Page 50 of Best Laid Plans

He looked up at the wide, faded blue of the sky, searching for answers to the turmoil inside him.

Some answers were easy. He knew exactly why Lucy loved this land, and he knew that he wanted his child to live here with her.

It felt right that Lucy should be the mother of his child.

It felt good.

But was he fooling himself? It was madness to think he could replace his brother.

No, he decided. It was actually a greater madness to dwell on the Josh-Lucy scenario – to keep letting the past haunt him.

For more than twenty years he’d lived in Josh’s shadow, but wasn’t it time to get over that? Wasn’t his task now to concentrate on the living? To do the right thing by Lucy?

Heaven knew she deserved to be treated well. She was a wonderful girl. Gutsy and clever. Sweet and fun.

She was his friend.

And she needed his help.

And he needed –

Hell, he wasn’t sure what he needed from Lucy. He had the feeling though, that he couldn’t stop wanting to help her.

But if that was so, if they were going to keep trying until Lucy was pregnant, he had to make this baby plan easier for her. Which meant he had to make sure that their nextrendezvouswas as friendly and functional as possible.

Will let out a sigh – which he smartly decided was a sigh of relief. He felt marginally better now that he had his thoughts straight.

All he had to remember was that he was Lucy’s friend, not her lover.

Friendship gave them clear boundaries and boundaries were good. Breaking the boundaries could completely mess up her life.

In line with that thinking, he should start making plans to get a job outside this district. That way Lucy would know he wasn’t going to crowd her once their goal of pregnancy was achieved. He’d heard of jobs in Papua New Guinea that he could apply for.

PNG wasn’t too far away, so he could come back to Willowbank from time to time to play whatever role in their baby’s life that Lucy wanted.

Good. Will was glad he had that sorted.

It always helped to have a plan.

Three days later he received a text message from Lucy.

Can you come over tonight? I have evening surgery, so can’t offer dinner. Is 9.30 too late? L x

He sent a hasty reply.I’ll be there.

I’ll be there…

All day Will’s message drummed inside Lucy with a pulsing, electrifying beat.

She knew she was weak. She was supposed to be giving up on this baby idea and protecting her emotions, but she’d only spent five minutes with little Mia and her brave plans to abandon the project toppled like bowling pins.

She shouldn’t have jumped at Will’s offer to try again for a baby, but heavens, if he hadn’t offered, she might have begged him.

Now, she couldn’t stop thinking about him arriving on her doorstep tonight, coming into her house, into her bed.

For the first time in her professional life she found it hard to concentrate on her work. She was excessively grateful that the tasks were routine, so she could more or less function on autopilot.

By the time the hands of the clock eventually crawled to nine-thirty in the evening, she was jangling with tension and expectation.

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