Page 4 of Skylar

Her confusion over what to do held a huge amount of guilt. She was being selfish. She knew that.

Her own feelings should hold no weight in this situation. She needed to do what was best for Shiloh. For her daughter. Nothing else was important. Not her feelings. Not her fears. Not her plans to never reveal the pregnancy and its aftermath.

It looked like she was going to have to contact Cole to ask for details on his best friend, all the while hoping that he’d give them to her without asking why she needed them. But knowing Cole, she wasn’t sure that was possible, especially considering that back when she and Aiden broke up, she’d told Cole she never wanted to talk about Aiden again.

Hopefully, a little alcohol would help give her the courage she needed. She knew her parents would recommend praying, but Skylar didn’t believe as strongly as they did that God was paying attention to their lives.

So she’d leave the praying to them, while she turned to liquid courage to do what they wanted her to.

CHAPTER TWO

The chime of his phone’s text alert drew Aiden McIntyre’s attention away from the large monitor sitting on his desk. He was revising a design that he and his team had developed, attempting to incorporate the modifications the client had asked for.

It was a frustrating, but also challenging, situation, given that they’d thought they were nearing the end of the project. Unfortunately, the client had recently decided they wanted some things changed, leaving them to scramble to please the man.

Picking up his phone, he got to his feet and arched his back to stretch it out as he read the message that had come in.

Mom:Hi darling! Hope your day is going well. Just a reminder that we’re getting fast food for dinner. Willow wants to make sure you don’t forget and work late.

Blowing out a long breath, Aiden stepped over to the window. He had, in fact, forgotten. However, there was no way he was going to miss out. Spending time with his niece and mom was a priority for him, so he made sure to leave work promptly, even if it meant he had to finish tasks at home.

I’ll be there. I plan to leave the office around five-thirty. Do you want to just meet at the restaurant?

Grateful for a bit of a break, he spent a few minutes messaging with his mom, sorting out the plans for their dinner date, then he returned to his desk. He hoped to get another solid hour of work in before he left to meet his mom and Willow.

He’d barely focused on his monitor when there was a knock on the door, then his assistant popped his head into the room.

“What’s up?” Aiden asked, leaning back in his chair.

Tyler crossed his arms and scowled at him. “You forgot, didn’t you?”

Aiden wracked his brain, then sat forward to grab his mouse and click it to bring up the calendar app on his monitor. “I have an appointment.”

“Yep. And she’s here.”

“She?”

“Miss Grace. She’s here for her appointment with you.”

Aiden frowned. “What is the appointment for?”

“She said she has a project she wanted to discuss with you.”

“Okay.” Aiden sighed heavily. So much for his plans for the last hour of his day. “Send her in.”

“Will do.”

Aiden turned off his monitor, then angled himself at his L-shaped desk to face the chairs on the opposite side. He pulled his tablet toward him and opened the app he used to take notes. Sliding the pen free, he set it next to the tablet, hoping the meeting wouldn’t take too long.

“Miss Grace,” Tyler said.

Aiden looked up, then froze in the process of getting to his feet. “Skylar?”

“Hello, Aiden,” she said as she stepped past Tyler into the office.

Tyler gave Aiden a questioning look but didn’t say anything before pulling the door closed behind him as he left the office.

Aiden was thrown back in time to when he had last seen Skylar, and it was hard to reconcile that distraught teen with the poised woman standing in front of him.

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