be angry with you, not the other way round,” she told her windshield as she made her way home to Balmain.
She tried to hang on to her anger, but slowly it seeped away and only disappointment remained.
She wanted her baby to have both parents. She wanted him or her to feel loved and secure and safe. But apparently the baby would have to look elsewhere for that. Apparently, Charlie was going to have to dig deep and provide her child with everything all on her own.
Her hands tightened on the steering wheel as nerves fluttered in her belly.
It wasn’t that she didn’t think she was capable. She wouldn’t have decided to keep the baby if she thought otherwise. But she wanted to give this baby so much. She wanted his or her life to be full to overflowing with all the things Charlie had missed out on as a child— unconditional love and patience and support and approval. She wanted to be worthy of the tiny life growing inside her, and it would have been so much easier to be and do all those things knowing she had someone else backing her up.
The moment she felt herself slumping in her seat, she straightened her spine and lifted her chin. If the army had taught her anything, it was that mental toughness was as important as physical fitness. She had always been disciplined, and she wasn’t about to give up the habits of a lifetime now that she needed mental toughness and discipline more than ever.
So what if Rhys Walker was a dick? She could do this without him. She would do this without him.
She parked her car and walked up the two flights to her door. The first thing she did when she entered her apartment was head for the bathroom. She brushed her teeth and rinsed with mouthwash, then glanced at herself in the bathroom mirror.
She hadn’t allowed herself to think about that moment when she’d first set eyes on Rhys again, but as she looked at herself in the bathroom mirror it was impossible not to remember those few humiliating seconds when he’d turned toward the waiting area and his gaze had skimmed over her indifferently, clearly finding nothing to hold his interest. She’d understood immediately that he hadn’t recognized her without Gina’s clothes and clever makeup—and that without all the above she held little appeal for him. It was only when she’d practically been in his face that he’d made the connection between her and that night eight weeks ago. She’d briefly thought she would have to introduce herself. An added humiliation she’d been grateful to avoid.
In the mirror, her lips formed a straight, uncompromising line.
For weeks she’d been torturing herself by wondering what might have happened if she’d girded her loins and stayed that morning instead of making a strategic retreat. Now she knew. And for the rest of her life she would be everlastingly grateful that she’d had the smarts to get out before Rhys had woken up.
Yeah, what a save. Now you’re bound to him for life because you’ve made a baby with him. That’s so much better. Congratulations.
Charlie turned away from the mirror and walked to the study. She’d been working on an illustration for a client’s logo this morning and she dived into the file, grateful for the fact that her work was so absorbing. She’d spent far too much time in her own head recently and she needed a break from the constant cycle of worry, wonder and yet more worry.
As she’d told herself hundreds of times over the past seventy-two hours, the world was full of single parents, most of whom coped just fine. There was no reason she should be any different.
She was so successful at distracting herself that it wasn’t until the courier arrived with her father’s belongings that she registered she’d missed lunch. She was in no mood to open the box and deal with its contents now, so she pushed it into the corner beside her desk and promised herself she’d look at it first thing tomorrow.
She walked into the kitchen to make herself something to eat. Her stomach had settled since the incident in the parking lot and she decided on poached eggs with whole-grain toast and a side of spinach for some iron. She was dishing up when the phone rang. She leaned across to snag the phone with one hand while pulling open the drawer and extracting cutlery with the other.
“Charlie speaking,” she