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Max gets to his feet before pulling me up and onto his lap at a nearby table.
I face Jace. “I needed to talk to Ryder . . . but,” my lip quivers, “there isn’t much chance of that now, is there?” I ask, hoping he tells me not to give up.
He shakes his head.
“Dahlia, you’ve killed him by leaving and going to someone else.”
“Someone else.” I frown.
Jace looks past me, and it clicks. How could he think that? And he didn’t act surprised at my pregnancy.
Sitting up, I move from Max to my own chair. “Jace, what is going on? Why wasn’t he surprised at my pregnancy?”
“A few weeks ago, he went after you.”
My heart feels lighter knowing that.
“He was hurting, and still is. All he wanted from the moment he met you was you. He arrived and before he could get out of the car to talk to you, he spotted you on the beach with him. You both had your hands on your stomach . . . he was a mess when he got back, and still is.”
I’m dumbfounded.
“Why didn’t he come and talk to me?”
“Dahlia, for fuck’s sake, you’re not dense. He thinks you’re with this guy and he’s the father . . . but he’s wrong, isn’t he? You don’t react like that when an old boyfriend walks away, and your new one is with you.”
I shake my head.
“How pregnant are you?”
“Five months,” I whisper.
“I’m gay,” Max blurts out.
After a stunned silence, I start to laugh, which becomes hysterical and turns to tears.
“You’re gay?” I hear the disbelief in Jace’s voice.
“I am.”
Drying up again, I admit to Jace, “I love Ryder. How can he think for one minute I could be with someone else? After everything we shared as well.”
“After you left, his life hasn’t exactly been great. He could have done with you being here to stand by his side.” I detect disapproval in his voice.
What does he mean?
“I heard him talking to you, saying he had to let me go.”
“He said had. I’m not going to deny it, as you heard it yourself. He’d just had a phone call, which is responsible for everything that was said. And talking to me in the bar was Ryd
er hashing things out with me. That’s all I’m going to say about that. I’ve probably said more than I should. It’s up to Ryder to tell you . . . and you have to get through to him that you’re carrying his child.”
I’m more confused than ever and I didn’t miss Jace’s accurate guess.
Jace grins. “I’m going to be an uncle.”
My words are stuck in my throat, so I nod.
“I’m going to take your friend with me to the diner, and you’re going to go upstairs and make my ass of a brother listen.”
