The Pregnancy Plot. Carol Ericson

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СКАЧАТЬ style="font-size:15px;">      “Does that mean you didn’t have it made in LA?”

      She bit her lip before starting and once again he expected confidences.

      “I liked my job, had plenty of clients and left a lot of friends there, but this island has something...”

      “A dilapidated B and B and crazy family members.”

      He didn’t know why he was trying to encourage her to return to the big city. It would be so much harder to watch her there, and what possible excuse could he offer now for turning up in LA?

      She laughed and he liked the sound. She needed to laugh more—for the baby.

      “With your help, Moonstones won’t be dilapidated for long and hopefully Lou will be on her way, taking her low-life companion with her.”

      “Once she finishes her important business.”

      She swung the truck onto the road leading to town, a smirk twisting her lips. “I’m afraid her important business is getting me to cough up some money.”

      “Will you? Have you ever?”

      “I’ve given her a few bucks here and there, but that only seems to encourage her. Honestly, I do it out of guilt.”

      “Because your mom stole her dad away from her mom? That’s ridiculous.”

      “I know it is. I just know how it feels to lose a parent.” She glanced at him. “You heard Lou. My dad abandoned me and my mom when I was a baby.”

      “For another woman?”

      “I have no clue, but my mom raised me alone until Bruce Moore came into her life.” Her hands tightened on the steering wheel. “A baby needs two parents, don’t you think?”

      He licked his dry lips. “It’s optimal.”

      As if sensing something in his tone, she turned to him. “Have you ever been married? I’m assuming you’re not now because, well, you don’t wear a ring and I can’t imagine your wife being okay with you escaping for a few months to write.”

      “I am not now, nor have I ever been married.”

      “Children?”

      “None that I know of.” He didn’t feel like talking about babies right now—hers or his.

      Nina nodded once. Then she wheeled into the space in front of his motel room and threw the old truck into Park. “Do you need any help packing up?”

      “It’ll take me five minutes.” He jumped from the truck and five minutes later with his laptop tucked under his arm, he tossed his duffel into the back of the truck.

      When he climbed into the passenger seat, Nina was texting on her cell.

      “Everything okay?”

      She held up the phone. “Still putting the finishing touches on a client’s house in Malibu—job from hell.”

      “You should be able to do right by Moonstones with your expertise.”

      “Yeah, but I need a clean palette to work with, not a place falling down around my ears.”

      “That’s where I come in.”

      It took her three tries before the engine cranked to life, and she looked over her shoulder before backing out of the space.

      “How’d a soldier and a writer wind up being handy with a hammer and saw?”

      “I learned everything from my grandfather. He liked working with his hands, even after...” He tugged on his ear before the truth came spilling from his lips. “Even after he got old.”

      He didn’t need to clue in Nina that his grandfather had been a self-made millionaire and that his father had expanded the family fortunes and gone into politics. That reality wouldn’t mesh with Jase Buckley’s.

      “Do you mind if we make a stop before heading back to the B and B? I need to pick up a couple of things.”

      “There’s a drugstore on the main drag, a few doors down from Mandy’s.” She swung the truck around in a U-turn and rumbled back down the main street of town.

      When she parked, he grabbed the handle of the door. “You coming with me?”

      “Sure.”

      As they walked inside the brightly lit drugstore, the clerk behind the register called out, “You have ten minutes until closing.”

      “We’ll make it quick.” Jase nudged Nina with his elbow. “Toothpaste.”

      They rounded the corner of the aisle, which gave them a straight shot to the pharmacy counter, where a couple was arguing with the pharmacist.

      “I think someone else was using my driver’s license.”

      “I don’t think so, ma’am.”

      “God, don’t call me ma’am. I’m only thirty-one.”

      Nina tugged on his sleeve to try to escape her stepsister’s notice, but Lou caught the movement and turned.

      “Nina, can you help me out?”

      “Ma’am... Miss, you can’t have someone buy the antihistamine for you after just trying to buy it yourself.”

      Lou cussed at the pharmacist and slapped the counter. “Hick town.”

      “C’mon, babe. Let’s go back to the bar.” Kip, looking more beat-up than before, wrapped an arm around Lou’s waist.

      “Hold on.” She shrugged him off. “What are you doing back in town, Nina? I thought you were headed to Moonstones.”

      “Needed a few things.” Nina tipped her chin toward the pharmacist, who was hastily rolling down his window.

      “Why are you trying to buy antihistamines?”

      “You know, runny nose.” Lou pinched the bridge of her nose and sniffed.

      “Antihistamines are for stuffed-up noses.”

      Lou plucked a tube of lip balm from a hook and put it in her pocket. “You have any room at the inn?”

      “What?” Nina visibly recoiled.

      “At Moonstones? Any vacancies for me and Kip to crash?”

      “I...I thought you were staying here in town.”

      “We are, but we’re running out of cash.”

      Jase reached his arm behind Nina and gave her hip a pinch. Surely, she could say no to her stepsister. The woman tried to drown her just this afternoon.

      “I can’t help СКАЧАТЬ