Page 70 of The P Arrangement

“It was never about not wanting the baby, Natalie.”

“I figured.”

“But, yes, I would.”

She smiled. “Then, you should know that Delaney already saw her OB, and so far, everything is just fine. But you still need to tell her. Everything.”

“Thank you. And I will,” I told her and jumped off the front steps and headed for my truck.

As I was putting my vehicle in reverse, my mother’s name showed up on my phone.

“Hello?”

“Preston Charles St. James. Did you forget that I was coming over today? Did you leave your mail out just to taunt me?”

Fuck. I shouldn’t have bothered to answer the phone. Focused on getting to Delaney, I’d answered without thinking.

Because Clara brought my mail in during the week, I had no idea what my mother was talking about. I hadn’t touched it for two days since I’d had bigger things to worry about than what junk had been sent to me this week.

I was about two seconds away from hitting the End button, but then my mother said something that had me jerking my arm back.

“Can you repeat that?”

My mother huffed. “I’m sitting at your house, staring at a—”

“Never mind. I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

TWENTY-SEVEN

DELANEY

“So,has Rayne set you two up with a good lawyer for your new restaurant?” I asked Cade, Rayne’s boyfriend, and Beau, her brother.

When Rayne had invited me and Vivian out to dinner, I’d thought it would be good for me to get out and take my mind off things for at least a few hours.

But so far, the only ones to show up were Cade, Beau, and me. Technically, Cade had just finished working for the day, and that was why we were at his current restaurant. But this was only my second time meeting Cade and my first time meeting Beau. Instead of feeling relaxed, I was forcing myself to make conversation so it wouldn’t be awkward.

“Not yet,” Beau said. “Since she works for the DA’s office, I think she said she was going to talk to Vivian and see if she could recommend anyone from her firm.”

Lifting my glass of water to my lips, I took a sip, wishing it were wine. “Good idea. I could also ask—” I was about to say Preston, but I stopped before I offered the two men something I wasn’t confident I could deliver on.

“Never mind.” I smiled stiffly. “If I think of someone to ask, I will let you know.”

Cade’s phone buzzed.

“Rayne and Em are almost here. I guess Em picked Rayne up, and that’s why they’re running late.” He looked up at me. “I’m supposed to tell you sorry.”

“Rayne is sweet.”

Cade went back to his phone and began typing away.

“Oh, you didn’t have to tell her that,” I said.

Beau leaned over his friend’s shoulder and cringed. “Eh. That’s my sister, dude.”

Cade shot him a look. “Don’t be reading other people’s messages if you don’t want to know what they say.”

“Well, I did want to know because I thought you were going to tell her what Delaney said. I didn’t know you were going to add”—he waved his hand—“all that.”

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