Читать книгу The Pregnancy Plan / Hope's Child: The Pregnancy Plan / Hope's Child - Brenda Harlen, Brenda Harlen - Страница 13

The Fall Festival was an old but ever-evolving Pinehurst tradition. What had started as a single-day celebration of the harvest back in 1859, when most of the town’s residents were farmers, had become a four-day mid-October event.

For Ashley and Paige, it was an annual ritual that brought back mostly fond memories of their teenage years. Because she’d been a bookworm rather than a social butterfly, Megan’s memories weren’t quite so fond, but they usually dragged her along to the fair with them anyway. And while Megan had critically assessed the engineering of the midway rides, Ashley and Paige were never deterred by her negative attitude.

They would save up their allowance for weeks in advance of the fair, happily giving up their hard-earned cash for a bird’s-eye view of the grounds from the top of the Ferris wheel, the thrill of a spin around the Zipper or the heart-pounding fear of the haunted house.

Of course, the fair was more than just the rides and caramel apples and cotton candy. It included a livestock exhibition and agricultural displays with the fattest pig, prettiest flowers and biggest pumpkins proudly displayed with their award-winning ribbons. There were also cooking contests, with local chefs putting their pies and cookies and breads to the test of the judges, and offering samples and selling their wares to the public.

As Ashley walked along the well-trodden dirt path munching on a bag of fresh kettle corn, she had to admit that, at almost thirty years of age, she enjoyed the annual festival probably even more now than she had as a teen. She no longer stood in line for the Zipper, but she’d learned to appreciate the arts and crafts displays more, and she always bought a couple of jars of Mrs. Kurchik’s homemade peach jam, winner of the blue ribbon every year for as far back as she could remember.

“You’ve got to see the baby pigs,” Ashley told Paige, steering her cousin toward the barn. Having brought her class on a field trip the previous day, she’d scoped out most of the grounds already.

“It stinks in the barn,” Paige protested.

“It smells like animals,” Ashley allowed, breathing in the scent of damp earth and fresh straw with just an underlying hint of manure.

Paige wrinkled her nose but gamely followed her through the wide doors. “It smells exactly as it did fifteen years ago.”

“Really?” Ashley was surprised by the comment. “We hardly ever came to see the animals when were in high school.”

“I wasn’t in here to see the animals.”

Ashley glanced over her shoulder, saw her cousin smiling.

“Do you remember Marvin Tedeschi?” Paige asked.

She scrambled through her memories to put a face to the name. “Mr. Archer’s history class?”

Paige smiled and nodded. “He got to second base with me, right here in this barn during the Fall Festival when we were in tenth grade.”

“You went to second base with Marvin Tedeschi?” Ashley stared at her. “The quiet kid with shaggy blond hair?”

“That quiet kid had the lips of a poet and the hands of an artist.”

“How did I not know this?”

“You were too busy lusting after Cam Turcotte to notice what was going on with anyone else,” Paige said.

Ashley couldn’t deny that was probably true, so she only asked, “And what happened after second base?”

Her cousin sighed. “Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“Well, he got to second base a couple more times after that, but we never took it any further.” Her lips curved, her eyes glinted. “At least, not until I saw him at the reunion in the spring.”

“You hooked up with him that night?”

“I was feeling a little … nostalgic.”

“And he was feeling a little … Wilder?” Ashley teased.

Paige grinned. “I’d say he was feeling a lot Wilder. And left me feeling very grateful.”

“So that was it? You had great sex, then just went your separate ways?”

“Neither of us wanted anything more than that.”

“I don’t know that I could ever be so casual about intimacy,” Ashley admitted.

“Because you don’t think about sex for the purpose of physical release but as an assessment tool in your search for a potential husband,” her cousin pointed out.

“That’s not true.”

“It wasn’t a criticism,” Paige assured her.

Ashley frowned. “It’s still not true.”

