“Okay?” Alex asked.
“Okay,” Grace repeated. “I understand what you’re asking for and why. But I’m hesitant to trust you after what happened.”
“The feeling is mutual,” Alex muttered. Grace narrowed her eyes at him, and he coughed unconvincingly. “I mean, we can start small.”
“I’m willing to try that. But we need ground rules.”
“Agreed. First, I’ll send you money every month. The first deposit will arrive in your account today. Just let me know if it isn’t enough.”
Grace would have liked to turn down the financial offer, not wanting to owe Alex anything, but the promise of enough money to pay her rent for the next few months was too strong. She nodded slowly.
“Okay. And we don’t talk about the lawsuit or what happened at MatchupNow.” Alex clearly wasn’t going to apologize, and Grace didn’t want to hear his lousy excuses or misplaced self-righteousness.
“Right. We keep our focus on the baby as much as possible.”
“Okay,” Grace said again. She sighed, hardly able to believe what she was about to say. “With all that in mind, let’s give this a try. You can come to the next doctor’s appointment with me. It’s the twelve-week ultrasound, so we can find out if the baby is a boy or a girl.”
“Wonderful.” Alex smiled. “I’m looking forward to it. Can we talk about what else I can do? I’d like to help out with your pregnancy as much as I can, and once the child is born, I’d like to see him or her at least a few times a week.”
“Let’s take our time with those details,” Grace said. “First, we’ll see how the ultrasound goes.” She wasn’t about to commit to anything long-term when she knew how much Alex could change from one day to the next. One day he could be flirty and romantic and wonderful, and the next he could be cold and distant and ready to fire her. Just because he was trying to work things out now didn’t mean that he’d continue to do so.
Alex didn’t look entirely happy, but he nodded. “Fair enough. I have to ask—does this change your mind about the lawsuit?”
“No,” Grace said bluntly. “How am I supposed to know that you won’t change your mind tomorrow? Or that this whole meeting isn’t just a trap to get me to drop the lawsuit? That seems like the kind of thing you’d do. And we aren’t supposed to be talking about this. That was one of the ground rules.”
“Wow.” Alex shook his head. “You really don’t trust me, which is galling considering thatyouwere the one who—” He cut himself off. “Okay. I understand you aren’t letting the lawsuit go.”
“Good.” Grace folded her arms.
“Great.” Alex matched her gesture.
A long pause stretched between them, punctuated by the squawking of seagulls, the crash of the waves in the distance, and the sound of a child’s laughter. Grace turned toward the sound and spotted a little girl playing with her father on the sand. He was burying her feet, and she was giggling and kicking the sand off. Father and daughter flashed matching smiles ateach other. They both had freckles and sandy-blond hair. The love between them was plain as day.
Grace turned back to Alex and saw that his expression had softened. She was sure hers had, too.
“I’m looking forward to seeing you at the ultrasound,” she said.
“Me too. Thank you for saying I can come.”
“Of course.” Grace looked down at his ice cream. “Are you going to eat that?”
Alex glanced at the melting banana split in surprise. “No, probably not. I just ordered something so I could sit here. I should have gotten coffee, but I was feeling a bit flustered…”
“Can I eat it?” Grace blurted.
“Yes, of course.” Alex handed her a spoon. “Be my guest.”
“Pregnancy hormones are making me crave sweets.” Grace carved off a spoonful of ice cream, chocolate, and banana. “At least now that the morning sickness is mostly gone.”
“Was it bad?” Alex asked. “The morning sickness?”
“Terrible,” Grace said. Then she shook her head. “No, I shouldn’t say that. It wasn’t really. Some women have it much worse. But I had a few hours every day that I just wanted to lie on the floor. Those little tins of mints were the only thing that saved me. I swear, I probably ate ten pounds of those mints in a few weeks.”
Alex chuckled. “I know those. I like them too, and I don’t have the excuse of morning sickness.”
Grace took another mouthful of ice cream. “Now, I’m about to be in the second trimester, which is supposed to be the best one.”
“The best one?”
