To Keep Her Baby Read online

  “How long were you together?” she asked.

  James pushed the basket of garlic knots away from him as though he’d lost his appetite. “A little over two years. I knew she was the one, but I guess she wasn’t as sure. She said it wasn’t only because of the kid thing, but I don’t know... I proposed seven times.”

  “Seven times,” she repeated. Poor guy.

  “The seventh time she told me she was sorry, but she just wasn’t in love with me and had to face the truth so we could both find our true loves. Of course, she didn’t mention that she’d already found her true love at work.”

  “Sorry, Tyler. That must have been really hard.”

  “I didn’t think I’d ever get over it. But every month it got a little easier, I guess. And then I saw you in the bakery that day you arrived in town, and for the first time, I felt something. Granted, it was pure lust, but it hit me hard. I felt like you woke me up.”

  She laughed, then tried to stop since he was being so earnest. “Not that that’s funny. I just mean, me, inspiring lust. Pregnant, alone, showing way too much booty.”

  “Well, you cured me. I mean, I’m still not over Haley. But I can finally see sleeping with another woman.”

  “Me?” she blurted out.

  “Well, not you this way. The old way. But I guess since you’re at Larilla’s school, you’ve evolved from that look.”

  “Sorry, but yes.” This was insane. Just this morning she’d dressed like the old her to unattract someone. Little had she known she’d saved a man’s life because of the skimpy, big-haired her.

  “Well, even if I’m not really attracted to you,” he said, “you’re very easy to talk to. It’s nice to know I can go on a date and open up.”

  “I hear you,” she said as the waitress served their dishes.

  She dug into her comfort food, heaping a hearty amount of fettuccine carbonara onto Tyler’s plate. He did the same with his Aegean pizza. “Mmm, feta cheese,” she said, savoring the bite.

  “So even though this isn’t a love match, I hope we can be friends,” he said. “I can really use a friend.”

  “Me too. And I’ll be honest too. I’m not over someone either. Someone I didn’t even get to have in the first place.”

  “Love sucks.”

  “But it’s great too.” Now that she knew what love was. It was great. It was everything.

  He nodded and then their mouths were too full of food to talk much. They chatted, laughed, nodded, shared more of their entrées, and by the time they left, Ginger felt a little more connected to the world, crazy as things were.

  She slipped her arm through Tyler’s as they walked down Main Street.

  “Coffee?” he asked, gesturing at the shop across the street.

  “I’d love some,” she said. “Decaf, of course.”

  As they were heading to Coffee Zone, Ginger caught sight of Josie Gallagher, looking much like the old Ginger, practically running into a lounge on her three-inch black heels. The young woman did not look happy. She wondered what was up with that.

  Until she saw James, a huge scowl on his handsome face, throwing open the door and going in after her.

  Ginger instinctively removed her arm from Tyler’s. Since their date had evolved and now they were buds, she didn’t want to let her feelings for James boss her around right now. Besides, she knew without a doubt that Tyler would understand.

  She wished she could run after him. Comfort him, help him, try to make things right between the siblings. James was good at solving problems—except the one concerning Josie. She wished he’d let her help him. But he’d made his feelings on that front clear.

  Same with the two of them having a future. So she stayed put.

  “Hey, everything okay? You look like you saw a ghost.”

  “Just that guy I was telling you about,” she admitted.

  “There should be a rule that if someone breaks your heart, they have to leave town immediately, never to be seen again instead of still able to walk around in your breathing space.”

  “Right? Unfortunately, my guy is also my boss, so I can forget that.”

  “Oh, that is complicated,” he said. “There’s no way I could handle that. You must be a very strong person, Ginger.”

  “Strongish,” she said. “Come on. Let’s go have that decaf iced latte and something decadent to share.”

  As they walked into Coffee Zone, she told herself to stop thinking about James or wondering what was going on in the lounge. If he and Josie were at each other’s throats.

  Forget him for tonight, she ordered herself. It’ll be good practice.

  As if she could forget James for two seconds.

  * * *

  James stood just inside the door of the Lizard Lounge, his heart pounding. He could barely breathe. He needed water. He needed to sit down.

  “James? Are you all right?”

  He slowly glanced to his left. His sister Josie stood there, peering at him. Was it hot in here? A cold sweat broke out on the back of his neck.

  “James, what’s wrong?” she asked, concern raising her voice. She dragged over a chair and he dropped down into it.

  What’s wrong is that I just saw Ginger out with her future husband, Bluebell’s future father.

  This was crazy. He didn’t want to marry Ginger. He didn’t want to be a father. But he couldn’t handle the idea of her with another man. Again, again, again, that didn’t make sense. He cared about Ginger. She meant so much to him. He should want all the pieces of her life to come together. A great dad for her baby was the reason she was here in the first place.

  “I’m fine,” he muttered, getting control over his racing heart and labored breathing back. The effect Ginger had on him was insane.

  She’d forgone the old look she’d adopted for the office that morning. Tonight she was in a sundress that showed off her lush curves. He didn’t think he saw the hot stuff tattoo, though she had been across the street. Her honey-blond hair was sleek to her shoulders, the big, stiff waves gone.

