Ten
Numb, Jules was back inside when Noah’s truck slid to a halt outside the restaurant.
“Well, there he is,” Melissa said, all but rushing for the door.
“Not that Watford again,” her father growled.
“It’s Noah,” Melissa answered over her shoulder.
“Our contractor,” Jules clarified, ordering herself to get her emotions under control.
Noah jumped out of the truck and took Melissa into his arms, kissing her soundly.
“Contractor?” her father asked.
“They’re also dating.” Jules had never seen such a display of affection from Noah.
“Melissa has a boyfriend?”
“He’s not exactly—”
Before Jules could finish her sentence, Roland left the building.
Jules’s first instinct was to follow. But she was tired. And this was Melissa and Noah’s situation. They didn’t need her inserting herself into the middle.
She moved to the nearest chair, sitting down to take a minute for herself. When she let her mind go blank, an image of Caleb danced in front of her eyes, looking handsome as ever.
She dismissed the idea, telling herself to change focus. As she did, her father’s stuffed manila envelope came into view.
She reached for it and flipped open the flap, grateful for the distraction.
It was mostly junk mail. She couldn’t imagine why her father had saved credit card company solicitations and letters from local politicians. There was a letter to Melissa from her college, which she set aside. And there was a notice for Jules from her medical clinic.
She opened it, finding a standard reminder to book an appointment. She needed a routine physical and her hormone shot was due. She scanned over the date then did a double take.
It couldn’t be right. There had to be a typo.
She reread it. Then she reread it again. Dread slowly built up, elevating her temperature, making her skin prickle with anxiety. She searched her memory, desperately trying to pinpoint the last shot.
She couldn’t remember. There was nothing in her memory that could dispute the date on the clinic’s letter. If she couldn’t dispute it, then she had to allow for the possibility that it was right. And if it was right, her shot was late. It was late by over a month.
She told herself not to panic, even as her hand went reflexively to her stomach.
No way. It couldn’t happen. Even with a late shot, the mathematical odds were in her favor. They were far and away in her favor.
They had to be.
The alternative was beyond unthinkable.
Her gaze went to the trio outside.
Melissa was smiling. Noah looked relaxed, and her father was nodding at whatever Noah was saying.
Jules didn’t have time to puzzle at her father’s uncharacteristic calm. She had to find out. She had to know for sure. And it couldn’t wait until morning.
She gripped the letter in her fist and rose from the chair, grabbing her purse on the way out the door.
“I’m heading to town. Need anything?” She didn’t look at them as she breezed past. She wouldn’t have heard if they’d answered.
She wrenched open the door of the minitruck, panic pulsing through her brain cells.
She couldn’t be pregnant. It would be a disaster of epic proportions.
As she headed for the Whiskey Bay plaza drugstore, she forced herself to think positively. She wasn’t pregnant. She didn’t feel pregnant. She felt like a perfectly ordinary twenty-four-year-old woman.
Okay, maybe a panicky twenty-four-year-old woman. But that would be short-lived. She’d take a pregnancy test. She’d reassure herself. She’d breathe a huge sigh of relief. Maybe she’d laugh at herself. Then she’d get back to worrying about the easement.
The easement seemed like a smaller problem now. It was surmountable. With a sympathetic judge, their lawyer thought they had a good chance of winning.
Perhaps this scare would turn out to be a blessing in disguise. It would put her world in perspective. She’d defeat Caleb in court. He’d be forced to leave the easement in place. And the Crab Shack would proceed as planned.
No competition. No baby. No tie to Caleb whatsoever. It was exactly what she wanted, exactly what she needed, even if the thought of never touching him again did leave her hollow.
She was in and out of the drugstore without a fuss. She checked the pregnancy test instructions, confirmed the timetable, then stopped at the public restroom in the lookout park. It was the place Caleb had brought her for that first burger, the night Melissa had been hurt.
She didn’t have time to ponder the irony as she walked past the parked cars. Couples and families and groups of teenagers played and picnicked on the grass. Groups walked along the cliff path, chatting and laughing, their hair blowing in the breeze.