Page 25 of Where the Wattles Bloom

Or maybe delaying tactics. Once the news was out, their night was well and truly over.

Shoving his hands on his hips, Lachlan cut straight to the chase. ‘The condom broke.’

‘Oh.’

Lachlan frowned. That was much calmer than he’d expected. He’d known from the get-go she was practical and pragmatic, but this was almost … chill?

‘It’s all there, I checked, so we don’t have to worry about that. And also, I don’t know where you are in your cycle or anything—’

Oh god. Did women use that word? Cycle. It was so fucking … clinical. Should he have said period? Hell, the amount of times he’d had a conversation with a woman about any of that stuff could probably be counted on two hands. And he’d been married—twice.

Just keep going, dickhead!

‘But I have a sub-fertility thing going on so I don’t think pregnancy will be an issue. As far as STIs go, I haven’t been with a woman since my divorce—the second one—four years ago and I only had the one sexual partner—my ex—for six years prior to that. So that’s not an issue either.’

She blinked. God … had he overshared?

At her continued silence, Lachlan blundered on. ‘Having said that, we have a pharmacy in town where I’m pretty sure you can get the morning-after pill if you wanted to go that route. I’m happy to come into town in the morning and drive you there if you want?’

She laughed. Also not expected.

‘So, you’re …’ He frowned. ‘Not upset then?’

That was good, right?

‘Sorry.’ She sobered quickly. ‘It’s just … I can walk two blocks to the pharmacy. I’m thirty-six, not sixteen.’

Lachlan puffed out a breathy laugh as he shoved a hand through his hair. This was not the way he thought this night was going to end. ‘Of course. Sorry.’

‘Look, it’s fine. Thank you for being honest and for not shirking this conversation. You really are very sweet.’

Lachlan winced. Great, he was sweet. Just what a guy wanted to hear after the most spectacular sex in a decade.

‘For what it’s worth, I’ve just finished a period, although, in the spirit of honesty, my cycle is a complete mess and always has been, so it’s hard to predict. But … please don’t worry. After a decade of failed IVF treatments, I can categorically state that pregnancy definitely won’t be an issue. No visit to the chemist needed for me.’

There was a slight twist to her lips and a leadenness to her tone which told Lachlan there was a much bigger story behind her words. But, after this rather ignominious ending to their night, he doubted he’d ever find out. And surely the important thing here was that there weren’t going to be consequences from a condom that had clearly been past its use-by date.

Lachlan had always figured he would be a father. At some point. Why else would he have taken the docs up on freezing his sperm before he’d started chemo? It had just never worked out. By the time he and Gabby had started talking about babies, it had been more as a rescue effort for their marriage.

Because that always worked out well …

‘And I had a whole battery of tests at the beginning of the year,’ she said, breaking into his thoughts, ‘including screening for STIs, which were all negative.’

A battery of tests? Had she been unwell? Again Lachlan wondered about Rowena’s bigger story, but she continued on, oblivious to his thoughts.

‘So …’ She drew her knees up to her chest beneath the sheets and wrapped her arms around them above the sheet. ‘I guess we’re both free and clear.’

Lachlan nodded. ‘I guess so.’ But for the first time since his divorce, he wasn’t sure that’s what he wanted to be.

‘Thank you. For tonight. Broken condom notwithstanding, I had a really good time.’

‘Yeah.’ He nodded, a faint smile lifting his lips as he remembered how she’d come apart in his arms. ‘Me too.’

They didn’t say anything for several beats, just stared at each other, the silence in the room somehow still intimate. From the few one-night stands he’d had back in his twenties, Lachlan remembered how this bit was the really awkward part. Yet it didn’t feel awkward.

Mentioning her cycle had pretty much taken that prize.

He wondered if she felt the same. Or maybe she was just willing him to leave before the silence got weird.