AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“That’s not what we meant to imply,” Lacey began in a hurried tone. “Please, Pippa, we’re just worried.”
“I know that, and I get it. If he was my brother, I would be worried too. But he’s your problem, and the fact that he ran from what he perceived to be a problem is on him. Not me.” I turned to Val with a smile. “Thanks for listening today. I’ll see you later.” I reached out to her and hugged her tight before I grabbed my purse and rushed out the door and away from the Gregory family.
Derek had caught up to me by the time I made it to the curb where I’d parked and touched my arm. “I’m sorry, Pip. I know this isn’t your fault.”
I shrugged. “I know it’s not, but thanks for saying so,” I told him sarcastically.
“What if he’s hurt somewhere?”
“What if he’s just off doing whatever he does when he’s not with you guys?”
“Lately that’s been you from what I hear.” Derek’s cheeks flushed. “That’s not what I meant.”
I knew exactly what he meant. “Look Derek, I know you guys are worried and I am sorry for that, but I don’t know your brother anymore. Hell, I’m not sure I ever knew him. But I definitely don’t know where he would go or what he would do after receiving bad news. If I did, I would tell you.”
“Bad news?” He shook his head. “You really got things backwards if that’s what you think.”
“No, that’s what I know Derek. Don’t try to paint me some pretty picture about his intentions. His actions speak loud and clear.” Ryan wasn’t just ignoring me, he’d left. Again.
The fact that I was right all along should have made me feel better, smug about being able to read my future, but it didn’t. It made me feel rejected and not enough all over again.
“He’ll be back,” Derek insisted.
I shrugged off his words. “Maybe. Maybe not.” I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting either way.
I was older now and at least a little bit wiser, and I knew how to handle grief and rejection. I would take a day or two to feel my emotions and then I would move on because the one thing I knew without a doubt, was that life went on whether you were an active participant or a sulking bystander.
I planned to participate in the next stage of my life. Actively instead of reactively. That started with putting thoughts of Ryan Gregory squarely in my rearview mirror.
Where he and our sordid past belonged.
It might not have come about from the most ideal circumstances or with the right person, but I had always wanted a child of my own, and soon I would have that.
“He’ll be back,” Derek said again, his tone firm and insistent as it broke through my own musings on the man I couldn’t seem to stay away from.
“See you around Derek.” Two days to sulk and to cry. Two days to regret returning to the arms of a man who’d already rejected me. Two days of eating my emotions and then I would figure out how to map out my life as a single mother.
Because no matter what, life goes on.
Chapter 25
Ryan
“Hey Pippa, when you get a minute we should talk.”
I popped my head into the manager’s office the morning I returned to town, looking like hell and feeling like a fool.
Pippa looked up from the computer screen with first a startled, and then a bored expression before she nodded. “I need to update the schedules for the week and reach out to our alcohol vendors, and then I have to check in with Margot about the upcoming events. There are six over the next two weeks.”
It was a blow off if I’d ever heard one, but I was her boss and Pippa, bless her heart, was trying to be polite. “That’s the priority, but we need to talk.”
Finally, she gave me her full attention. Arms folded, she leaned against the back of the chair and sighed. “What is it?”
I looked over my shoulder to make sure there were no hungry ears looking for a morsel of gossip and stepped inside. “You’re pregnant.”
“Correct.” Her hands were folded on top of the desk, still as a stone, her gaze immovable.
“And I’m the father?”
There it went, just a flash of emotion and it was gone as quickly as it had come. “I’m not doing this with you right now. I’m trying to get some work done before the dinner rush starts Ryan, so please, just let me do my job.”
Shit, she was right. I couldn’t use my position as owner to bully her into having a personal conversation on the clock. It was a bad look, and if it were anyone other than Pippa, it would be a recipe for a lawsuit.
