LITMIR.BIZ

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him?” he asked softly.

      Her hand went protectively to her rounded belly. It felt odd to answer his question. She’d never told anyone other than Hank. “Yes,” she said. “His name is going to be Michael.”

      “Michael,” he said, pronouncing it slowly, rolling the name on his tongue as though to savor it. “I like that.”

      So glad you approve, she wanted to say, spiced with plenty of sarcasm. But she bit back the retort and found herself saying instead, “I call him Mikey right now.”

      Jack grinned, and she frowned, wishing she’d kept that to herself. He rose from his position against the door and she put the car in reverse.

      “Thank you for lunch,” she said formally, backing out of her parking space. “Talk to you soon.”

      “You can bet on it,” he told her, standing with his hands in his pockets and watching her from under dark brows.

      With a wave of her hand, she drove off and left him gazing after her.

      There was still part of the afternoon left, but it was useless trying to get anything done. Gayle couldn’t bend over well enough to work on her gardening. She couldn’t read or listen to music or watch television. Her mind was stuck in overdrive, thinking about nothing but the situation she’d found herself thrust into. And the baby seemed to be running on a treadmill. She’d never known him to be so active.

      In the evening, she thought of calling Chareen Wolf, her one good friend who had children. She’d been talking to Chareen a lot over the last few months. Gayle’d often needed advice and some morale boosting. Chareen’s blunt attitude struck just the right note for her. Yes, she would call Chareen, tell her about what had happened, get her down-to-earth advice. She went to the phone with a feeling of relief, dialing quickly. But no one answered the telephone, and then she remembered that Chareen was out of town on a business trip.

      Suddenly Gayle felt even more isolated than she had before. There was no one she could call, no one she could talk to. Her other friends had never been pregnant. Only one of them was even married. They really couldn’t understand what she was going through. She had no one she could tell about what had happened, about the situation she was in…about Jack Marin and his powerful effect on her. She had never felt so alone.

      She was dealing with so many things that she felt like a swimmer going down for the third time. Besides the issues with the baby, there was something else. Why had she reacted so strongly to the man? Why had she wanted him to kiss her?

      Because she had wanted exactly that. She wanted it now, when she thought about him, about his handsome face, his strong mouth. It was as though she’d found out something she hadn’t known about before, as though she’d awakened to a need that had been slumbering inside her all these years. She’d never had real passion with a man.

      But even thinking about it felt wrong. After all, she was beyond that, wasn’t she? She’d been married. She was pregnant. This wasn’t the right time. And Jack Marin definitely wasn’t the right man.

      She sat in the living room for the next hour and flipped through a magazine, but a new thought was tormenting her like a pesky fly. Was this the way it was going to be? Was she really going to be alone with every decision, every new worry about her baby once he was born? She had no family to fall back on. She couldn’t bother Chareen all the time. As the night got later, her mood grew darker, and she began to see the future as a deep, black emptiness yawning before her, filled with demands and decisions.

      The only thing she could think of to lift her spirits was to call someone. Maybe Kyra Symington was home. Gayle called the number her friend shared with her new husband, but she only got the answering machine. She tried Ann Marie Hope’s, and then Tracy Martin’s, with the same result. She began to wonder if all her friends had gone somewhere together, forgetting all about her.

      Suddenly the phone rang while her hand was still on the receiver, making her jump. Quickly she answered, grateful for the promise of human contact.

      “Hello?”

      “Hi.”

      It was him. She knew his voice immediately, and for some crazy reason, her pulse began to race.

      “Hi,” she said. “Is something wrong?”

      “No. I just wanted to check if this number was correct.”

      There was a hint of amusement in his voice, but she wasn’t sure what that meant. “Why would I give you a wrong number?” she asked, feeling a bit defensive.

      “To avoid hearing from me?”

      She hesitated, still not sure if he were goading her or laughing.

      “How are you feeling?” he asked casually, before she had time to think of something to say.

      It would be nice to think he cared about her, but she knew he only cared about the baby. And she couldn’t blame him. It was only natural and logical. Still…

      “Fine,” she said, but again she knew she sounded defensive. And she really didn’t mean to.

      “Good.” He paused, then continued. “I’d like to see you tomorrow.”

      She shook her head, even though he couldn’t see that. “No, impossible. I’m busy tomorrow.”

      “All day?”

      “Well…” The truth was, she was only hoping to be busy. “I told you, I’ve signed up with Top Techs. I’m expecting a call first thing in the morning, and then I’ll be working all day.”

      “Top Techs, huh?” His voice sounded ironic, but perhaps that was just her being overly sensitive. “They’re a good agency. I’ve used them in the past.”

      “How interesting.” There wasn’t anything else to say, was there? She tensed, hoping he wasn’t going to start in again on how she should give up her baby to him. But he didn’t do that.

      “Okay,” he said. “I just want to let you know I’m here if you need me. Really. Any time of day or night. I will make sure you can always get hold of me.”

      For the baby’s sake, of course. “I’m not sure if I feel comforted or threatened by that,” she said dryly, then immediately regretted sounding churlish. After all, he was being very nice. And that was a good thing, even if it was for an ulterior motive.

      He was silent so long, she wondered if he’d hung up and she’d missed it. “Gayle,” he said at last. “Are you sure you’re okay?’

      She sighed. “Yes. Yes, I’m fine. It’s just…well, it’s been a rough day.”

      He was silent for another minute, then he said, “Gayle, I’ve got a question for you.”

      Her fingers tightened on the receiver. “What’s that?” she asked him, trying not to let him hear the apprehension in her voice.

      “How do you know when an elephant’s been in your refrigerator?”

      She blinked. “What?”

      “You can see the footprint on your pizza,” he said, his voice impassively earnest. “How can you tell that an elephant’s getting ready to charge?”

      She shook her head in wonder. “Jack…”

      “Your first clue is when he takes out his credit card.”

      Jokes. He was telling elephant jokes. She gaped in astonishment.

      “What did Tarzan say when he saw the elephant working in the coffee bar?”

      He didn’t wait for her to answer. Putting on a gruff voice, he said, “I didn’t know the hippo had sold the place.”

      She laughed. She couldn’t help it. She put her hand over her mouth to try to mask it, but she was laughing nonetheless.

      “You smiling yet?” he asked her. “Or do I

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