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Now, though, she wasn’t thinking about Levi’s house. She was thinking about how she was going to have to go into a pharmacy and buy herself a pregnancy test, and how it brought back uncomfortable memories she didn’t want to deal with.
Finn, picking up on her mood, glanced at her as they stood on the sidewalk, and frowned.
“Let me buy it,” he offered. “I know where the pharmacy is.”
“I know where the pharmacy is too,” Beth said, irritated. “Several pharmacies actually. Also it’s better if I do it since you know a lot of people here and they’ll probably want to say something if you suddenly start buying pregnancy tests.”
Finn gave her a look, his dark eyes enigmatic, and she thought he might start insisting. But he only lifted a shoulder. “Fine. You go and buy one. I’ll wait outside for you.”
“Don’t you have other things to do?”
“No. Nothing that’s this important.”
Beth felt her stupid chest get tight, though really his dogged persistence at being involved should annoy her, not make her emotional.
Stupid potential-pregnancy hormones.
Without speaking, they walked down the little pedestrian mall that led to the docks, stopping outside the big pharmacy situated there.
Beth went in, leaving him standing outside by the door.
There were very few people inside, and she found the pregnancy tests easily enough. Taking one to the counter made her feel self-conscious, so she smiled extra brightly to make up for it.
The woman rang her up without comment—thank God for Kiwis who’d rather die than pry into your personal business—and Beth soon found herself standing outside again, a brown paper bag clutched in her hand.
Finn’s expression was impenetrable. “Do you want to find some place to sit? Go to a café? We can leave doing the test until we get home again if you’d prefer.”
“You keep sayingwe.” Beth shifted on her feet, antsy and restless, the nerves in her gut gathering tighter. “As if we’re both going to be peeing on that stick.”
His mouth twitched. “I mean, I can if you want me to. If you’d like some company.”
Beth bit her lip. No, he was not going to make her smile. She didn’t want to be cheered up, not when her future was currently barreling along on the road to hell, sitting pretty in a handbasket.
“Thanks,” she muttered, “but I’ll pass. And I don’t want to wait until we get home. I want to get this over with.”
“There’s a public bathroom not far away.”
Great. She was going to do this in a public convenience? How…wonderful. Then again, wanting privacy and cleanliness seemed a bit precious when this was her fault. She had to suck it up and deal.
“Okay,” she said, shoving down her distaste. “Let’s get on with it.”
She turned in the direction of the public bathrooms only to have Finn reach out and take her arm in a gentle grip.
“Let me call Levi,” he said quietly. “We can do this at his place.”
Beth shut her eyes for a second because there was nothing more she wanted than to do this at Levi’s—where she could find out the truth in private, without screaming kids and tourists and a hundred other people all in her vicinity.
But that was silly. Who cared where she did it as long as she and Finn got some answers?
“I’m fine with it,” she said staunchly. “Come on, let’s go.”
Yet Finn didn’t release her. “You might be fine with it, but I’m not. I’ll tell Levi you’re not feeling well, okay? We’ll get a cab to his place, and I know the lock code. We don’t even have to involve him.”
He made it sound so…easy. Reasonable even. No big deal at all. Making her wonder like she had yesterday what the point was in arguing with him. Especially when the idea of doing this at Levi’s was so attractive.
She swallowed, resisting the urge to lean into the strong hand holding her arm. “Okay. Let’s go, then. The sooner we get this over with, the better.”
Levi’s place was a ten-minute ride away, up the side of the mountains that ringed the town. It was very private, set in among tall trees and overlooking the town itself and the lake. It had a distinct log-cabin vibe to it, with a pitched roof and an impressive deck with views across the lake.
