Page 58 of All Roads Lead to You

“No, of course it isn’t a date kind of dinner.” She was conscious of her flaming cheeks and how he could probably see she was blushing. “I didn’t think it was.”

“Okay.” His tone was devoid of expression. “So tomorrow night, then?”

“Sure.” Beth forced a smile. “Love to.”

It was just dinner with the father of her baby.

No big deal.

***

Finn didn’t want to talk to Chase about Beth, but the moment they touched down in Brightwater Valley after their trip to Queenstown, he knew he was going to have to.

Because he couldn’t leave what she’d said to him earlier at Levi’s place, about what they were going to tell people about their relationship, alone.

Friends, she’d said. Friends who were having a baby together. She’d looked at him uncertainly as she’d said it, as if she knew how ludicrous it sounded too.

Because it was ludicrous. Not so much the friends having babies together—he was sure some friends did that—but the part assuming he and Beth were friends. They weren’t. Not especially.

In fact, he didn’t know what they were, and he didn’t like that one bit. Gray areas were tough things, and this whole situation was a gray area. They weren’t in a relationship, yet they weren’t strangers either. It was technically a one-night stand, yet they interacted almost on a daily basis.

Now he’d made the decision to be there during her pregnancy, what did that make them? Flatmates? Platonic partners? What? And how would it work when the baby was born?

No, he didn’t like any of this, and although talking about personal shit wasn’t his favorite, he could use some advice. Chase, in addition to being his brother and now a prospective uncle-to-be, was also the only one who knew he’d slept with Beth.

The only problem was that Chase’s advice was invariably infuriating. In which case he’d have to suck it up. Because while his brother’s advice might be infuriating, it always ended up being invaluable.

Chase was still out on the horse trek Finn was supposed to take instead of going to Queenstown, so he had to wait to see him until the afternoon. Then he finally tracked Chase down to the Rose, where his brother was having a well-earned beer and a chat with Jim, the proprietor.

“Hey,” Chase said as Finn came into the pub. “You want a beer?”

“Sure.” Finn came over to the bar and leaned an elbow on it. “I need to talk to you.”

Chase raised an eyebrow. “You coming to me for a chat? That’s a first.”

Finn didn’t rise to the bait. “In private.”

“Sounds serious,” Jim said, delivering the requested beer. Then he coughed. “I’ll leave you to it.”

Finn grabbed his beer, turned, and headed to one of the tables in the back corner of the bar, away from the door and from anyone that might overhear. It was the table everyone went to when they wanted a private conversation.

Chase followed, giving Finn a look as they both sat down. “Itisserious then if you want to sit here. Everything okay?”

Finn pondered how he was going to broach the topic, then took a sip of his beer, put it down on the table with a bang, and said, “Beth’s pregnant.” Because really, there was no other way to say it. “No one else knows, so I’d appreciate it if you keep it between you and me for the time being.”

His brother’s eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed immediately into thin slits of silver. “You idiot,” he said.

Despite himself, Finn was pleased Chase automatically assumed it was his fault rather than Beth’s, since that’s definitely where the blame lay. And yeah, he’d accept he’d been an idiot. It was true. He had been.

“I know.” He met his brother’s gaze squarely. “Believe me, I’m fully aware of how much of an idiot I am.”

Chase shook his head. “I’d have thought—”

“Yeah, yeah, spare me the lecture. It was just the one time without a condom, and she said she was on the pill. And,” he added, “just so we’re clear, I believe her.”

His brother snorted. “Beth’s not a liar. If she said she was, she was.”

“The hows and whys aren’t important right now anyway.” Finn picked up his beer again and took another healthy sip. “The reason we were in Queenstown was so she could get a pregnancy test and find out for certain if she was pregnant. And she is.”

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