  Any guy would fall in love with Ginger no matter how she looked. Because she was special, and that’s all there was to it.

  Not that he was saying he was in love with her. He wasn’t. He just...cared about her. Deeply.

  He was so lost in his thoughts that he hadn’t even noticed Josie had left and returned now with a glass of water.

  “Drink this,” she said. “You’re losing your mind, and water has restorative properties.”

  He took the glass and guzzled it down.

  Josie raised an eyebrow.

  As he glanced around the lounge, he saw seedy-looking men sitting at small round tables. Two skimpily dressed dancers were on each side of the stage, set off by neon multicolored lights. “This is where you’re performing?”

  “Yes. It is. Everyone gets their start somewhere.”

  “Josie, you’re up,” someone called.

  “Wish me luck,” she said, put her hand on James’s shoulder and hurried to the stage.

  She got two wolf whistles and a tiny round of applause.

  Music started somewhere offstage, and Josie began to sing an old Whitney Houston song he always liked. Wow, Josie had a nice voice. A good voice. Had he known that? Her voice was folksy and strong at the same time, with serious range. He looked around the room—even the waitresses had stopped to watch. She commanded attention.

  Huh.

  When she finished, he stood up and clapped and whistled, and Josie came over to him, surprise lighting her face. “Guess you liked my performance.”

  “I had no idea you could sing like that. Why didn’t you tell me?”

  Although, now that he thought about it, why hadn’t he ever gone to see her sing since she’d left school? He hadn’t because he’d been too stubborn about his way or the highway. He hadn’t cared
about whether she could sing or not; all he’d cared about was her going back to school where she belonged. Her voice had been beside the point.

  Only to him.

  But not anymore.

  She rolled her eyes and shook her head, but she was smiling. “More like you don’t listen, bruh.”

  He was beginning to get that through his head. “You’re amazing. Really. There’s so much depth and feeling in your voice. Were you even in chorus as a kid? I don’t remember that.”

  “I never had any confidence in myself to join stuff until college,” she said. “And since I did and realized this is what I want to do, there’s no stopping me. You never know where you’re gonna get discovered. Maybe even here.”

  “I discovered you here. Could be a record exec in here too.”

  She nodded and then laughed. “Probably not, but as I keep getting gigs and at bigger establishments, there probably will be.”

  “I still wish you’d go back to school, Josie. But a gift is a gift, and if focusing on it is what you want to do, I support you.”

  She gasped and wrapped her arms around him. “Good. Because I like having your support. And blessing. But listen, James, there’s someone else you need to get your head right about.”

  “Huh? Who?”

  She tilted her head and made a funny face at him. “Ginger.”

  “Ginger? There’s nothing to get right. Or wrong. We’re friends. That’s it.”

  She gave him a very slow nod. “Sure, you are. You’re not in love with her.”

  He could feel his face flame. And his chest constrict. “I’m not.”

  “Right. That’s what I said.”

  He narrowed his eyes at his sister. “She’s on a date tonight with her maybe future husband. Larilla set her up.”

  “Oh, I’m sure she did. Clever, that Larilla. Never does anything without good reason.”

  Right. And the good reason was that Ginger could find her Mr. Right. Even if Larilla suspected that James had a thing for Ginger, his godmother knew he was leaving town very soon and had no interest in fatherhood. “Meaning?” he asked anyway. In case there was more he wasn’t getting through his thick skull.

  Josie laughed. “For a smart guy, you can be really clueless about what’s staring you in the face.”

  So there was more. He shook his head. This was ridiculous. There was not more. Larilla knew how he felt. So she set Ginger up with someone else so that she could fall for another guy, and James could have the immediate future he wanted. “I know why Larilla set her up.”

  “Okay,” she said very frustratingly.

  “Oh, so if you’re so smart, Josie Gallagher, tell me why Ginger showed up to work this morning looking like the old her. When I saw her just now, she was back to her new look for the date, so what gives?”

  “Really? You don’t know?”

  So everyone understood everything about Ginger but him, it seemed. “I asked, didn’t I?”

  “James, Ginger is clearly madly in love with you. And she knows you have feelings for her too—feelings you refuse to acknowledge or act on. And because she does love you, she’s putting you first. She’s trying to get you not to be attracted to her. So she went for the caked-on makeup, babe tank top and tiny leopard-print miniskirt again. She probably blew a bubble a time or two.”

  “She did, actually.” Could what Josie said be true? Ginger loved him?

  He knew she liked him, of course, and was romantically interested, but because he’d put the kibosh on that, and she’d seemed okay, he’d figured they’d gotten past it. But the word love was big. Huge. If she loved him, she’d get hurt. Because...

  He didn’t want a family. Not right now. Not yet. If things were different, he’d be all over Ginger O’Leary. But she was pregnant, and her life was about to become something he wanted to run far away from.

  “I was talking to Amelia and Merry,” Josie said, her voice turning more serious. “And we feel pretty awful that coming home to take care of us turned you into such a lone ranger.”

  “I loved raising you guys. Every minute of it, even when it was hard. And it was hard. The five of you mean everything to me.”

