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Of course, drunk. But still. I’d take victories in whatever shape they arrived in.
“He just told us.” Seth squeezed me in a quick embrace then eased back to look down between us as if he expected me to have popped a belly within the time span of our conversation. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you.” I might have cut off his circulation when I gripped his hand. “Can you make everyone in the bar stop staring at me now?”
“Big announcement. But I don’t think everyone heard.”
“Really?”
“No. But unfortunately, everyone who didn’t will probably hear within the hour thanks to the gossip network.”
“Not making me feel better,” I said out of the side of my mouth as Dare touched my shoulder.
“Oliver is one lucky guy.” Dare grinned. “I’ll clean those spark plugs on the house.”
I waited to hear that telltale sound of disgust from Oliver’s camp, but when I glanced his way, he was just observing us, hands in his pockets, his expression pensive. Almost sad. “Oliver is a very lucky guy,” he murmured, loud enough that only I could hear.
Or maybe I could read his lips because he was finally saying exactly what I’d wished for all along.
20
Oliver
I was never drinking to excess again. Nor would I wear ripped jeans and a T-shirt that said, “hold my beer—or is that my gun?” My fault for not reading the front of the shirt I grabbed at the store. Also, my fault for pouring my woes into alcohol.
After that night at The Spinn
ing Wheel, I figured everyone on earth would know Sage was pregnant. The thought didn’t bother me as much as I would have expected, considering I hadn’t finished getting my ducks in a row.
Stupid saying, by the way.
Anyway, even without them being precisely in place yet, I didn’t mind people knowing she was pregnant, and that some of the townspeople might find out it was by me. We weren’t married, and no one even knew we were dating. We never had. Not in any traditional sense. But I’d asked her to go out with me via origami, and though we’d had some contact since I’d posed that question, she hadn’t addressed it. At least not yet.
It had been nearly two weeks. Two weeks of staring at that photo of us in the throne at the Elvis chapel, sent to us by the receptionist. I had looked at the picture so much I could recreate every detail down to the kind of strap on Sage’s shoes.
Every day without her around seemed like a damn eternity. I almost had everything in place. Almost.
I knocked on the door to my father’s office. This conversation was another important part.
“Come on in, son.”
I stepped inside and shut the door behind me. “Thank you for making time to see me this afternoon.”
“Of course. I figured you had something weighty on your mind if you cleaned your slate of meetings in order to discuss it. You’ve been burning the midnight oil, working night and day. Spring is always our busiest season, but you seem to be getting a jump.”
“I am. But not just for the usual reasons.” I faced my father from the opposite side of his desk without taking a seat. For this, I needed to remain on my feet. “I’m going to be reducing my hours for a while. I considered taking a leave of absence, but I’m hopeful I can do both.”
My father steepled his hands over his blotter. His hair was streaked with more white than it had been just a few months ago, his eyes more heavily lined. But there was a lightness to him I couldn’t remember.
He also didn’t react the way he would have a year ago. He just nodded and laced his fingers together. “Tell me what’s going on.”
“I got Sage pregnant.”
Okay, that wasn’t what I’d planned to say. I also didn’t expect him to merely raise a brow. Perhaps he’d already heard the news. “So, you’re going to do the right thing and marry the girl.”
I nodded, then blew out a breath. “Well, maybe. Eventually. If she’ll have me.”
“Eventually? And what do you mean, if she’ll have you?”
