Carol Ericson - The Pregnancy Plot

“Although I already hired you, I still want to do a background check on you.” After months of being on edge, how had she allowed Jase to lure her into feelings of security already? She still needed to remain vigilant. Simon could be anywhere.

“Check away.” He thanked Theresa for the beer and took a swig from the bottle. “My life’s an open book.”

She wished she could say the same. Keeping her pregnancy a secret from Jase and everyone else in town was silly. They’d find out soon enough. She ran a finger along the inside of her tight waistband. Like in about two days when she made the switch to maternity clothes. She’d already done a little shopping in Seattle on her way to the island.

Theresa delivered their platters of fish-and-chips and conversation came to a dead halt as they busied themselves with lemons, vinegar and tartar sauce.

Nina bit into the crispy coating of the fish and closed her eyes as the salty, tart tastes flooded her mouth.

“I think this meal alone is worth coming all the way out here for.” Jase swept a French fry through a mountain of ketchup on his plate. “Is this why you returned to the old homestead?”

“Mandy’s fish-and-chips?” She laughed. “Yeah, that’s it.”

They finished their meal and split the check. How had Jase known that’s exactly how she’d wanted to handle it? If he’d insisted on paying, it would’ve felt too much like a date—and it already felt too much like a date.

When they hit the sidewalk, she thrust out her hand. “You’re coming by tomorrow to go over the necessary repairs, right?”

“Sure.” He took her hand but didn’t release it. “I’ll walk you to your car.”

“Car?” She raised her eyebrows. “I’m not in LA anymore. I walked over here.”

His grip tightened on her hand. “Really? I’ll walk you home, then.”

As her eyes traveled over his shoulder to take in the dark curve of the sand dunes that marked the turn toward the B and B, she said, “That’s not necessary,” but her voice didn’t hold the conviction she’d wanted.

Would Simon track her down here? If he wanted to speak with her, he should just approach her like a normal person. But Simon hadn’t been normal the past few times she’d seen him—not normal at all.

He shrugged. “I don’t mind the walk.”

“It is a nice walk.”

They turned together and after two blocks the sidewalk ended in sand. He put his hand on the small of her back. “Be careful.”

She appreciated Jase’s solicitousness, but she didn’t understand it. Why was he so attentive? It was almost as if he knew about her pregnancy.

She stole a sideways glance at his perfectly chiseled profile. Idiot. Maybe he did know she was pregnant. Just because she hadn’t made the switch to maternity clothes yet, it didn’t mean people couldn’t tell. That woman in the elevator at the doctor’s office knew. She was pretty sure Carl and Dora Kleinschmidt knew.

She cleared her throat. “You never did tell me why you chose Break Island for your writer’s retreat.”

“Do I have to explain?” He spread his arms. “It’s isolated, beautiful, but has just enough tourists for some serious people-watching for inspiration.”

“I thought you were writing a fictional account of your experiences in Afghanistan—not many soldiers here to study.” Unless Simon was lurking around the corner.

“They don’t have to be soldiers. Human nature is human nature.”

A bush rustled beside them and a gust of wind showered them with grains of sand.

Then a figure stepped onto the path in front of them and a voice came out of the night. “Home at last.”

Chapter Five

Nina stiffened beside him, and Jase’s own muscles coiled as he sprang in front of her, blocking her from the stranger on the path.

A low laugh gurgled from the woman’s throat. “That’s our Nina, always has a man to protect her.”

Nina placed a hand on his arm and stepped beside him. “Are you stalking me, Lou?”

Instead of diffusing his concern, the fact that it was Nina’s stepsister standing in front of them blocking their path heightened it. Lou had put a hole in Nina’s boat, and even if Nina had been convinced the act wouldn’t have resulted in her drowning, he didn’t trust this woman anywhere near Nina.

“Stalking?” She took in the bay with a sweeping gesture. “I’m just enjoying the night like everyone else.”

“Have you been working on Dad’s boat by any chance?” Nina squared her shoulders and locked eyes with her stepsister, whom she topped by a good five inches. In hand-to-hand battle, he’d put his money on Nina any day—except she was pregnant.

“Moi?” Lou crossed her hands over her heart. “I haven’t touched my dad’s boat, and don’t go calling him Dad like he’s your dad or something. Your dad took off a few months after you were born, having the good sense to dump you and Lori while he could.”

“Hey.” Jase curled his hands into fists and took a step forward. “Don’t talk to Nina like that. I don’t care who you are.”

“And I don’t care who you are.” Lou put a hand on her hip, her gaze raking him from head to toe. “Who are you?”

“This is my...my handyman, Jase. He’s going to help me fix up Moonstones.”

What had Nina been about to call him? Handyman sounded so impersonal.

Lou leveled a finger at Nina. “That B and B should be mine and you know it. That’s why you left it so long after my dad died. You felt guilty about inheriting it.”

“We both know what would’ve happened to Moonstones if Dad had left it to you. Dad knew it, too. You would’ve sold this place so fast and used the money for God-knows-what. I can get it up and running again, and I have no problem sharing the profits with you if there are any.”

“None of that matters. I don’t want the piddly profits from some mom-and-pop business.” Lou sliced her hand through the air a little too close to Nina’s face for his comfort. “I could’ve used the money. You didn’t need it with your stuck-up interior designing job in LA. Why did you give up all that to come back here anyway?”

Jase studied Nina’s face as she formed an answer. So, her stepsister didn’t know about the pregnancy, either, but he didn’t blame Nina for not telling her. Lou had nut job written all over her.

In the end, Nina shrugged. “Moonstones needs some TLC. Dad and Mom loved the place.”

“My dad had this dream before he met Lori, before he left my mom for her.”

Nina sighed and ran her hands through her hair. “We’ve been over and over this, Lou. I’m sorry that happened, but it has nothing to do with us.”

“It does now because Dad disinherited me for you. I always hoped Lori would die before Dad because I thought Dad would cut you out. Lori did die first, but Dad cut me out anyway.” Her laugh sounded just this side of hysterical. “So, you gypped me out of my inheritance and my father.”

“I’m sorry about that, too, Lou. They were the loves of each other’s lives. You and I both know they loved each other more than they loved their daughters.” Nina crossed her arms over her stomach. “Sometimes life just works out that way.”

“Oh, you can be generous because you got the goods after Dad kicked off.”

“Lou, baby? Lou, you out here?”

The slurred words came out of the darkness, along with a shuffling gait.

What now? As if all this family drama wasn’t enough.

“Over here, Kip.”

A lean man with tousled sandy hair came up from the beach, listing to the side as he scrambled up to the path. The stink of stale beer came off him in waves.

He staggered to Lou’s side and draped a heavy arm across her shoulders.