AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Adalynn is meant to be a mother, and I know without question that she would be the best at it.
She turns in my direction, but instead of agreeing, she’s giving me that soft smile. I recognize it as the one that will come with a thanks but no thanks. She gives it often, always feeling a little guilty when someone tries to give her something she doesn’t want to take. It can range from seconds of mac and cheese at dinner or an offer to fix something that’s broken.
She has a heart of gold, and she’s the type of woman who never wants to disappoint anyone.
“I can’t ask that of you.”
“I’m offering. It’s different.”
She frowns, her eyes dropping to the spatula in her hands. “Still. I—”
“Don’t like owing people,” I interrupt because I know what she was going to say. “But I’m offering. I know you’d never ask.”
“You’re serious?”
I nod, another flutter of disappointment in my chest because the look on her face says she’s considering it. That tells me just how much she wants this.
“Just think about it,” I tell her, before looking down at my watch. “I have to get to work. Still on for dinner tonight?”
She nods as I step closer and press my lips to her temple.
I don’t look back at her like I normally do because I need to escape. The thought of her going through with it makes my skin crawl, but my feelings are irrelevant. I’d do anything for that woman, even if it means paying for another man’s seed to be deposited in her body.
Chapter 6
Adalynn
Dinner at my mom and stepdad’s house was weird. Conversation flowed just like it always does. My brothers just grinned at me when I asked them about the new girl they were dating rather than spilling the tea. It annoyed me because they’re always so quick to tell everyone about someone they’re dating.
“She must be really special,” Dad had said before shoveling a forkful of fettuccine into his mouth.
The boys looked at each other—that twin thing where they have full conversations with one look going back and forth between them—but they didn’t confirm nor deny any of it.
Everything else was completely routine from the way Cash rang the doorbell to the way he helped me set the table. Nothing was different from any other time, but it still felt different. Maybe I was reading too much into it, but he didn’t once nudge my leg with his. I felt like I didn’t get as many smiles thrown my way. The air between us was stilted, all because I stupidly tossed those IVF brochures on the table and got right to work because I was running ten minutes late this morning. My morning routine is very regimented.
I don’t have much time to dwell over it right now because he still asked before he left whether we were going to hang out at his house or mine when dinner was over. Besides, I spent the entire day trying to analyze the looks I saw on his face while we were having the conversation about it.
I take a deep breath and walk into the kitchen when I hear his truck pull up outside of my house.
“I meant to give these to you this morning.”
My fake smile turns into a real one when I see the small package in his hand.
“These are my absolute favorite,” I say, reaching for the cherry sours in his hand. “Thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me,” he says.
“I know you can’t get these in town any longer.”
“I grabbed them when I went to Austin the other day,” he says with a shrug. “No big deal.”
They used to carry the entire line of candy from this company, but they weren’t selling enough and the vendor decided it wasn’t worth driving all the way out here for only a handful of sales. It’s a real shame too because I also really like the circus peanut marshmallow candy and the apricot rings.
“I’m not sharing these,” I tell him, and the smile I get in return is the one I was missing at dinner.
Maybe he had a bad day, but I know better than to ask. Cash keeps a lot of the police work he does close to his chest. When I asked him once why he doesn’t discuss those things with me, he just shrugged and told me I didn’t need that kind of stuff in my head. Often, I have to read about the hard stuff in the Lindell Gazette. It usually includes farm accidents and wrecks out on the highway that the sheriff calls and asks him to assist with.
“You don’t have to share those candies, but the last time I was here, I recall there being ice cream in your freezer.”
