Fate Actually (Moonstone Cove #2) - Elizabeth Hunter Page 0,32
Drew crossed his arms over his waist and knit his finger together. “If you knew anything that would support that… I would be happy to listen.”
“I wish I did, but I don’t. I will say that Whit Fairfield doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy who’d waste his time on any kind of relationship—even a casual one—unless he was getting something out of it.”
Drew nodded. “You are not the first person to mention that.”
“Oh yeah? Who else is talking about Fairfield that way?”
“Your… friend,” Drew stood and opened the messenger bag he’d brought with him. “Henry Durand.”
Henry again.
What the hell was going on?
“Well, Henry’s a smart guy.”
“He thinks very highly of you. And your cousin.”
“Right.” Toni nodded. “That’s nice. I better get back to work.”
“Better not forget the real reason I came.”
“Oh yeah?” She stood and waited while Drew pushed papers around in his bag before he took a blue plastic container from the bottom. “What’s that?”
“Brownies.” He set them on her desk and tapped the top of the Tupperware. “They are as good as I told you. Don’t wait too long to eat them.”
“That won’t be a problem.” Toni couldn’t stop her smile. “Thanks, Drew. And… I know you’re not trying to pin anything on Nico. If I hear anything else that might be helpful, I’ll let you know.”
“You or your friends,” he said. “For you three, I’m all ears.”
Chapter 11
“I think Drew knows we’re psychic.” She mumbled into her phone. She’d only been able to get Megan’s voice mail for the past two days, and she was starting to get annoyed. “And I’m at the doctor alone. Call me.”
She was walking into her usual gynecological office after a somewhat embarrassing conversation with Dr. Patel, the grandfatherly doctor she’d been seeing since she was sixteen. He’d known her for over half her life, and she could tell he was shocked to hear she was pregnant.
Kind and professional? Always. But shocked.
It’s only the beginning…
Her mind drifted to every shocked reaction she’d have to deal with. Her parents? Brutal. Her sister? Fine. Her brother? Preachy.
Her employees? Awkward.
And maybe the most complicated of all? Henry.
She sat in the waiting room and opened one of those mindless games on her phone. She’d spent the past nine weeks pretending none of this was really happening, and now she was going to have to face the music.
A ball of panic started to spin wildly in her chest.
“Hey!” Megan’s voice snapped her out of her panic spiral. “Sorry. It is not easy to find a parking spot around here.”
Toni stared at her. “You came to my doctor’s appointment?”
“Katherine was going to come, but she has class today and she couldn’t miss it for some reason, so she called me because I’m closer.” Megan shrugged. “We couldn’t let you go alone, could we?”
Toni blinked back tears that Megan very carefully ignored. “Thanks.”
“No problem.” She sat next to Toni and took out her own phone. “But the next one should be Henry with you. Unless he’s an asshole about it, in which case he will be banished and burned in effigy.”
Toni sniffed and sank into her chair. “He won’t be an asshole about it.”
“I kind of get that feeling too.” Megan glanced at her. “He’s in love with you. You know that, right?”
“He likes me. It’s not—”
“That man is in love with you.” Megan kept her voice low. “You are a freaking empath, Toni. If you were honest with yourself, you’d know I’m telling the truth. Added to that, he’s sweet and takes care of you with Baxter-level consideration. If you don’t love him, that’s one thing. But I think you better stop dismissing his feelings for you because he’s younger.”
“It’s not because he’s younger.”
“Yes, it is.”
“No, it’s not.”
“Okay, what is it then?”
“I don’t know.” It’s because he’s younger.
Shut up, inner voice of honesty!
“Antonia Dusi?”
“Yep.” She stood and Megan followed her. They walked back to the nurses’ station, and Kerry, Dr. Patel’s regular nurse, took her vitals and weight. Then she and Megan were ushered into a back office to wait.
Toni took a deep breath and blew it out slowly.
“That’s good,” Megan said. “You’re practicing your breathing already.”
“Oh, will you shut up.”
“Nope.” Megan picked up a magazine. “Katherine and I are walking a very fine line in all this with you. We want to be supportive, but do you know how many lectures I’ve listened to in the past couple of weeks about the abysmal maternal mortality rate in the United States as compared to other developed