Page 70 of A Deceitful Pact

“I could quickly change my mind,” I warn him, rolling my eyes when he spots a huge, stuffed lion and immediately lifts it onto the counter.

“We don’t need that.” I shake my head and laugh at him.

“We sure do, my girl’s gonna love animals.” He pats my tummy before rushing toward the strollers and testing one out.

“Sawyer, that's a double buggy; we only need a single.” I turn the price tag over on one of the ones close to me, and the amount it costs almost has me passing out again.

“Not if I knock you up a second time,” he comes from behind me and whispers, then, kissing my cheek, he moves on to look at something else before I can argue. It’s not the first time Sawyer’s made a comment like that, and it makes me question if he understands how serious I am about what will happen when the baby comes. This temporary relationship we’ve been slipping into isn’t healthy. It’s only going to make the outcome of this harder for us both, but I can’t seem to tear myself away from him. I like having Sawyer close. I like the way he cares for us. All I can do is hope that my senses come back to me once I’ve had this baby.

“You thought about what color you wanna paint the nursery?” he asks, studying the changing unit options.

“Does it matter right now?”

“Hell yeah, it matters, we need to know if we go with dark wood or white for the furniture.”

“Well, I know we keep calling her a she, but we should wait to be sure before we paint any walls.” I rub my palm over my stomach when I feel her shifting position. “I was thinking she’d sleep in with us for the first few months, that’s normal, right?”

“Us?” Sawyer raises his eyebrows at me hopefully.

“I meant me…” I correct myself. “But I was assuming that you’d stay the first few nights after she comes, won’t you?” I feel a little panic pick up in my chest, which seems pathetic considering I was supposed to be doing this entirely by myself.

I’m a strong woman, and I seem to be forgetting that lately.

“I’mma stay for as long as you let me.” Sawyer puts my mind at rest.

“Can I help you?” The store clerk comes from out the back and she pauses on her feet when she sees Sawyer.

“Yeah, do you have some kinda checklist for first timers? We’re both new to this.” He continues sliding his hand over the changing unit and testing out its strength, while she continues checkinghimout. She eventually glances toward me, and when I offer her a sarcastic smile, she turns bright red.

“A list, of course.” She quickly gets to work on finding it.

“Ohhhh, Riley. I’m getting me one of these.” Sawyer’s eyes light up when he sees the baby carriers. “Can you show me how you strap this bad boy up?” he calls over to the clerk. His excitement over this is infectious, and I laugh at him until someone catches my eye on the other side of the window. Someone who can’t possibly be there. I move closer to the display in the window so I can get a better look, but there's no one there.

“Jack,” I whisper his name, certain that I saw him.

“What ya say, darlin’?” Sawyer calls out, holding his arms above his head while the store clerk has the time of her life, strapping the harness from the carrier around his waist.

“I just saw Jack.” I turn back to the window and stare through the glass before my feet give out, and everything goes dark.

* * *

“Riley, baby.’” Sawyer’s stroking my face when I come back around, and I can see how worried he is as he takes the cup of water from the store clerk and brings it to my lips. “You're lucky I was fast enough to catch ya this time. I’m taking you straight to the hospital.”

“No, I don’t need a hospital,” I tell him firmly. “It was just a shock, I swear I saw Jack outside,” I admit, fully aware of how crazy that sounds.

“Jack? You told me Jack’s dead,” he speaks to me slowly, as if I’m confused. I sit myself up a little straighter and see he’s still wearing the baby carrier strapped around his middle and hanging open between his legs.

“Heisdead. There’s no way it could have been him, but I saw someone who looked just like him.”

“You know, I’ve heard a lot of stories about spirits visiting their loved ones when they're pregnant. Last Christmas, when my sister was due, she was sure she saw our gran,” the store clerk tells me sympathetically. “I guess when you're pregnant, you just need that little extra comfort.”

I see the sad look her suggestion puts on Sawyer’s face, despite him looking away and trying to hide it.

“I’m sure it was just a passerby who looked like him.” I crush her theory, and when I try to stand back up, Sawyer helps me to my feet.

All his excitement seems to have faded as he unstraps the carrier from around his waist and places it on the counter beside the lion.

“We’ll just take these, we can come back another day for the rest of what we need.” He keeps his arm wrapped around my waist as the clerk moves behind the counter.

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