Call Her Mine (Harmony Pointe #1)- Melissa Foster Page 0,94

count to three before saying a word.

By the time he reached her door, adrenaline had him wide-eyed and breathing hard. I can do this. Calm. Be fucking calm. He squared his shoulders and knocked.

The door opened slowly, and he was surprised to see a man standing on the other side. The slim man’s head was shaved to a sheen of stubble, matching his scruff. Thick chestnut brows accentuated kind green eyes.

“I’m sorry. I think I have the wrong room,” Ben said nervously.

“No. You have the right room, Ben.” He had a gentle demeanor and wore a checked dress shirt and jeans. He looked younger than Ben, maybe in his midtwenties. “I’m Brad, a friend of Caroline’s.” Ben took his proffered hand, and Brad said, “I’m glad you came. Come in, please.”

Ben stepped into the room, thrown by the man’s friendly greeting after the way Ben had treated Caroline, and was met with an Asian man dressed in all black, standing just a few feet inside the room.

“This is Nelson, my husband,” Brad said as Nelson offered his hand and a nod.

“Hi. Ben Dalton,” he said, shaking Nelson’s hand.

When Nelson stepped aside, Ben’s gaze swept over a sofa and armchairs, and just beyond, Caroline, lying on the bed. He hadn’t noticed how gaunt she’d looked that morning. Her eyes were red and puffy, her cheeks still damp from tears. She looked embarrassed as she pushed up to a sitting position. He was the one who should be embarrassed after the way he’d treated her.

“Careful, Car,” Brad said as he and Nelson went to her.

“I’m okay,” she reassured them. Looking sheepishly at Ben, she said, “I didn’t expect to see you again.”

She spoke slowly, and some of her words ran together, but Ben could tell she wasn’t drunk. He wasn’t sure what he was dealing with, but it was clear that Caroline was not the same vivacious woman he’d met at the bar all those months ago.

Regret peppered him like machine-gun spray as he said, “I’m sorry for how I treated you—”

“It’s okay,” she said softly. “I deserve it. Believe me, I’ve been beating myself up since I left her on your doorstep.”

Brad put his hand on her shoulder and said, “Caroline is a good person, Ben.”

She smiled at Brad, and then she said, “I’m no better than anyone else, though. But I need you to know, I didn’t intend to leave her with a note.”

Nelson waved to a chair and said, “You should sit down.”

“Thanks, I’m good.” Ben remained standing, eyes on Caroline, trying to think past the rush of blood in his ears. “Why did you?”

“I think Nelson’s right. You should sit down for this,” she said.

Something in her tone made him sit.

She inhaled deeply and blew it out slowly. Then she moved to the chair nearest him. Nelson sat on the love seat, and Brad remained standing. He placed his hand on her shoulder again, and she reached up, putting her hand on his.

“When I realized I was pregnant, I thought about finding you and telling you. But that night we were together, all you talked about was the woman you were in love with, and even though you were trying to forget her, I got the feeling you weren’t done with her. I didn’t want to mess that up.”

“Then why did you track me down? And how did you find me?”

“I had no one else to turn to. I had to find you, and you’d told me the name of your company and that you were from Sweetwater. It took only about three seconds to find you on Google.”

Of course . . .

“Ben, I’m glad you came, and I want to tell you everything, but it needs to be in short form. I had some trouble with headaches and fatigue during my pregnancy, mood swings, too. My sense of smell was off, and sometimes I couldn’t think clearly. But I was pregnant, so I expected some changes, and my doctor wasn’t worried. Two weeks after I gave birth, the headaches worsened, and there were times I could barely function. I went in for tests, and they found an inoperable brain tumor.”

A pained sound escaped Ben’s lungs. “Caroline . . .” he said, but there were no words to describe the pain and regret consuming him. More importantly, he knew that pain was nothing compared to what the three other people in the room were going through.

Nelson put a hand on Ben’s back and said, “It’s a lot to