Page 9 of Agony of Our Regret

He straightened. “If you’re still nauseated weeks later, you should go back to the doctor. That’s not normal.”

Shit.

I glanced out of the corner of my eye, praying for an interruption.Think, Avalon!

“Unless you’re sick from something else,” he hedged.

I closed my eyes. He knew. Of course he did. He had three kids and wasn’t stupid. I bit my lip and stared up at the ceiling, fighting to keep from crying. This was not how I pictured telling anyone, let alone Noah’s dad.

“Oh, sweetie.” He wrapped me in his arms, and I broke. I gripped his shirt in my fist and sobbed. “It’s okay.”

I shook my head. It wasn’t okay. None of this was okay.

Sky, Vince, and Noah were gone. I was pregnant. I had a real job making real decisions that impacted real people. I couldn’t have a turkey sandwich. The backup option just reappeared. Nothing would stay down, and I was losing weight when I was pretty sure I should be gaining. We couldn’t pick between stupid Santa Fe or Vermont, which, frankly, both options sucked––the buildings, not the locations. The AS might have tried to kill me, and now one of my missing men’s dads was holding me outside the bathroom.

I was maxed out.

I wanted to be at home in my pajamas. No wait, I wanted a bath with lots of bubbles. And some chocolate.

Oh, and peanut butter.

And beef jerky.

Could I have that?

“Avalon?” a familiar voice called. “Wes? What’s going on?”

Chris walked toward us. Double shit. The last thing I needed was Sky’s dad seeing me like this.

I should have begged Wes to keep this to himself. The more people who knew, the harder it would be to prevent the guys from finding out.I froze in panic.

Wes squeezed me tighter. “Oh, Avalon’s just feeling stressed returning. Might have been a bit too soon to come back. She should be home recovering still.”

I thanked him silently for covering, but if Gavin and Luca heard him say that, I’d never work in the office again.

Chris gave me a sympathetic smile. “I’m sorry. Do you need a ride home? I can give you a lift.”

His generosity and immediate offer to help despite his son not being in my life brought up immediate tears.

“Oh, no!” He rushed forward and rubbed my shoulder. “Did I say something wrong?”

I shook my head, but couldn’t get myself under control.

“Avalon? Sweetie?” Tessa appeared at my other side. “I was coming to check on you. What’s going on?”

“We broke her,” Chris said with a small smile.

“I think being back is too much at the moment,” Wes tried again with that cover story.

“I offered to take her home, and she started crying,” Chris explained.

Tessa brushed my hair back and put her hand on my cheek. “Are you in pain? If this is too much too soon, you can go home. It’s not a problem at all.”

Ugh. They were being so nice, but the tears didn’t stop.

“Why don’t I go get Gavin?” Tessa offered.

I shook my head. That was the last thing I wanted. “I told them I was ready to come back.” I sniffed. “I want to be here. I just got hot in that room, and it made me feel sick.”

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