LITMIR.BIZ

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thought we’d eat outside,” Jennifer said. “We’ve set up the picnic table in the back.”

      “Sounds good. I’ll get the food from the car.” As Aidan retrieved the paper bags from the backseat, Rae appeared at his side, holding out a hand for one of the sacks.

      “You didn’t tell me she had a baby,” Rae whispered.

      “She doesn’t—that’s her niece. She’s babysitting.”

      With the baby still resting on her hip, Jennifer led her guests to the back garden. It seemed to Aidan that Rae followed almost reluctantly. What was with her? Suddenly she seemed sorry that she’d decided to come. So then, why had she agreed to the invitation? He certainly hadn’t pressured her into saying yes.

      They reached the patio, where a picnic table had been set with a flowered cloth. Plates and cutlery were stacked next to a pitcher of iced tea.

      Sitting side by side at the table were Jennifer’s father, Phil, and her aunt Annie. Clearly, the two of them were brother and sister. Both were tall and thin, like Jennifer. However, while Jennifer had fine, feminine features, her aunt’s and father’s faces were stronger, more angular.

      Jennifer provided introductions, then settled the baby in a high chair. Aidan noticed that Rae had elected to sit on the edge of the bench farthest away from the small child. He squeezed himself into the middle, between Rae and Jenn.

      “So, dear,” Jennifer’s father asked as the food was served, “when is your baby due?”

      “In about two weeks, is my guess,” Annie replied.

      “Actually, three,” Rae said.

      Annie just smiled. “We’ll see.”

      “Until she retired last year, my aunt was a midwife in Prince Rupert,” Jennifer explained. “Would you pass the potato salad, please? By the way, Auntie, I used up all our eggs in that salad.”

      “I’ll go to the farm tomorrow and buy more.” The older woman passed the salad to her niece. To Rae and Aidan she explained, “Jennifer insists on free-range, organically fed chickens and eggs. That means a trip to the Red Door Farm, which is all the way on the other side of the island.”

      “Their eggs are the best,” Jennifer explained. “How many babies do you think you delivered in your career, Auntie?”

      “Oh…hundreds. And I can tell by the way Rae is carrying that she’s going to have a—”

      “Annie!” Phil admonished. “Maybe Rae wants the sex to be a surprise. What are you hoping for, dear? A boy or a girl?”

      Aidan squirmed, uncomfortable on Rae’s behalf. She must get these questions all the time. How did she…

      “It doesn’t matter,” Rae said bluntly. “I’m planning to give the child up for adoption.” She twisted to look beyond Aidan to Jennifer. “Can you pass the bowl this way, too, please? I love potato salad.”

      CHAPTER FOUR

      “BUT AIDAN, I don’t understand.” Jennifer rinsed lingering bubbles from the platter she’d just washed and passed it to him.

      “You’re not the only one.” Aidan dried the china carefully. It was covered with an ornate pattern of gold and flowers and looked about a hundred years old. He knew it was part of a set Jennifer had inherited from her mother. Jenn was always buying replacement pieces on eBay.

      “Why would Harrison tell you that you could stay at the summer house if Justine had already given a key to Rae?”

      Aidan glanced out the window. Rae and Annie were still seated at the picnic table, talking. Phil had offered to put the baby to bed when Erica had fallen asleep in her high chair.

      “I think they were in cahoots,” he finally admitted.

      Jenn caught on quickly. “You mean they were matchmaking?”

      “Yeah.” Damn, but he was going to nail Harrison next time he saw him…

      “But isn’t the timing a little off? I mean, with Rae eight months pregnant and all. Unless… Oh, Aidan. You aren’t the father, are you?” She stared at him, oblivious to the fact that she’d left the water running.

      He didn’t answer, but his face gave him away.

      “Well,” Jennifer said. “That explains a lot.”

      He reached over. Turned off the tap. “Yeah, it’s quite a mess. I think I’m still in shock. I just found out today that Rae is pregnant.”

      “How is that possible? I thought you worked together?”

      “We used to work together. Until I promoted Rae to Pittsburgh.”

      Jenn draped the washcloth over the edge of the sink. “That’s a long way from Seattle.”

      “That was the idea.”

      “Oh, Aidan. That’s so like you.”

      “What do you mean?”

      “A girl starts to get close, breaks through your defenses…and you banish her to Siberia.”

      “It was a promotion.” God, Jenn was as bad as Rae. “What’s so bad about Pittsburgh, anyway?”

      “This isn’t about Pittsburgh. It’s about you running away from emotional commitments. You always do, you know.”

      “That’s not fair.” But this time, his protest lacked heat. It was true that he preferred to keep his relationships with women tidy. Uncomplicated, mutually beneficial and carefully limited in terms of time.

      Nothing about his single night with Rae had fit into any of those categories.

      Jenn eyed him with the understanding of someone who’d known him a long time. “So how do you feel about the baby?”

      “I don’t know. Like I told you, I’m still in shock. Anyway, it doesn’t matter how I feel.”

      “Oh, Aidan. Why would you say that?”

      “Given that the baby is being put up for adoption, sperm donor seems more descriptive of my role.”

      “You sound a little bitter about that. Do you want Rae to keep the baby?”

      “God, no.” Of course, he didn’t. The route Rae had chosen was best for all of them in the long run. It was just that he needed time to come to grips with the idea.

      “That’s something else I can’t understand,” Jennifer said. “Rae sounded so matter-of-fact when she said she was giving up the baby for adoption. As if the baby were no more important to her than an out-of-date piece of furniture.”

      She had sounded a little callous, but Aidan felt compelled to defend her. “Rae’s pretty serious about her career. A family was never part of her plan.”

      Jennifer eyed a picture of Erica that was displayed on the fridge. “Yes, well, plans change. Life happens and people adjust. Maybe you and Rae should at least consider…”

      “Oh, no. We’re not considering anything.”

      “But—”

      “Please, Jenn. It’s bad enough that Harrison and Justine have tricked us into staying at the same house. Don’t you turn on me, too.”

      As he’d expected, Jenn was too softhearted to press her point of view any further. “Of course, I’ll support whatever decision you make. You’re one of my oldest friends, Aidan. I can’t tell you how great it is to see you again.”

      He gave her a hug. “It’s good to be here.”

      Surprisingly, it was. Not everything on this island had been soured by Simone, and that was a good thing to remind himself of now and then.

      “How

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