Waking Up In Charleston. Sherryl Woods

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      Caleb wanted to kick himself for betraying even a hint of his reaction to Amanda’s comments about having another baby. Thankfully she’d only picked up on the fact that there was something wrong, not what had triggered his mood. He had a hunch, though, that he hadn’t heard the last of it. She was going to get in his face the very first chance she had.

      Which meant, of course, that he needed to be away from her house one step ahead of everyone else. The minute the food had been served and the kids had gone inside for their naps, he made his excuses and started around the side of the house. Even though it made him feel like the worst sort of coward, he did it while Amanda was inside.

      Unfortunately, the woman apparently had radar. She met him the second he turned the corner into the front yard.

      “Going somewhere?” she inquired sweetly, her expression knowing.

      “I have an appointment,” he said. It was only a slight stretch of the truth. He was going over to Mary Louise’s later to talk to her parents about the baby. She’d called that morning and asked him to be there when she broke the news. She’d sounded so nervous and uncertain, he’d agreed immediately.

      There it was again. The whole baby thing. It seemed like everywhere he turned these days people were talking about babies. It was beginning to take a toll.

      “Oh?” Amanda said, her expression skeptical. “Anything you’d care to talk about?”

      “Sorry, it’s confidential,” he said evasively. “And I really do need to get going.”

      She studied him with apparent disappointment. “I thought you trusted me more than this.”

      “I told you, this appointment is confidential.”

      “I’m not talking about that,” she said impatiently. “I’m talking about the fact that you’re obviously upset and you’re trying to hide the reason from me.”

      “I can’t talk about it, Amanda. I really can’t.” He’d never discussed it with anyone, and Amanda was the last person with whom he’d share it. He hated the idea that it might change the way she looked at him.

      “Then it’s all part of this confidential meeting you’re going to?” she asked.

      For the first time since he’d known her, Caleb lied. “Yes,” he said. He could live with the lie far more easily than he could live with Amanda ever knowing the truth.

      She regarded him sadly. “I wish I believed you.”

      She turned and walked away, leaving him standing there knowing that he’d just lost something that really mattered. He’d lost her trust, something he’d spent months and months trying to earn. He couldn’t help wondering if, once all the truths started coming out, he would ever get it back again.