  “But now you’re about to give up the woman you love because you think you don’t want a wife and child right now.”

  “I don’t though, Josie. I don’t want a wife and child right now.”

  “Why though?” she asked. “What is it you’re running from? Loving someone? Being loved back? Having a baby wrap his fist around your pinky while gazing at you with big slate blue eyes? Cradling a baby and marveling at the circle of life, while the woman you’re madly in love with is taking a much-needed nap upstairs? Then you switch? Sharing all the beautiful moments life has to offer with the person who makes your heart skip a beat?”

  He stared at his sister, aware his mouth had fallen open at some point.

  “Because that’s what you’re running from, James. When it comes to Ginger anyway. The idea of a family, of responsibility is what crushes you. So replace the concept with real people. Ginger and her baby. You might see it differently.”

  Her words were swirling around his brain, sentences appearing in block letters in his mind’s eye, narration accompanying as the letters trailed into his ears to shout the meaning. He shook his head to the left and right, trying to dislodge that feeling of having cotton stuffed in his ears.

  “I’m leaving for Paris in a week,” he said. “And then I’m coming home and sowing my wild oats. Taking weeklong vacations to Vegas. Going skydiving. You can’t skydive when you have a wife and baby.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you say you want to go skydiving.”

  “Josie, you’re up again,” a guy with the clipboard called out.

  “It’s your life,” she said, then kissed him on the cheek and headed for the stage.

  He dropped back down in the chair. Get ahold of yourself, man. Josie is young and idealistic. Of course she thinks this way. Everything is a fairy tale to her.

  Except that wasn’t really true. Her life had hardly been a fairy tale. His either.

  Ginger’s either.

  Luckily, Josie’s gorgeous voice filled the room again, and he focused on her song, trying to blot out everything she’d said.

  Because all she’d said couldn’t be true either.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Ginger had a packed morning of classes—her final exams—at Madame Davenport’s today, so she wasn’t scheduled to work. Good thing too. She’d have to dress up like her old self to turn off James, and she’d moved on from that woman. A woman who hid instead of revealed. A woman who was afraid to be herself. Last night, when she’d gotten back to the Queen Anne after her date with Tyler, she, Sandrine and Karly had holed up in Sandrine’s room to study for their finals, which would include a not-multiple-choice test and a practical assessment—in the parlor at a cocktail party. Madame, along with the Gallagher sisters, would be watching, listening and rating her newfound skills.

  Last night, on the porch, Tyler had asked if he could kiss her good-night, to see if there was anything there, and Ginger’s heart broke for the poor guy. He was so miserable. She knew what that was like, so she’d said sure, and he’d puckered up and moved his face so slowly to hers that she took over and planted on one him—closed lipped, of course.

  “Anything?” she’d asked.

  “Your lips are soft,” he said. “And you smell nice. But no.”

  “Aww, Tyler, you’re just not ready. No need to rush it.”

  The good news on that front was that she and Tyler had decided to be true buddies, to help each other through these tough times of the heart. They were meeting for coffee at 7:00 p.m. tonight to celebrate the very good news that Ginger had a lead on a home for herself and Bluebell, and would finally be able to outfit a nur
sery. It turned out that Antonia Solero’s aunt had a two-family house not too far from town, and though the available apartment was just a small two-bedroom, it would probably do just fine, and apparently, the aunt loved to cook big Italian dinners and invite everyone she knew. Ginger had called Lora Solero and had an appointment to see the apartment tomorrow morning.

  By noon, the written exam was over, and Madame Davenport called Ginger into her office. She remembered sitting here three weeks ago well, scared, nervous, no idea how to be the person she wanted to be.

  Ha. What she’d learned most at Madame Davenport’s School of Etiquette was that she’d been that person all along. She just hadn’t known it.

  Madame Davenport handed Ginger her graded exam across the desk, and Ginger’s heart leaped at the grades on each. She’d gotten an A-on the place-setting section, but hey, who the hell could remember which spoon went first or which direction to place the knife? She’d gotten full As on the other two parts.

  “I’m so proud of you, Ginger. And you must be very proud of yourself,” Madame Davenport said. “You’ve come into your own.”

  She wanted to say, I have, haven’t I? But a woman of dignity was more gracious in accepting a compliment. “Thank you, Madame. I’ve appreciated everything you’ve done for me.”

  Madame beamed. “And if I may ask...how did your date with Tyler go?”

  “We’ve decided to become friends. We both have to get over other people, so we’ve decided to get through that together.”

  Madame sat back in her stately chair. “Ah, I thought he was ready. Sorry about that. And James is a stubborn one.”

  Ginger narrowed her eyes with a smile. “How did you know I was talking about James?”

  “Oh, I was very sure the two of you were meant to be,” Madame said, neatening the pile of papers in front of her. “From the get-go.”

  Ginger popped up straight. “What? What do you mean?”

  “I know James—very well. And you showed me who you were immediately. I just had a feeling. And I was right.”

  “Right? But we’re not together. We were never together. He’s leaving for the summer soon, and when he comes back, he’ll be even further on his path to bachelorhood for at least ten years.”