Page 57 of The Playboy's Most Unexpected Baby

He looked at her. “You didn’t? How the hell did you mean to tell me?”

“Excuse me?”

“Because dropping it on me in front of my entire family like that — not to mentionRogan— is just about the worst plan I can think of.”

“Okay, hang on,” she objected. “You can say that now, but you do realize this is the first time in weeks that I’ve even had the opportunity for a conversation with you, right?”

“So how long have you been sitting on this?”

“I haven’t been sitting on anything! Icalledyou, Charlie. I tried to talk to you. You’re the one who’s been ignoringme.” She sighed and raked her fingers through her hair. “God. We already did this. We already had this conversation, and you didn’t listen to me then, so I don’t know why I’m fooling myself into thinking that you would listen to me now. All you can think about is how things are inconvenient for you. I just threw up in Rogan’s office, and you’re yelling at me for not telling you I was pregnant sooner.”

“I tried to take you to the hospital. Don’t act like I’m not making an effort.”

Olivia laughed bitterly. “Do you think that counts as making an effort?” she asked him. “You don’t get to just decide what you think needs to be done and then do it with no input from me. That’s what you did after we slept together, and it’s the reason we haven’t spoken since then. And how’s that decision working out for you? You didn’t even know you were going to be a father. I don’t know if you ever would have found out about this if you weren’t required to come back here for this meeting. Would you ever have talked to me again? Or would I have just been some mistake that you didn’t bother to check in with to see why it was that I had called you?”

Charlie’s jaw worked. He said nothing.

Maybe she had silenced him. Maybe she had found the right thing to say to shut him up.

On one hand, she hoped she had — she loved the idea that he might have finally been put in his place. But on the other hand, her heart was left aching. She wanted him to feel the intensity of what he had put her through, but she didn’t want to push him away.

What if she had done that?

Suddenly, she couldn’t face him. She got out of his car. “I’m going to drive myself,” she told him. “I’ll see you back at the house.”

“I might be a while,” he said, his voice tight.

“Going back to Boston?” She couldn’t keep the acid out of her tone.

“I’ll be there later tonight,” he told her. “I’m not leaving town. I just— I need some time.”

It was a fair thing to ask for, Olivia supposed. She had certainly had plenty of time to deal with this news.

Even so, though, she couldn’t help feeling troubled by the fact that he had chosen to walk away. He had said he would be home tonight — but after the way he’d left her and gone off to Boston for all that time, could she trust that?

What if he didn’t come back? What if he left her on her own again?

He hadn’t said a word about the pregnancy, and Olivia didn’t know quite what to make of that — but she knew that it wasn’t a good thing. If he had been excited, as a part of her had hoped he would be, surely he wouldn’t have been able to hold back. He would have said something to her. He would have let her see the way he was feeling about it.

That hadn’t happened, and she could only assume it was because his feelings on the subject were something he knew would bother her. That was the only reason for him to keep things a secret.

She didn’t want to cry, but she couldn’t help herself. Tears spilled down her cheeks as she got into her own car and pulled out of the parking lot.

It felt wrong to be heading back to Coldwell estate right now. A significant part of her wanted to blow off this whole messy business, go back to her own little apartment, and never speak to Charlie again.

Well, who knows, she thought bitterly.Maybe today will be the last time we ever speak. Maybe after today, I’ll be free to do exactly that.

CHAPTER23

OLIVIA

Olivia sat in the living room of Marge Coldwell’s house, the silence seeming to penetrate to her very soul.

She hadn’t been able to bring herself to turn any lights on, which had been fine when she had arrived here — it had been early afternoon. But now the sun was beginning to go down and the room was growing dark around her, and Olivia remained in shadows. She could have gotten up to turn on the light — she could even have reached over to the lamp that sat next to her on the end table and switched that on — but she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. Every time she thought about moving, her muscles grew tense and paralyzed her.

It was so anxiety-inducing to do nothing but sit here waiting to see what would happen.

She glanced at her phone, which she had positioned face-up next to her. The screen was still dark, and had been since she had sat down here. No notifications. No texts, no calls — nothing. Wherever Charlie was right now, whatever he was doing, it didn’t involve reaching out to her.

---