Page 21 of Falling for You
Roman Thomas has a baby. A baby that was conceived, right before we started dating, or hooking up, whatever he wants to call it today.
Shit.
Me:Rome has a baby. With another woman.
Violet:What the fuck?!
Willow:There’s no way! He wouldn’t cheat on you.
Me:Yup. Come to the inn. I’ll explain it all. He didn’t cheat, it’s just my fucking luck.
Violet:Starting the chocolate cake now. And told Mom to stay.
Willow:We left a little bit ago to come back to Lupine Valley! I tried to find you.
Me:Ugh. I was going to help Rome with his books—not his baby.
Willow:You better FaceTime me later. Vi—make extra chocolate icing. >
If Willow is in the car that means she’s with Gunnar in a quiet car for four more hours. She’s definitely going to tell him. There is no way Willow can keep her mouth shut the whole way back to Lupine Valley.
Between Willow being with G and Rome’s waitress, Jasmine, I can only imagine the rumors that are already swirling around town. I’m sure Esther and Margaret, the resident business owners and town gossips, are trying to figure out how they missed the fact that I was pregnant, and that must be why I didn’t come home for months. If we had a town Facebook page, this would be front page news.
I better get home and tell Hunter the truth before he hears through one of his crew’s wives that it’s my baby. Hopefully Roman already called him like he said he was going to and I won’t have to explain.
But maybe after thinking he secretly got me pregnant, us dating won’t seem so bad.Maybe? The inappropriate timing of the thoughts don’t help me with my current predicament though.
I park next to the inn and take a deep breath before dragging myself and baby Olivia up the front porch.
Opening the back door, Olivia looks at me with her big golden honey eyes that match Rome’s. “You ready for this Livvy girl? Because I’m not.”
She blows a raspberry with her tongue sticking between her sweet little lips shaped like a perfect heart. Her feet kicking a mile a minute in excitement against the toy across the handle.
Taking another calming breath, the two of us start walking toward the porch where I see Mom and Violet in the window. Before I can even start up the steps, Mom has the door open and she’s waiting for us with her cardigan pulled tight around her. The ocean is bringing in a cool breeze that swirls around our front porch. I look down at Olivia, should she have a blanket on her legs? Do I have a blanket for her? There must be one somewhere in that pile of bags.
“Would you look at that sweet girl?” Mom coos.
She reaches out to pull me in for a hug, and then takes Olivia and the carseat from me, rushing inside.
I let Mom have her baby moment and I go off to the kitchen in search of Violet. Since I won’t be grabbing a shot of tequila tonight, I need chocolate. Lots of chocolate.
The swinging door to the kitchen pushes open with a whoosh of air, and I find Violet pouring the dark chocolate batter into two cake pans.
“I’m sorry I can’t bake a whole cake in five minutes, but I did make a test run of s’mores cookies earlier. They could use a taste test.” She doesn’t even look up at me, just keeps working on the cake. This is why she’s currently the best future sister-in-law.
“I can’t believe G made Willow leave just when I need her.”
“He’s a jerk, no cookies for him.” She fakes a pout in my direction while she wipes the chocolate off her hands and onto her apron.
“Thanks for the support.” I unwrap the s’mores cookie and break off a piece, popping it into my mouth.
Fuck that’s good. I pop in another piece, larger this time to get a chunk of gooey marshmallow.
“Okay, so is it too soon to ask you what the hell happened in the hour you’ve been gone?”
I groan. “Yes.”
She raises her brow as she sets up the bowl and all her ingredients to make my favorite chocolate fudge icing.
