Baby By Chance. M.J. Rodgers

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СКАЧАТЬ is. You going to tell me?”

      David wondered whether he should. Maybe a discussion was what he needed to help put all the churning images and emotions into a semblance of order.

      “She wanted me to find some guy she had a one-night stand with. Seems she’s carrying his kid.”

      “Not exactly an everyday request,” Charles said, “but I don’t see the problem.”

      “She made me drag every detail out of her like I was some prosecuting attorney grilling a hostile witness. Even when I explained that she had to open up and be totally honest if I was going to help her, she still held back crucial information.”

      “What crucial information?”

      “She was wearing a wedding band, yet she said nothing about being married. And, believe me, I gave her plenty of opportunity to spit it out.”

      Charles shrugged. “So she was embarrassed or ashamed or both. I’m not saying that dealing with a cheating spouse is pleasant, just part of the job. And there’s nothing in the private eye book of rules that says we have to like a client.”

      “But this one didn’t look like someone who should be lying through her straight, white teeth.”

      Charles let out a long breath. “Ah, so that’s the problem. You do like her.”

      David knew there was no point in arguing. He was attracted to Susan, had been from the first moment he saw her. Not even her evasions or the fact that she was married changed that.

      He shot up from his chair, feeling suddenly confined and inexplicably cornered. He stomped over to the window and stared out at the gray day.

      “For two solid years attractive women have entered and left this office on a regular basis and my heart hasn’t skipped a beat.”

      “Something about this woman has changed that. Don’t beat yourself up, David. Had to happen sometime. Your body’s just telling you the time has come to get back in the game.”

      “The timing’s lousy. Makes no sense at all that I’d be attracted to her.”

      “Hell, son, I’ve yet to hear a logical explanation as to what happens to a man’s normal good sense when he gets around a certain woman. But if you feel that uncomfortable around this one, maybe your brother Richard better take her case.”

      “The case isn’t ours.”

      “She changed her mind?”

      “I turned her down,” he said as he twisted to gaze at the now empty chair where Susan had sat.

      “That’s not like you, son.”

      David knew that. Only too well.

      He turned back to the window, where miles of slick, silver streets and gray forest spread out before him. On the distant horizon the majestic snow-capped peaks of the Olympic Mountains gathered what was left of the day’s fading light. But all he saw was the stricken look on Susan’s face when he had all but thrown her out of his office.

      “Maybe she didn’t tell me about her husband because he’s some big, mean bastard who beats her,” David said. “Or maybe he’s having sexual problems and can’t perform, and she didn’t want to reveal his weakness.”

      “What do you want to do?”

      “I want to make this right.”

      Charles walked over to his son and rested his hand briefly on his shoulder. “If that’s what you want, then that’s what you’ll do.”

      “I’m glad one of us is confident.”

      “I know you, David. When you have a destination in mind, nothing gets in your way. You meticulously map out the steps you need to take, and you doggedly follow them until you get there.”

      David glanced at his dad. “That used to make you groan when it was my turn to pick the route for a family vacation.”

      “Only because your old man is the adventurous sort who likes to set off and see what’s around the bend,” Charles said with his usual hearty flare and no hint of apology. “You have to admit, we came upon a lot of amazing sights when we winged it. Things no amount of planning could have uncovered. Something your mother has never fully appreciated, I might add.”

      “You always got us lost,” David said with a growing grin.

      “And you always got us there. Using the shortest route. Within the scheduled time frame. Or earlier. Damn showoff.”

      David took the punch of pride his father delivered, knowing the spirit in which it was thrown, despite the rocking force of the blow against his upper arm.

      Charles checked his watch. “Speaking of time, I’d better get going. Have to swing by Jack’s office to see if he’s completed a background check I asked him to do before I pick up my car at the shop. Got the brakes adjusted today.”

      “Need a lift?”

      “Thanks, but Jack’s already agreed to drop me off. See you tomorrow.”

      After his father left, David resumed his staring out the window.

      Might be a good idea to do a background check on Susan Carter and her husband. If he understood their relationship, maybe he’d understand why she had slept with another man.

      He really wanted to understand. Susan didn’t seem like the kind of woman who would cheat on a husband.

      Still, when it came to attractive women, David knew perfectly well that he had shown himself to be just as blind as the next fool.

      SUSAN TRUDGED through the front door of her small town house. The morning sickness was bad enough, but this draining fatigue was something that had begun to plague her all day.

      “Hi, Honey, I’m home,” she called out as she kicked the door closed behind her.

      There was no response from the quiet house. She figured he must be out in the back. She weaved her way through the jungle of houseplants that were threatening to take over her foyer. She dropped her keys into the smiling jaws of a life-size, brown bear made of wood and slung the strap of her shoulder bag over its head. She turned around to step on the foot of a large, ceramic frog wastebasket.

      “Honey?” she called again before she separated the only important piece of mail from the bevy of advertisements in her hands. Sticking the envelope between her teeth, she dropped the junk mail into the frog’s open mouth.

      When she released the foot lever, the frog gulped down the junk-mail dinner, a happy rivet emerging from its voice box.

      She absently patted the frog’s ceramic head with one hand as she removed the mail from her teeth with the other, slitting open the envelope as she strolled into the living room. The local newspaper had sent her a confirming copy of the ad she had placed in the next edition. She read the wording critically, trying to imagine him picking up the paper and seeing the ad for the first time.

      Todd. Susan would like to talk to you СКАЧАТЬ