Page 28 of Best Laid Plans

But she didn’t want to frighten him away, not now when he’d made such an amazing suggestion.

Dragging a deep breath, she said, ‘Okay. Just say, we did – um – give this some thought. How do you actually feel about becoming a father?’

She glanced at Will and saw his quick smile. ‘To be honest, fatherhood has been well down on my wish list. But I guess I’m seeing it in a new light lately. I’ve been hit by the feeling, that I’ve been wasting my life.’

‘Because of the little boy at the funeral?’

‘Yeah, that little guy really got to me. But there’ve been other things too – like Gina’s twins. They knocked me for six. They’re so damn cute.’

‘I know. I’m eaten up with envy every time I see them. But you haven’t answered me. Would you really want to be my baby’s father?’

Will stopped walking. ‘I can’t promise I’d be a terrific help, Lucy. I don’t even know where I’m going to be working yet, so there’s not much chance I’d be a hands-on father. But if you want to have a child, I’d certainly be ready to help.’

She was so surprised she found her thoughts racing ahead, ‘I don’t mind managing on my own. It’s what I’d planned anyway.’

Will smiled. ‘So what does that mean? Do you want to give this some serious thought?’

‘I – I don’t know.’ She was feeling so dazed. ‘I know I was the one who started this, but I never dreamed you’d take me up on it.’

Even as she said this, Lucy wished she’d sounded more positive. This was her dream, to have Will’s baby. OK, maybe the dream also involved Will falling madly and deeply in love with her, but surely half a dream was better than none?

‘But I guess there’s no harm in thinking about it,’ she said.

His eyes were very bright, watching her closely. ‘I wasn’t even expecting to see you today. There’s no pressure to make a decision now. We should sleep on it. If we decide to go ahead, we can finetune the details later.’

‘Finetune?’

‘IVF versus the alternative,’ he said, without smiling.

The alternative.

This time, Lucy’s skin began to burn from the inside out. She hadn’t even been able to dance with Will last night without getting upset. How on earth could she possibly make love with him without a gigantic emotional meltdown?

The very thought of becoming intimate with Will sent flames shooting over her skin. She began to tremble.

‘There’s no rush,’ he said. ‘I could be around here for a while yet, and if I move to Armidale, it’s only a couple of hours away.’

Lucy frowned at him. ‘Armidale?’

‘The job I mentioned. At the university.’

Oh, yeah. She expelled air noisily.

‘Look, we both need time to think about this, Lucy.’ Will watched her dogs running impatiently back and forth, trying to urge her to get walking again. ‘And I should head back now.’

‘All right.’

‘I’m glad I ran into you,’ he said.

Lucy nodded.

‘So you’ll give this some thought?’

‘Yes,’ she said, but a shiver rushed over her skin and she wrapped her arms around her as she watched Will walk away.

At the bend in the track, he turned back and lifted his hand to wave. Then he smiled. And kept walking.

CHAPTER TWELVE

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