Page 54 of Last Minute Fiancé

My stomach dropped and I let out a shaky breath. I deserved whatever was coming. Because I had been so stupid. All of our not-so-careful plans were now tossed up into the air, and nothing else mattered.

The moment that I had seen Mrs. Wells at my door, I had jumped up and tried to fix the situation, but the older woman had just held up her hand, clucked her tongue in that odd way that always annoyed the hell out of me, then left me alone, while Colt and I had tried to stop her. I had tried to reach Addison over and over again, but she hadn’t responded. I just got a text back an hour later saying that I should come over.

Colt had taken my last appointment, and I drove like a bat out of hell to her house.

I had ruined everything.

I hadn’t even realized that I could. That I had the power to take something so precious, so meaningful, and throw it out the window.

“I’m sorry. I’m so damn sorry. I didn’t even know that she knew where I worked, or that she’d be in the back office. Colt and I were just talking about what happened, because we talk about our lives. Did he fire you? He better not have fired you. I’ll fight. I’ll do whatever it takes. You do not deserve to lose your job because I’m an idiot.”

“It’s fine. It’s really fine.”

I shook my head again. “It is not fine. I’m so sorry.”

“Come inside. I’m making decaf coffee with really fun creamers.”

“Baby.”

She took my hand and pulled me inside, closing the door behind her.

“I quit my job. You didn’t get me fired.”

I froze in place, watching as she tried to tug my hand and pull me after her. She was so cute, trying to tug me away, but she couldn’t do it because she was so tiny.

And yet, she had so much strength and perseverance.

And I had clearly lost my damn mind if I had just heard that correctly.

“Wait, what happened now?” I asked, confusion evident in my tone.

“Come and have some decaf coffee with me. I guess I could make you real coffee. You’d probably like that more. I can’t really have caffeine right now. At least, not the amounts that I used to have with my old job. Because it’s my old job now.”

“Your voice is going really high-pitched. Tell me, how can I fix this?”

That’s when I realized she was wearing yoga pants and a crop top with a shawl over it, and her baby bump poked out.

Because she was showing.

Showing our child.

The entire world crashed around me and I wanted to reach out, to press my hand against her belly just to feel it, and I realized that maybe now was not the appropriate time for that.

Addison poured me a cup of coffee, added whipped cream and caramel sauce, and handed it over.

“Cheers. It’s decaf but has tons of sugar. It’ll be okay. I promise. Everything will be okay.”

“You say that, and yet you’re pretty much shouting those words. What happened, Addison? Other than the fact that I ruined everything.”

She took a sip of her drink, and I did the same, wiping whipped cream from my nose.

“You didn’t ruin everything. You sort of just helped me get pushed in the right direction, because part of me has been thinking that I’ve been making a mistake for a little too long now.”

“I’m confused.”

“Honestly, so am I.”

She took a deep breath, and then began to pace the kitchen, her hand going to the swell of her stomach.

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