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She went still, her chest trying to close in on itself. “I didn’t take them yet.”
“I see that.” He came over to crouch in front of her. Daniel searched her face. “You could have called. I still have the same number. I would have come to you.”
It hadn’t even occurred to her that he’d had the same number. The last time she’d needed him, he hadn’t been there for her. As much as she was at peace about her past—mostly—that rejection was always lurking there. He’d broken her trust, and she couldn’t guarantee that he wouldn’t do the same thing again. “I’m scared, Daniel.”
He finally reached out and touched her knee. Her good knee. “What can I do?”
How about invent a time machine and go back to make sure this never happened? She didn’t snap at him. He was asking an honest question, so she owed him an honest answer. “There’s nothing you can do. It’s already done.”
He took one of the boxes out of her hand and opened it. She had the irrational urge to snatch it out of his hands, because opening it felt like the point of no return. Daniel unfolded the instructions and scanned them. “It says here that for best results, you need to take it first thing in the morning.”
“That is how pregnancy tests usually work.”
He shot her a look. “I wouldn’t know.” Before she could say something else to make the situation worse, he pushed to his feet and offered his hand. “Come on. You’ve got to be exhausted.”
She didn’t want his pity, and she wasn’t sure she wanted his help at all. But since she’d come all this way, it was the lowest idiocy to throw a bitch fit now. So she took his hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet. He started down the hallway toward three closed doors. “Come to bed. You need to sleep.”
Everything hurt. Her head, her chest, most especially her knee. She’d spent more hours today pacing than she cared to count, and it had taken its toll. But if she said anything, Daniel would freak out, and she didn’t have it in her to dance around his guilt tonight. “Do you have a spare bedroom?” She wasn’t willing to strip herself naked for him, emotionally or otherwise. She was too raw, too overwhelmed.
His step hitched, but he changed directions, opening the door immediately to their right. “It’s not much, but there’s a futon in there.”
His bed would be more comfortable, but the thought of being in Daniel’s bed again was… Yeah, no. She’d deal with the futon. She walked into the room. “Good night.” And then she shut the door in his face. Hope slumped onto the futon, every worry and pain screaming for her attention. She dropped her head into her hands, fighting back a complete and total breakdown.
She’d worked so incredibly hard to move on with her life—she’d even thought she’d succeeded. But the second she crossed the county line, she was right back in the midst of the past she’d tried so hard to leave behind.
…
Daniel didn’t sleep. He didn’t even try to. Instead he took Ollie into the backyard and let her run. In the past month, she’d proven herself more than capable of keeping up with him, her awkward puppy form starting to hint at the dog she’d become. It wouldn’t be long before he could take her when he went out riding—after he figured out how to tone down her enthusiasm. He’d introduced her to Rita last week, and that encounter had been as memorable as it was problematic.
None of that mattered.
He scrubbed a hand over his face. Hope goddamn Moore was in his guest bedroom. He could barely wrap his mind around it. And if she was pregnant… His body went hot and cold, fight-or-flight responses kicking in. What the fuck am I going to do with a baby?
You always wanted a few of them.
Before. Not now.
The universe had the most fucked-up sense of humor. He’d learned that the hard way time and time again, and it always managed to surprise him. All he’d ever wanted when he was in his early twenties was to marry Hope, settle down in a little farmhouse, and raise a family. That dream was long gone, and yet here she was, possibly pregnant with his child and back in Devil’s Falls.
Her life is in Dallas.
If she was pregnant, she’d take his baby back there, half a state away from him.
No goddamn way. Daniel pushed to his feet and turned to face the house. It didn’t matter how much time had passed—he knew Hope and he knew how her mind worked. She’d have a plan, even if she couldn’t admit to herself that she had a plan. A plan that wouldn’t include him, not this time. Well, fuck that. He had as much a right to decide that baby’s future as she did.
