Billionaire's Second Chance (Billionaires #16) - Jennifer Hartley Page 0,54

somewhere all by himself. I felt bad about that, and I needed to fix it. But that being said, I was glad that Scott and I had this time to talk. We needed it. I felt as if it had been the first time since our parents had died that he and I had actually had a real conversation about how we felt and what we needed. I wished that we would have had this conversation before now, but I was glad that we had at least had it now.

Scott pulled his phone out of his pocket and held it up to his face to dial.

“Who are you calling?” I asked.

He didn’t answer me, but he looked at me with the kind of serious smile that indicated he was ready to do what it took to make this situation work out for all of us. “I’ve been a bit of an ass lately,” he said.

I grinned. “Just a bit?” I teased. “Well, you haven’t been the only one. I think we’ve all been running on emotional overload for a while now.”

I saw his eyes dart downward as someone picked up his call.

“Hey, DeShawn,” Scott said into the phone. “Can you come over? I think the three of us need to sit and talk.”

Scott stayed on the phone for a few more seconds and then hung it up. He slid it back into his pocket and smiled at me. He rubbed my hand with his fingers and nodded his head as if he were mulling over what was about to happen.

“You’re right,” he said finally as he stood up from the bed and gently pulled me up with him.

“About what?” I asked.

“About the two of us not needing to always go it alone with everything.”

We walked out of the bedroom together and down the stairs. Scott made a fresh pot of coffee while I stared out the picture window and thought about all of the things that there were to think about now.

22

Deshawn

When I got Scott’s call, I had to admit that I was surprised by how calm he sounded over the phone. He didn’t say much—just a few words, actually. But it was better than the shouting argument that we had left the situation in at the house. And he wanted me to come over so that the three of us could talk. I finally released the breath that I hadn’t realized I had been holding in for days. That was all I had wanted this whole entire time, for the three of us to talk about things. I hated blurting out all of my feelings to Clara and then seeing her run away, knowing that there was nothing I could do but walk away and give her time. This time sitting here in this hotel room had been torture. All I could think about was getting back to her.

I picked up pizza on my way to the Wiley farm. I thought it would be a nice gesture and that no one would be in the mood to cook a meal tonight. Besides, Clara had to be hungry. I hadn’t seen her take a bite of food in days, and she was eating for two now. When I got there, things were every bit as awkward and uncomfortable as I had expected them to be, at least at first. We all sat around the table, just staring at each other. No one knew how to start the conversation or what to say first.

“Well,” I finally said. “I’m glad we’re not fighting anymore.”

Clara smiled at me. That was the first smile that I had seen from her in a while.

“We can’t fight anymore,” Scott said. “I’m sorry that we ever did, to begin with. It’s not helpful to the situation.”

“Agreed,” I said as I nodded my head. “And I’m sorry, too.”

“Scott and I talked about the situation with the farm,” Clara said. “As you already know, things are pretty dire here. This new issue isn’t going to do anything to help that. In fact, it’s going to put a lot more stress on everything—physically, mentally, financially, and logistically.”

Scott looked over at me and added on. “There’s just no way that we can keep up with this farm during Clara’s pregnancy,” he said. “We’ve barely been able to do it up to this point as it is.” He sighed, and I could see the stress in Scott’s eyes threatening to swallow him whole.

I looked back at Clara. “Does that you’re planning to