She smacked him on the arm. “You shouldn’t bait a woman who outweighs you.”
Rick was there, shaking his hand, and then his mother and father were hugging him. “It’s so good to see you,” his mother said. “I know you said you’d be home for Thanksgiving, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up. In case you changed your mind.”
He kissed her on the cheek. “I’m sorry I stayed away so long. But I’m back now.”
Irene had always been able to read her kids pretty well. Something in the tone of his voice made her eyes shine as she looked up at him. “I always knew you would be.”
After dinner, as soon as he had a moment alone with Allison, Jake asked the question he’d been wanting to all night. “Have you heard from Erin lately? Do you know how she’s doing?”
What he really wanted to know was if she was dating someone, but he couldn’t ask that without sounding like a high school kid—and without whipping Allison up into a matchmaking frenzy.
They were outside, sitting together on the porch swing. Allison was the one who’d suggested they come out here, but when he asked her if there was something she wanted to talk about, she just shook her head.
When he asked about Erin, she’d looked startled. Then she bit her lip.
“You should go see her.”
He waited, but Allison didn’t say anything else. A flicker of unease went through him.
“Is she okay?”
“You should go see her,” Allison said again. There was something resolute in her tone of voice, like she was determined not to say anything else, no matter how much she wanted to.
He remembered how weird she’d been on the phone the other day, and the flicker of unease became a spasm of fear.
“Is something wrong with Erin?”
Allison stuffed her hands into her pockets. “I promised I wouldn’t say anything.”
“About what? Damn it, just tell me.”
“Erin’s fine. But you should go see her.”
Light spilled from the house as Rick opened the front door. “Allison, it’s freezing out here. Come back inside where it’s warm.”
“I’ll be right in,” she called back, before turning to Jake again. “He worries,” she said apologetically.
“I know how he feels.” He glanced at his watch. “Look, Allison—you’ve managed to freak me out. I’m going over to Erin’s house right now. Say goodbye to everyone for me, okay? I’ll see you all on Thursday for turkey and football.”
“Okay.” Allison hesitated. “Give me a call if you need anything. After you talk to Erin.”
Why the hell would he need something?
Erin’s house was only ten minutes away, but that was plenty of time to imagine what could be going on that would make Allison talk like that. Had Erin gotten married? His muscles went rigid just thinking about it.
When he pulled up in her driveway, he took off his helmet and forced himself to take a deep breath. Erin’s car was here and her lights were on, so she was home.
He felt a surge of conflicting emotions. He’d been looking forward to this moment for so long—to seeing Erin again. Of course he’d known there was a chance…a good chance…that she’d be in a relationship. That’s why he’d stayed out of her life, after all. To give her that chance.
He told himself it didn’t matter. If they could only be friends, then they’d be friends. If she was with someone—
A wave of possessiveness rolled through him. Okay, so he hated the idea of Erin belonging to another man. But he couldn’t deny that that might be the best thing for both of them. Especially for her. He didn’t know if he could ever—
Her front door opened, and Erin came out onto the porch.
She was backlit, so he couldn’t see her expression. But he could see her silhouette. She was wearing jeans and a turtleneck, and his first glimpse of the gentle curve of her belly made his heart slam against his ribs.
She was pregnant.
He slid off his bike and stood beside it for a second. His body felt strange, like it belonged to someone else.
Or maybe it was the world around him that had changed. Shifted, so he was no longer on solid ground. He started to walk towards Erin, slowly and deliberately, his eyes never leaving hers.
She didn’t move. She might have been a statue. As he came closer he could see her face more clearly, and the tension and vulnerability in her expression.
He climbed up her porch steps and she still didn’t move. He stopped when he was a foot away from her.
Her hair was pulled away from her face in a messy knot. She wore no makeup, and her eyes looked bigger than he remembered.