“Have you ever had sex with a guy just because you thought it would be fun?”

Because she hadn’t, she only said, “That doesn’t prove anything.”

“It proves that you’re looking for a mate for life,” Paige insisted. “And there’s nothing wrong with that.”

“I’m not looking for a mate at all, not anymore,” Ashley reminded her.

“Then you should try sex just for fun,” her cousin advised.

She shook her head. “I think I’ll keep my expectations low, at least that way I won’t be disappointed.”

Paige stopped in mid-stride and turned to face her. “I can’t believe it.”

“What?”

“CBB wasn’t even good in bed.”

Ashley felt her cheeks flame as she reached out to rub the cow’s head. The big, dark eyes closed and the animal seemed to sigh with pleasure. “Sex was … fine.”

Paige lifted her brows. “Fine?”

“Look, if it’s okay with you, I’d really rather not discuss this now.” There wasn’t anything she couldn’t talk to her cousin about, but if they were going to perform a postmortem on her sex life, she wanted it to be in the privacy of her own home with a glass of wine in her hand, not in a public venue where anyone could overhear their conversation. Not that there were many other people in the barn, but still.

Unfortunately, Paige wouldn’t be deterred. “I need to understand this.”

“What’s to understand?”

“You were going to marry him.”

“And?” she prompted.

“And I can’t fathom why you would want to marry a guy who didn’t rock your world,” her cousin told her.

“Maybe my world isn’t capable of being rocked,” Ashley said, aware that she sounded more than a little defensive.

“Are you saying … never?”

She looked away. “Never with Trevor.”

“Sounds like a really bad slogan,” Paige said. “Maybe you should suggest he put it on his business cards, as a warning to other unsuspecting women.”

Ashley felt her lips curve, grateful that her cousin could make her see the light side of such a humiliating admission. “I’m happy just to move on,” she said, doing so towards the pigpen.

“But—oh.” Whatever else Paige was about to say was forgotten when she caught sight of the seven piglets, their round pink butts wiggling as they scrambled for position while nursing at their mother’s belly. “Oh, they are so cute.”

“My kids went crazy, oohing and aahing when they saw them yesterday,” Ashley told her.

“Kind of like I just did?”

“Just like that,” she agreed.

“Seven babies,” Paige mused. “Can you imagine?”

Ashley would happily settle for one baby of her own. At least one at a time. But she pushed the pang of longing aside, as she’d been doing for months now, since the end of her engagement to Trevor and the realization that her dreams of motherhood were slipping further and further away from her.

“Mama Pig doesn’t seem to be fazed,” she said instead.

“That’s because seven is actually a fairly small litter for a pig,” a male voice informed her from over their shoulders.

A familiar voice that had Ashley’s heart pounding too hard and too fast before she even turned around and confirmed the identity of the speaker. And when she saw Cam, her heart started to pound even harder and faster. He had his daughter with him, and obviously the little girl’s infatuation with the piglets she’d seen on her field trip had compelled her to bring her father back to the barn.

“Someone’s been doing his homework,” Paige noted. “Trying to impress the teacher?”

Cam just grinned.

“Mother pigs can have between eight and twelve babies,” Madeline said. Apparently she’d done the homework along with her father and wasn’t going to be outdone by him. Then the little girl smiled at Ashley. “I had so much fun visiting the pigs yesterday that I brung Daddy back to see them.”

“Brought,” both Ashley and Cam corrected automatically.

“Sorry,” Ashley said. “The teacher instincts don’t clock out after hours.”

“No need to apologize,” Cam assured her.

From over her shoulder, Ashley registered the sound of a throat clearing. She sighed and turned.

“This is my cousin, Paige,” she said to Maddie. “I brought her to see the pigs, too.” Then, to Paige, “You know Cam, of course. And this is his daughter, Madeline.”

Paige offered her hand to the girl. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Madeline.”

Madeline took Paige’s hand and shook it awkwardly. “Okay.”

