‘Sounds like fun.’ Or it might have been if Raffa hadn’t been so distant.
His mind was fixed on other things. He was still getting over the shock, she reasoned. And who could blame him?
‘Relax, Leila. There’s no agenda here. Just two friends playing catch-up.’
Of course. She sank back. Hopes crushed. She was so emotional at the moment there was no grey, only black and white. Maybe he didn’t want two babies. Raffa hadn’t exactly enlisted the town band to herald the first. Why couldn’t she tap into calm Leila, the girl who was such a thoughtful, sensible mouse? Why was she sitting here with her heart thumping and her thoughts flying in every direction?
She started with alarm when the door opened and Raffa came in carrying a huge carton. ‘No, you stay there,’ he insisted when she moved to help him. ‘I can manage.’
He didn’t want any involvement, she reflected as she hauled herself out of her chair. Going to stare out of the window, she watched him directing the men. After so long apart every glimpse was a gift. And though she had categorically stated she didn’t want anything from Raffa, and that she didn’t need anything, it made her heart soar to think he’d gone shopping for her.
And she should make him feel welcome in return.
Lumbering into action, she fetched dishes from the cupboard, and soup and salad from the fridge, just in time before he blazed back into the house.
‘Coffee on?’
‘Yes,’ she murmured, belatedly accepting in some part of her pregnancy-scrambled brain that she would have to turn the coffee machine on for coffee to happen. And now the sheer size of Raffa dominating her compact living space—his energy, the sheer power blazing off him—
‘Here, let me get that for you—’ Reaching across, he took charge of coffee production, and when he pulled back he brushed her body so that now her hands were shaking.
‘I’ve got something to show you,’ she blurted.
‘Oh?’
Raffa was too busy making coffee to pay much attention.
‘Yes...’ She looked at him hopefully.
‘Good.’
Tears pricked her eyes. She had to remind herself that he didn’t have a clue what she was talking about, and that the pregnancy was making her overly emotional. But if he could only show some interest—give some reaction—
It might help if you actually showed him what you’re talking about?
Okay, she would. And if he was still aloof and distant when she showed him, at least that was proof she was on her own. And wasn’t that what she had always wanted? The babies without the man? Remember that?
What a sad idea that seemed now.
‘You all right?’ he asked with concern as she sucked in a fast breath in lieu of a sob.
‘Yes,’ she said, more to convince herself than Raffa.
‘Good. Then I’ll go and help the men get the rest of the stuff out of the van, so they can get off. You can handle the rest of this? Yes?’ he pressed.
‘Yes,’ she said on autopilot.