Stacy Connelly - Her Fill-In Fiancé

“Your family will be right here to help take care of the baby.”

Right here in Clearville … The idea of staying in her hometown was so far from the plan Sophia had for herself and her child, she blinked in surprise. “It’ll be a little hard for them to help when they’re here and I’m back in Chicago.”

A heartbeat of silence pulsed between them before Jake demanded, “Chicago? What are you talking about?”

“Chicago. Where I live,” she pointed out, seeing but not understanding the dark scowl that crossed his face at her words. “We met in St. Louis, but you know I live in Chicago.”

“I know you lived there. When you came back here—”

“For my parents’ anniversary, for a visit.” A long overdue visit, guilt reminded her, stabbing at her conscience. “After my parents’ party—” and after she came clean about everything “—I’m going back.”

“To raise your baby alone?”

His voice had risen, and Sophia instinctively stepped forward and lifted a hand to his mouth. “My parents …” Her words trailed off as her worry about her family overhearing drifted away. The brush of Jake’s lips against her palm sent a shiver running up her arm. Goosebumps spread across her chest, and the awareness in his gaze as it drifted lower made it nearly impossible for Sophia to find the strength to step back when all she really wanted was to wrap her arms around him, press her body to his, and kiss him until they could both pretend what they’d had in St. Louis was real …

Swallowing hard, she backed away on shaky limbs and clutched at the gaping lapels of the robe. “I, um, don’t want them to find out like this.”

It might not have been her intention, but Jake’s voice was certainly lower when he told her, “I don’t get it, Sophia. What’s left for you in Chicago? You lost your job, your home.”

She flinched at the reminder, the words harder to hear coming from him. “I know what I’m doing, Jake.” She could have told him about the little apartment she had in mind, about the job with Christine and her idea of a future that kept her baby first and foremost in mind. But those plans were still up in the air. So far, she hadn’t actually found that little apartment and Christine’s business wasn’t up and running—yet. But until she had a signed lease and business cards in hand, she was keeping her plans to herself.

And besides … “The Dunworthys offered me a great severance package, remember?”

They’d paid—and paid well—for Sophia to keep her mouth shut and to disappear.

“Money is not going to give your child everything he needs,” Jake said flatly.

Sophia blinked, caught off guard at his use of the word “he.” From the moment she discovered she was pregnant, she’d had the feeling her baby was a boy. She’d mentally tried out a dozen boy names, had pictured a little boy’s room filled with trucks and trains and bright primary colors.

“Sophia, listen—”

“No, Jake.” She was already reading far too much into everything little he said. “I don’t expect you to understand, but I’ve made my decision.”

Leaving Jake standing in the hall, Sophia did what she should have in the first place and hurried into her bedroom. She leaned against the closet door, wishing she could block out her own thoughts as easily.

A mother-to-be could be excused for a harmless daydream about the little boy she might soon hold in her arms. But to think Jake shared—or worse, belonged—in that imaginary world simply because of his use of a pronoun was anything but harmless.

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