Page 56 of Don't You Want Me, Baby?

Tyler

Say more. Going insane here.

Sharon

She’ll murder me.

Tyler

Sorry, just sending Matt a video.

Sharon

Fine! She has a final meeting at the bank tomorrow. The planning was accepted. When she murders me, don’t play that video at my funeral or I will come back to haunt you.

Tyler

Fuck. You said halfway. Onedown. Does that mean?

Sharon

Yep. Baby is a go-go.

Tyler

She’s really pregnant?

Sharon

Yep. Won’t talk about it. She’s not the same, Tyler. She’s not herself at all. Keeps saying she just needs to get through the bank appointment when I ask her what’s going on. She’s Mrs Sunshine at work, but most of us see right through it. Oh, and she keeps making Ben bake those cherry pastries you left the recipe for. Pretty sure it’s a craving. The kid will probably come out wrapped in pastry.

Tyler

Send me the details for the appointment.

Sharon

Finally. I’ll drop you a pin. Don’t wear flannel for God’s sake.

Tyler

I’ll have you know, my Cherry loves me in flannel.

Sharon

Barf. Good luck, lumberjack. Rooting for you, bud.

22

This was it. In a couple of hours, she’d finally know whether her dreams were going to come true. She was so close, and none of it mattered a jot. Because Tyler Williams wasn’t there by her side. She didn’t have her big, frowny best friend to cheer her on. To challenge her, to be there like he always was. And she didn’t have him, the one man who she adored and had never given the chance. She was going to make it right, though. She was going to get the Arms, and make it her own. She was going to get her grandmother’s place back, and hop on the first train to London and beg Tyler to forgive her. They could make it work; she could commute. She would pick up the Arms brick by brick and rebuild it down there if he wanted it.

For weeks now, in between crying, planning and puking, she’d thought of their time together. Replayed all the little moments that he’d shown her he had her back, had cared. She knew he’d loved her, and she’d been too blind to see it. Too stupid and blinded by the man she thought Bradley was to see what was there, right in her kitchen the whole sodding time. He’d punched his feckless cheating ex for her, had fed her, designed her a menu and asked fornothing in return. Every time Ben brought her one of those cherry pastries she loved, it made her heart break that Tyler wasn’t the one holding the plate. Calling her Cherry in his sexy, gruff way. She was in love with Tyler Williams. Not because of anything he’d done for her, or given to her. Because he was Tyler. Her lumberjack protector. She was going to fight for everything she should have before. Tyler was her dream. Without him, none of this was worth anything. Even the baby growing inside her, the child she’d wanted for so long. It wouldn’t be the same if this little scrap of life didn’t have Tyler there, loving them. Loving their mother. She would go and see him, beg him for another chance, and then tell him about the baby. Hope that he would still want to be part of her life.

As she walked out of the bank, standing at the edge of the pavement, she drew in a breath before heading home.

‘Well,’ she said to herself, her hand on her rounded stomach. ‘Here we go, little one. All in or nothing.’

She heard heavy footsteps approaching, and her heart stopped when she turned to see Tyler standing there. Watching her.

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