“She’s six,” Cam said, as an explanation of his daughter’s response.

“She’s adorable,” Paige said, and he smiled like the proud father that he was, while Ashley tried to ignore the ache she felt whenever she looked at his little girl and the much stronger sizzle of attraction she experienced whenever he was near.

“There’s cows, too, Daddy,” Maddie said, tugging on his hand.

“Cows?” Paige interjected, as if they hadn’t already come from that direction. “Can you show me where?”

Madeline looked to her father for permission. He nodded and released her hand, and she immediately headed off for the bovine stalls, Paige trailing in her wake.

“Not very subtle, is she?” Ashley mused.

“You won’t hear me complain about having some time alone with you,” Cam assured her.

“We’re not exactly alone.”

“Close enough,” he said, and edged nearer to her.

Too close, she thought, as her heart started to pound just a little bit faster. “Cam.”

He ignored the warning in her voice and leaned closer. “You smell much nicer than the pigs.”

She couldn’t help but smile at that. “I should hope so.”

“I like your perfume,” he told her. “It’s similar to what you wore in high school, but sexier.”

“It’s the same perfume I wore in high school,” she admitted.

“Then it must be that you’re even sexier now than you were then.”

She swallowed and shifted away from him. “Why are you doing this, Cam?”

“What is it that you think I’m doing?” he asked her.

“Flirting with me.”

He smiled. “Maybe to see if you’ll flirt back.”

“I won’t,” she said, a reminder to herself as much as a response to him.

“What if I took you for a ride on the Ferris wheel? Would you flirt with me then?”

She shook her head.

“How about a spin on the Zipper?”

“I’d be more likely to throw up on you,” she warned.

“You used to love the Zipper.”

“I used to love a lot of things.”

His eyes locked on hers. “I remember.”

The potent sensuality in his gaze had the nerves in her belly quivering and her knees trembling. She tightened her grip on the railing, holding on to the wood as she desperately tried to hold her hormones in check.

“And I can’t stop thinking about that kiss we shared in your kitchen,” he told her.

“It was just a kiss.”

“A kiss that keeps me awake at night.”

“A kiss that never should have happened,” she said firmly, refusing to admit that the memory of that kiss had the exact same effect on her.

“We were always good together, Ash.”

She swallowed. “Were—past tense.”

“That kiss proves nothing is finished between us.”

“I’m not going to get involved with you again, Cam.”

He stroked the back of her hand, his fingertips tracing lazy circles over the soft skin. She wanted to snatch her hand away, but to do so would be to admit how much his touch affected her, how much he affected her.

“Because you’re still hung up on your ex?” he asked.

“Because I have no interest in repeating the mistakes of the past.”

“I made the mistake,” he said, “when I said goodbye to you.”

She couldn’t stand here and listen to him sounding so sincerely contrite. She couldn’t look into the fathomless depths of his dark-green eyes and not want to believe what he was saying. Because if she let herself believe he was sorry, that he really did want another chance, well, she just might be foolish enough to give him another chance. And that was something she couldn’t let happen. She had an appointment at PARC and plans for her life now, plans that didn’t include Cam Turcotte or any other man.

So she turned away and started walking in the direction Paige and Madeline had gone. She knew he would follow, but she also knew that he wouldn’t continue whatever game he was playing if there was any danger of his daughter overhearing them.

“We have to run,” Paige said, as soon as Ashley caught up with her. “I’ve got a client emergency and need to head back to the office, but I can drop you at home first, unless—” she looked questioningly at Cam.

“That’s fine,” Ashley said, wondering if her cousin had fabricated the client emergency in an attempt to drop her in Cam’s lap.

At the same time, he said, “I can take Ashley home later.”

She shook her head. No way was she going to spend a single moment more than was absolutely necessary with Cam Turcotte. “It’s okay. I’m ready to go now.”

