when she entered the doctor’s office, and all the colors were more intense.
She was going to be a mother! She’d have a little one to care for, to love. Someone to take trick-or-treating and pile presents under the Christmas tree for.
Her phone buzzed in her purse, and she pulled it out to find a text from her dad.
“The florist I’ve been talking to would like a mural. They need it rushed. Eight by ten. Done by Friday. Pay is double.”
Diane didn’t know whether to groan or smile. Work had been crazy lately, and she was behind on Kai’s mural. It would have been great to finish it so she could put him behind her for good, but that hadn’t been the way of things. Jobs were popping up, and Kai had insisted she put his mural last on the list.
She suspected he’d partly said that in order to keep her around a little while longer. The few snippets of time she’d had to work on his kitchen, she’d gone over there while he was at work. They hadn’t seen each other in person since the coffee shop and had only communicated through text.
Like with everything else, she felt conflicted about the situation. She wouldn’t have minded running into him, but she also knew if that were to happen it would break her heart all over again.
She held the phone in her hands, debating. Double pay would be nice. While the money Kai was giving her for the mural was incredibly substantial, she didn’t feel she was in a position to turn any work down.
In Florida, she’d need to take some time off work for maternity leave. And there was certainly no guarantee that she’d find work right away, anyway. Which meant it was crucial to squirrel away money while in New York.
She fired back a text to her dad, accepting the job. It wasn’t time to put the phone away, though. She had to talk to Kai about this latest delay.
And forget texting back and forth. She was an adult. She could talk to him on the phone.
The moment it started ringing, though, she regretted placing the call. She went to hang up, but it was too late.
“Hey,” he answered.
Lord help her, that voice still made her weak in the knees.
“Hi. Is this a good time?”
“It certainly is. How are you doing?”
“I’m okay.” She glanced over her shoulder, at the doctor’s office she’d just left, and started walking. Even though her secret was one she knew she had to keep, doing so still felt bad.
“Listen,” she said, “I want to talk to you about the mural.”
“How about we meet for lunch?”
“Um.” She cringed, wishing he would make this whole thing easier. Maybe if she gave him some reason to hate her, he would back off.
“I sense your hesitation loud and clear.” He paused. “It’s okay. I understand. Let’s discuss it on the phone.”
“Sure.” Her head spun. Merely hearing his voice caused her to become unbalanced. “A last-minute job has come up, and I need to take it, but I can make it up to you by—”
“There’s no need to make it up to me,” he interrupted. “You know that there’s no rush on my mural. We’ve talked about this.”
“I remember.” Still, the tension in her shoulders went nowhere. “But it’s the professional thing to check with you first.”
“You’re forever the professional, Diane, and I appreciate that. Thank you.”
“Of course,” she murmured.
“So.” He cleared his throat. “How are you?”
She wished she could stop her grin. Smiling at anything he said or did was dangerous territory.
“You already asked that,” she said.
“Oh. Sorry.”
“It’s okay.” She slowed her walk, not particularly eager to reach the subway station.
Sometimes when she thought of him, she actually forgot about the secret she’d discovered. She remembered Kai as the man who’d stolen her heart and shown her a side to life she hadn’t known existed.
It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him about the baby, but while she sometimes saw the sunny side of things, she hadn’t forgotten what she’d learned about him.
“I’m good,” she said. “It looks like my parents and I will be moving.”
There was silence on his end.
“Kai?”
“Yeah. That’s, uh, wow. Where to? Do you mean out of the city?”
“Exactly.” She drew a deep breath, stomach twisting. Maybe she shouldn’t have told him that. The less he knew about her, the better. If he went digging for info on her in the future and found out she had a kid who might