Page 25 of Best Laid Plans

‘Do you mean a good friend? Someone like you, Will?’

CHAPTER TEN

LUCY could not believe she’d just said that.

What had she been thinking?

How on earth could she have boldly suggested that Will could help her to have a baby – out of friendship?

What must he think of her?

The only sound in the room came from Seamus, the Irish setter, snoring softly at Will’s feet. Lucy stared at the sleeping dog while her heart beat crazily.

‘You know that was a joke, don’t you?’ she said in a small voice.

To her dismay, Will didn’t answer and she wished she could crawl away and hide with her tail between her legs, the way Seamus and Harry did when they were in big trouble.

If only she could press a rewind button and take those words back.

When the silence became unbearable she looked up and saw Will’s serious expression and her heart juddered. ‘Will, I didn’t mean it. It was my warped sense of humour. You know I’ve never been very good at making jokes. They always come out wrong. I’m sorry. Honestly, I feel so embarrassed.’

He looked shaken. ‘For a moment there, I thought you were serious.’

‘I wasn’t, Will. You can calm down.’

Just then a cloud covered the moon and the room was plunged in darkness. Lucy turned on the lamp beside her and the return of light seemed to clear the air.

Will rose abruptly and stood towering over her. ‘Perhaps I’d better get going before I say something outrageous, too.’

As Lucy stood she prayed that her legs were steady enough to support her. ‘Thanks for helping me with the python,’ she remembered to say as they crossed the lounge room.

Will smiled. ‘My pleasure. I hope he makes a good recovery, and thanks for the drink and the chat. It was like old times.’

No, Lucy thought. Blurting out her desire to have a baby was not remotely like old times.

They went through to the kitchen, where Will collected his jacket and tie, and then on to the front door. His hand touched Lucy’s shoulder and she jumped.

‘See you later, Goose.’ He dropped a light kiss on her cheek and then he was gone.

Will felt as if he’d stepped off a roller-coaster as he started up the truck and drove away, watching the lights of Lucy’s house grow smaller and more distant in the rear vision mirror.

What a crazy night! In a matter of hours, he’d gone from being best man at a wedding to standing in as a veterinary nurse to fielding a request for his services as a father for Lucy’s baby.

Not that Lucy had been serious, of course.

But bloody hell. The thought gripped Will and frightened him beyond belief. His heart had almost raced out of control when Lucy made that offhand suggestion tonight.

He was still shaken now, even though the subject had been laid to rest. Problem was, he couldn’t let it go.

He kept thinking about how badly she wanted a baby. If he hadn’t seen the emotional pain that Gina had been through, or ifhe hadn’t so recently attended Keith’s funeral, he might not have caught the genuine longing in Lucy’s voice. In her eyes.

He might not have understood, might have simply thought she was selfish, wanting it all, when she already had so much.

But now he got it, he really understood that the desire to have a child came from somewhere deep, so deep that it couldn’t be properly explained. And it shouldn’t be ignored.

But should he be involved? Far out, he’d seen the haunted loneliness in Lucy’s eyes and he’d almost grabbed her suggestion and moulded it into a realistic option.

They’d been such good friends and he’d wanted to help her.

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