“If Cam doesn’t mind giving you a ride, that would simplify things for me,” Paige said. “Since I’m closer to the office if I leave straight from here.”

Ashley narrowed her gaze, more convinced than ever that there was no emergency. “Well, I don’t want to inconvenience anyone, so I’ll take a cab.”

“It’s not an inconvenience,” Cam insisted.

“Great. Thanks,” Paige said, then kissed Ashley’s cheek, waved to Maddie, who had wandered over to look at the bunnies, and bolted from the barn.

Ashley bit back a sigh of frustration.

Cam smiled, as if he knew as well as she that they’d been played. The difference was, he apparently didn’t mind, but Ashley vowed that she would have a serious talk with her cousin the next time she saw her.

“The bunnies are sleeping,” Maddie announced to her father, her disappointment obvious.

“It must be past their bedtime,” Cam said. “As it’s also past yours.”

“But I’m not tired,” his daughter insisted, though the statement was immediately followed by a wide yawn just as an older couple entered the barn.

Cam’s parents, Ashley realized, and wondered if this night could get any more awkward.

She’d spent a lot of time in their home and had grown to know Rob and Gayle Turcotte well while she and Cam were dating. But when Cam ended their relationship and went away to school, their paths had crossed much less frequently, and Ashley still felt awkward whenever they did. Maybe it was her own fault, because she’d loved them almost as much as she’d loved Cam and she’d mistakenly assumed they would be her family someday, too. Losing them, less than two years after her own father had passed away, had devastated her almost as much as being dumped by Cam.

“Looks like we’re just on time,” Rob said, scooping his granddaughter into his arms and making her giggle.

“I wondered where you two had wandered off to,” Cam said to his parents.

“Your mother got waylaid by Ethel Mayer and conned into buying raffle tickets for a blanket we won’t win and don’t need even if we do,” Rob explained.

“It’s a quilt, not a blanket,” his wife chided. “And a beautiful work of art.” Then she smiled at Ashley. “This is a pleasant surprise.”

“It’s nice to see you again,” Ashley said, and hoped she sounded half as sincere as Cam’s mother.

Maddie, having been set back on her feet by her grandfather, reached for her grandmother’s hand. “Come see the piggies, Grandma.”

Gayle glanced at her watch. “Only for a quick minute, then we have to get you home to bed.”

“But I’m not tired,” Maddie said again.

“But Grandpa is,” Gayle replied in a staged whisper. “And you know how cranky he gets if he stays up past his bedtime.”

Maddie sighed. “Okay. But we have to see the piggies first.”

“We’ll see the piggies first,” her grandmother promised. Then to the others, “Enjoy the rest of your evening.”

“Hey,” Cam called, as his daughter started to walk away with her grandparents.

Maddie turned and ran back to him. He squatted down so she could throw her arms around his neck and give him a loud smacking kiss. “Bye, Daddy. Love you.”

“Love you, too, baby,” he said, and something squeezed tight inside Ashley’s heart.

Maddie raced back to her grandparents, turning to wave one last time, then Ashley was alone with Cam again.

Cam watched his daughter until she was out of sight before turning to Ashley. “Looks like it’s just you and me now.”

“Looks like,” she agreed.

It was the first time they’d been alone together since their meeting at the Bean There Café, since she’d told him that his daughter was trying to find him a wife. He’d been thinking about that conversation a lot recently, and thinking that he might not object to getting married again.

Not that he was in any hurry to find himself standing at the altar, but he was no longer adamantly opposed to the possibility. Especially when he considered the potential benefits of making Ashley his bride.

Of course, thinking about marriage—even in the most abstract sense—was a little premature when Ashley was as skittish about being alone with him as the newborn foal was about the strangers hovering around her stall. First, they had to get to know one another all over again, and he would have to thank Paige for giving him this time with her cousin.

“So what do you want to do now?” he asked.

