, possibly even that day, if he’d be affluent again. She’d received twenty-two signed commitments from investors; money was rolling into the Buzzing Bee Clinics account, enough to allow him to sign leases on three of the four properties and make offers to purchase the other two.
Two of his eighteen veterinarian contractors had changed their minds about joining him, but two others had immediately accepted the spots, and Sage had appointments to finish up paperwork with all of them that next week as well.
Each time he’d seen her on the beach, met her gaze, he’d looked for some kind of nod, letting him know she’d started her period. Each time he’d answered her call, his first thought was to hear her say she was calling to let him know she wasn’t pregnant.
The week passed, and she made no mention of their secret situation. None.
