Page 116 of Once Upon a Holidate
“I’m here,” her friend said. “Whatever it is, we’ll get through this. I have some contacts. We can arrange for a big burly guy to beat the shit out of Garrick if necessary.”
Wynn wiped her face. “How did you know this was about Garrick?”
“It’s Sunday morning, so it’s unlikely you heard bad medical news, and if it was Hunter, you would have said that up front. A town-based disaster, like your business burning down, would have meant calls from more than just you. That leaves a man.”
Silver led her into the living room where they settled on one of the overstuffed sofas. Drew was nowhere to be seen—a fact for which Wynn was grateful. She liked Silver’s husband just fine, but didn’t really want him around when she was so vulnerable.
Silver disappeared for a few seconds, then returned with a box of tissues.
“Do you want something to drink? Coffee? Water? Tequila?”
“I’m okay,” Wynn said, struggling to get control. “I don’t like being this way. I’m not a crier.”
“It’s an involuntary physical response. We all do it.”
“You’re saying I’m ordinary?” Wynn asked with an attempt at fake humor.
“Practically mundane.” Silver rubbed her back. “Tell me what happened.”
Wynn blew her nose, then quickly recounted the conversation from a week or so ago, when she’d confessed that she wanted more children.
“I didn’t mean to say it,” she added when she was done. “I wasn’t hinting at anything.”
“You were hinting,” Silver said gently. “Or at least testing the waters.”
Wynn started to protest, then stopped herself. “Maybe,” she admitted. “I do want more kids, though.”
“Sure, but not on your own. You want them with Garrick.”
“Is it that obvious?”
“No, but I know you.”
Wynn sighed heavily. “I guess I was hoping he would be excited, too. That he would start thinking about us being together and what that would be like. I was hoping he would see that we’re really good as a couple and that we could have so much more. A blended family, more children.”
“Love?”
Wynn twisted the tissue and nodded. “Love,” she whispered. She turned to Silver.
“But that’s not where he went at all. When he got home from the hospital, he started talking about us having a couple of kids and co-parenting together. That I wanted more kids and he could make it happen. How it was superconvenient because we lived next door.” The tears returned. “He’s not in love withme. He doesn’t want to have a family together—he wants me to be some kind of baby mama with a co-parenting agreement and maybe some sex on the side.”
“Baby mama?” Silver asked, her voice teasing.
“You know what I mean.”
“I do, and I’m sorry.”
Wynn looked at her. “I’m in love with him, and he’s not in love with me.”
“You don’t know that.”
Wynn thought about what had happened... and what hadn’t. “I do know that. He’s not in love with me. I’ve already learned this lesson. You can’t force a man to care about you, and you can’t trap him into loving you. After everything I’ve been through, I’m back where I was fifteen years ago. Loving someone who doesn’t love me back.”
***
Three days after the fact, Garrick realized that maybe giving Wynn time had been a bad decision. He hadn’t seen her at all, and the only response to his text suggesting they talk had been a quickThis isn’t a good time for me.
He knew he’d screwed up big time, but he didn’t know exactly what he’d done. Was it wrong to want to have kids with her? Shouldn’t she see that he was trying to give her exactly what she wanted? He thought she was amazing and wanted to raise children with her. How was that bad?