“I think I’ve had enough for tonight,” Ashley said, making her way towards the doors. “So I’ll just call a cab and—”

“I promised Paige I would take you home,” he interrupted to remind her.

“You were conned by my cousin.”

He shrugged. “Either way, there’s no reason for you to take a cab when I’m going in the same direction.”

“Fine,” she relented.

“Are you really that opposed to spending time in my company?”

“I’m not opposed at all,” she said. “I’m just not interested.”

“You sure didn’t kiss me like a woman who was not interested.”

She glared at him over her shoulder; he just grinned.

“In fact, you kissed like a woman who enjoys being kissed, and touched and—”

“I was dizzy from the loss of blood,” she said.

“You didn’t lose that much blood.” But he picked up her hand, turned it to the light.

“What are you doing?”

“It’s called a follow-up exam.”

Ashley was tempted to make some comment about playing doctor, but decided that any kind of sexual innuendo was inherently dangerous around Cam Turcotte. Instead she said, “Dr. Alex already checked it out and said everything’s fine.”

“It looks like it’s healing nicely,” he agreed. Then he dipped his head and feathered light kisses along the side of her palm. “How does it feel now?”

She felt all kinds of things she shouldn’t be feeling, and none of them had anything to do with the fading scar on her hand. “Fine,” she managed.

“No tightness? No pain?”

“No.” Not in my hand.

He smiled, as if he knew exactly what she was thinking, but all he said was, “Good.”

“Eli said you did an exceptional job with the stitches,” she admitted. “That I probably won’t even have much of a scar.”

“You’ve always had pretty hands. I wanted to make sure they stayed that way.” He lowered her hand but, instead of releasing it, linked their fingers together and led her toward the midway.

“The parking lot is the other way.”

“I know. The Ferris wheel is this way.”

“Aren’t you anxious to get home to Maddie?”

“She’s spending the night at my parents’ house,” he told her.

“Oh.”

“Ferris wheel?” he prompted again.

She glanced up at the towering wheel, felt a quick jolt of excitement low in her belly, though she wasn’t sure if it was anticipation of the ride or just the excitement of being with Cam. She decided not to question but to go with her instincts.

“The Ferris wheel sounds like fun,” she agreed.

He must have purchased tickets earlier, because he pulled two out of his pocket and handed them to the attendant, and they joined the queue. There were only a few people ahead of them—most of the younger crowd preferred rides that offered more thrill—and it only took a few minutes before they were ushered into their car.

As she slid across the seat to make room for Cam, she thought it seemed smaller than she remembered. Or maybe it was that Cam seemed bigger. Or maybe it was just that her entire body was sizzling with awareness. Whatever the reason, Ashley found herself thinking that she should have nixed his suggestion. But the attendant had already secured the door and the wheel had shifted to load the next car.

They were only about halfway to the top, slowly making their way round as the cars continued to load, but Ashley felt her tummy drop as she looked down at the crowds below. “I never used to be afraid of heights.”

“Are you now?”

“I’m not sure,” she admitted, but thought it probably wasn’t the height so much as the possibility of falling and found herself wondering about maintenance schedules and metal fatigue and other things she’d never considered before. “Do you think this is the same Ferris wheel we used to ride as kids?”

“It might be,” he teased. “Why—are you worried that the old wheel should be retired?”

“Maybe.”

He chuckled and slid his arm across the back of the seat. “Do you remember how we used to ride it over and over again?”

She nodded.

“The first time I ever kissed you was at the very top.”

She remembered that, too, and how she’d thought the drop in her belly was the car moving, until she realized it hadn’t moved at all. That was the day she’d fallen in love with him.

“I think the local high school boys still lure their girlfriends onto the ride to steal kisses,” she told him.

“I’m sure it’s not a strategy exclusive to high school kids,” he said, curling his arm around her shoulders.

She eyed him warily. “Don’t get any ideas.”

“Too late,” he said, just before his lips touched hers.