Reaching into the car, he grabbed his jacket from the hook, shrugging it on. There was a breeze in the air, ruffling his short, dark hair, but apart from that it was one of those temperate fall days, where the sun hadn’t quite accepted that winter was on its way.
It would be soon, though. There were storms predicted for next week, with possible snowfall. He should be safely back in Boston by then, thank god.
Logan walked down the narrow track that led to the creek. Surrounded by trees and overgrown hedges on both sides, it opened up at the end to a wide expanse of grass, the water edged with a concrete path that allowed exercisers and leisure seekers to walk alongside the creek for a mile or two. A little further down were the long green lawns of the oldest houses in town. In the spring and summer, that’s where the townsfolk would meet every Friday night with coolers of sweet tea and home made lemonade, the adults sitting and gossiping while the children played flag football or dangled their spindly legs into the creek.
They called it Chairs, mostly because along with their refreshments, everybody brought their own chair to sit and talk. As the center of Hartson’s Creek gossip, he couldn’t help but feel glad that this Friday night happened to fall at the end of November, when nobody would be there.
Turning the corner, his eyes landed on Courtney, and his heart immediately gave a little lurch. She was sitting on the bench overlooking the creek, her dark brown curls tumbling over her shoulders.
He stepped on a twig, and her head whipped as the crackling sound broke through the silence. Her blue eyes met his, and his mouth turned dry. Seeing her in real life reminded him just how little his memories did her justice. He scanned her face, still wondering why she’d asked him to meet.
Closer up, she looked a little thinner than he’d remembered, but since he mostly saw her in the dark, he had no idea how true that was. But it was still her. With those piercing blue eyes and dark tumble of curls framing her pale white face.
She opened her mouth then closed it again.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“How was your flight?” she said at exactly the same time.
They both gave a little laugh, in embarrassment more than anything else. He walked around the bench and sat next to her. The creek was high at this time of year, the water bubbling into white foam as it met a cluster of rocks in the center, then turning a clear blue again as it raced its way past the bank. “My flight was good,” he said, his voice soft as he shifted to look at her. “Are you okay?” he repeated. “You look a little tired.”
He’d had enough experience to know that telling a woman she was tired was treading a thin line. But she didn’t react negatively. Instead, she pressed her mouth together and nodded.
“There’s something I need to tell you,” she said, swallowing hard. “And I’m not sure you’re going to be happy about it.”
Logan frowned. “What is it?” he asked, shifting in his seat.
She took a deep breath, then rolled her shoulders back. “I should just get it over with, right?” She gave a little laugh, though there was no humor in her eyes. “So here it is. I’m pregnant. Ten weeks, if my calculations are right. And there’s been nobody else.” She blew out some air, her mouth forming a perfect ‘o’. “So yeah, it’s yours.” Looking down, she turned her hands over, scanning them as though they held all the answers.
Logan blinked, his mouth dropping open at the sudden onslaught of information. He felt as though he’d been kicked in the gut. “No,” he said, his voice thick. “That can’t be right.”
“Three pregnancy tests tell me otherwise.”
His body felt as light as air. As though it could rise up to the sky at any minute. His heart hammered in his chest like he’d just received a shot of adrenaline through his ribcage.
Courtney Roberts was pregnant.
And the baby was his.
“Shit.” He shook his head. “I’m sorry.” He wasn’t a damn ogre. He’d been brought up well enough to know that contraception was as much his responsibility as it was hers.
And that’s why he’d always been so damn vigilant about it.
“The night you were sick,” he said, realization washing over him. They’d made love in her bed unexpectedly.
“I think so. We didn’t use anything, did we?”
He tried to think, his mind searching through the images of her naked in his arms. Of the sound of her breaths, the smell of her skin. Had he grabbed a condom from his wallet the way he always did?
He couldn’t remember using anything.
“What do you plan to do about it?” he asked her, still mentally beating himself up at being so irresponsible and landing them both here.
“I’m keeping the baby,” she told him, her voice soft. “But I’m not expecting anything from you. I’m not trying to trap you.”
“I know that.” He frowned, because this was so messed up. “I didn’t think you were. I’m just trying to take this all in. I had no fucking idea.”
She nodded, giving him a tight smile. “It’s a lot to think about.”