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Gabby rolled her eyes. “I told Logan.”
She put down a book and gave Gabby her full attention. “How was it?”
Gabby glanced back at the counter to make sure Kyle wasn’t paying them any attention before answering. “Not bad, but not great. Pretty much how I thought it’d go.”
“That’s good.” Charity smiled encouragingly. “So, what next? Tell the family?”
“First I need to wait until Logan comes to terms with the news, and who knows how long that will take.” Hopefully not more than a few days because with how sick she’d been, she might not be able to hide the truth for much longer.
“He’s quick,” Charity said. “It might be faster than you think.”
“I hope so.”
An elderly man in a hand-knitted sweater sauntered into their aisle.
“I’d better let you get back to work,” Gabby said. She trusted Charity not to spill the beans, but the gossipy residents of Haven Bay—including whoever this old guy was—couldn’t be trusted not to open their mouths.
“Call me if you need to,” Charity said. The remark reminded Gabby about Tristan’s number, and the fact she hadn’t gotten in touch with him yet. Although he had hers too, so the onus wasn’t on her to reach out. It felt wrong turning to another man for support when Logan had only just found out about the pregnancy, though, so she’d resist the urge to pick his mind for now.
“Thank you.” Gabby kissed Charity’s cheek. Her friend pretended to wipe it off, but Gabby could tell she secretly liked it. Charity had never been particularly comfortable with affection.
Her thoughts were more in order as she drove home. What she needed was a nap and then an outing with the dogs. She let herself into the house and dropped onto the sofa, where she fell asleep almost immediately. When she woke, Mouse was curled on her chest and Thomas was tucked against her side. She took a moment to fuss over each of them, and then to scoop up Karen, who’d been sitting nearby wearing her usual slightly disgruntled expression. She kissed the top of Karen’s furry head despite her mews of protest and went to the back door to find Thelma and Louise.
She tried not to think about Logan. She was mostly unsuccessful.
7
After Logan had clearedaway everything from his class, he took his surfboard out to catch some waves. He knew it wasn’t a smart idea considering the pain in his knee, but right then he didn’t particularly care. Unfortunately, his timing was off, his balance seemed to have vanished, and no matter how long he bobbed on the waves under the cloudless sky, the clarity and calm he’d been searching for remained out of reach.
His emotions were in turmoil, his thoughts bouncing all over the place. Even though he knew the pregnancy wasn’t Gabby’s fault, he was angry. At her, at the stupid condom, and at the universe, which felt like it was laughing at him. As if some cosmic dictator had thought it would be karmic justice to spit in the face of his desire to remain childless by not only creating a pregnancy but by binding him to a woman who desperately wanted a family and who absolutely deserved it. As if it weren’t enough for him to have brought an unborn child into existence, he’d now doomed Gabby to a lifetime of being tied to someone who didn’t share her dreams, which might put off the men who did.
He growled and paddled toward another wave, but he got the pacing wrong and the swell passed beneath him without sweeping him along on its journey. He realized his jaw was clenched and tried to release it. Getting frustrated would only make things worse. He paddled again, this time with more success, but not enough to sate the urge inside him to go to that place of oblivion where nothing mattered except riding the wave.
What would happen now?
He’d already decided that, given what choices remained, he’d have to suck it up and try his best not to fail his baby—hisbaby, God, what a foreign concept—like his own father had. Jonathan and Corinne had divorced when Kyle was only a toddler, but Logan had been old enough to remember. His dad had promised to be around. He was supposed to take Logan and Kyle every other weekend and on school holidays, but within six months he’d moved overseas and hadn’t been back since. He’d sent a few Christmas and birthday cards, and for the first handful of years he’d called once a month, but Logan had stopped accepting those calls as a teenager and now he honestly couldn’t remember the last time they’d spoken. He had no idea where his father was or what he was doing, and he liked it that way.
Knowing Jonathan, he was probably married to some girl in her twenties. He liked remarrying younger and younger women. Even though he wasn’t rich, he was decent looking from what Logan could recall and he’d had a knack for convincing women to love him. That was one of the reasons Logan was so careful to spell out his intentions toward women before anything happened. He didn’t want to leave a trail of broken hearts behind.
All his life, people had commented on how similar he and his father were. How Logan had grown into his mirror image. How they were both just so charming. He hated it, but he also couldn’t deny it. He was like his old man in a lot of ways.
“But not in this,” he murmured to himself. “Please, not in this.”
He could do better than Jonathan, right? Hell, it wasn’t as though the bar was high. But none of his past actions supported that idea. He’d always been Mr. Love ’Em and Leave ’Em. Never Mr. Right, just Mr. Right Now. And he’d steered well clear of any women who had children or wanted them—except for Gabby. He wasn’t responsible, or patient, or any of those things dads needed to be. He was doomed.
But then, as he paddled out to deeper water, another thought occurred to him. The reason he’d kept Gabby at arm’s length was gone. He hadn’t wanted to get involved with her when they had such different goals in life, but now there was nothing stopping him from pursuing something with her. Except for the possibility of making things awkward with the mother of his baby. He grimaced. Or one of his best friends.
Okay, so maybe more thought was needed there.
He stayed on the water until the sun dipped to just above the horizon, then he dragged himself back to The Den on leaden legs. His friends would be arriving for poker soon. How could Logan look Shane in the eye knowing what he’d done? He’d knocked up his friend’s little sister.
Did Shane already know? Logan racked his mind but he couldn’t recall Gabby saying who she’d told, so he sent her a message to ask. The phone pinged in reply as he entered through the rear of the building, past the door that led to the bar where Corinne would be hard at work.
Damn, what would she think of him? Would she be disappointed in how careless he’d been? Would she feel let down by her son pulling the same kind of crap her husband might have? Or would she be excited to have her first grandchild on the way? She’d been dropping hints about them for years, but he’d always assumed Kyle would be the one to give them to her. Kyle had a partner. He was responsible, and good to his core. He wasn’t scarred by their dad’s broken promises the way Logan was. He’d be a good father.
Logan… yeah, he didn’t have the makings of a super dad, but he’d try, and hope for the best.
When he was safe in his apartment, he checked the reply from Gabby. Apparently, she’d told Charity, but other than that, no one knew. He stripped off his clothes and got into a hot shower, mulling this over. Gabby was certain that Charity wouldn’t say a word, and she was probably right. That woman had proved herself capable of keeping plenty of secrets, but he felt guilty she’d been put in this situation. Especially considering she’d no doubt want to talk it over with Kyle but wouldn’t be able to.
