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“Right. If that’s all—”
“It’s not. I’m not asking you for anything and I’ll be putting in my notice to Eli before he leaves.”
He studied her for several minutes before asking, “Why do I care?”
Laura blinked at him. “Um, so you know I’m not staying?”
“You shouldn’t leave your job. You have a kid to raise.”
She brought her hands up to her stomach without thinking. “I haven’t made any decisions about that yet.”
He shrugged as though it didn’t matter to him, and Laura didn’t know why that hurt so bad. It shouldn’t. They weren’t together. It had always been just sex. And friendship. Both were off the table now, though.
Laura looked away, unable to convey that she didn’t want him to have to leave here. But there was no way for the two of them to stay. “I didn’t trick you. The birth control failed. I’m not staying. I won’t do that to you. I just wanted you to know,” she said and turned away, unable to keep the tears from welling in her eyes.
Were all the emotional ups and downs of the last few weeks because of pregnancy hormones? Because this sucked.
“I just…I can’t be a dad. I told you about my father. Don’t you understand? I should have been more careful too. I should have used a condom anyway. It’s…it’s not you.”
Something unwound inside her. She wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t like he’d said he liked her or cared about her. It just wasn’t her. What a mess.
“Thank you, I guess. Sorry I woke you up,” she said and hurried from the bunkhouse, ignoring him when he called her name.
She walked across to the barn and found Eli, Cash, and Nails cleaning up the remnants of the small fire. All three men turned toward her.
“It’s good to see you up and moving around,” Cash said.
“Are you hurt badly?” Eli asked noticing her limp.
She was hurt, but as Tori had thought it was just a sprain. She could still put weight on it, so they put her in a brace to help support it for a few weeks while it healed.
“I’m fine, just a sprained knee.”
“Make sure you forward me the medical bills,” Eli said without hesitation and that made tears well up all over again. Damn it, the next few months were going to be hard if all she could do was cry over things.
“There’s something else, though.”
Three pairs of eyes turned toward her. “I’m pregnant.”
Eli’s face split in a wide grin, then it faded. “Should I say congratulations? I assume you found out when you were at the hospital.”
Laura shook her head.
They all looked confused. “I found out a couple of weeks ago. I just wasn’t sure what I wanted to do yet.”
“We can make accommodations for that, Laura. You’ve already been doing the job pregnant anyway.”
“The baby is Rafe’s.”
All three men just stared at her.
Laura nodded. “I’m going to carry to term. I don’t know what I’ll do after that. I just wanted to give you my notice. I won’t do that to Rafe.”
“Do what to him?” Cash asked narrowing his eyes.
“He doesn’t want a kid.”
“So he’s not going to take care of you and the baby?” Nails asked, incredulity lacing his voice.
