Free Furever Yours by Catherine Vale Page A

understand. I thought he was staying there through Christmas.”
                "Maybe
something came up and he had to go, ”
Emily said gently. “You're not the only one that happens to.”
                "Yeah, ” Jade said bitterly, staring down at her
stomach. “But when I have to go, the person I leave behind isn’t usually
pregnant.”

Chapter Ten
     
     
    When
Jade trudged into Emily’s apartment the next day, she was so exhausted she
nearly collapsed right then and there on the floor. She’d hardly slept last
night—so worried about the baby, on top of the sickness and the grueling
workday—she could barely stand.
                Wearily,
she dropped her bags on the coffee table and flopped down onto the couch,
groaning with relief as she finally took some of the strain off her poor,
overworked body. Emily was gone, at some kind of social function for her PR job,
so Jade had the entire apartment to herself —not
that this was necessarily a good thing because it meant being alone with her
thoughts.
                Between
approving scripts, revising storyboards, and going in and out of meetings with
the client and her bosses, her mind had still somehow found time to pepper her
with anxiety. Should she get an abortion after all? What was she going to do if
she couldn ’t find Dawson? Would
she have to hire a babysitter full time so she could continue to do her job, or
did she need to find employment that was better suited for a single mother?
Maybe John would allow her to bring the baby to work. Maybe her grandparents
would be willing to help her take care of it.
                I could go back to work at the resort, she’d thought at one point. I could raise
the baby there—by myself.
                Except
that she ’d be constantly reminded of
Dawson everywhere she looked if she lived at the resort, and that would drive
her crazy.
                I should hire a PI, she thought to herself , get someone to track
his luscious ass down so I can talk to him.
                That
was a plausible idea. An expensive one but ,
in this case, probably worth the cash. She’d have to look into that tomorrow
when she was feeling better.
                Decided,
she finally let the exhaustion tugging at her brain drag her down into the
depths of sleep. She enjoyed several hours of blissful nothingness before a
loud knock at the door jolted her awake.
                Jesus ,
she thought to herself, rolling onto her side and away from the door. She was
so not up to answering the door for one of Emily’s friends. Maybe if she
ignored it, the knocking would go away.
                But , the knocking continued, off and on, for
several minutes.
                "Hello?” A male voice called. “Is anyone
home? I’m looking for Jade Garcia!”
                Jade
shot straight up, her heart thundering in her chest at the sound of the
familiar voice. No way, she thought, but she jumped to her feet, joy
and relief and anxiety racing through her all at once. It couldn’t be him.
                Flinging the door open, she froze, staring at
Dawson’s handsome face.
                "Oh
my God. ” She gaped at him for several
seconds, still trying to come to terms with the fact that he was standing in
front of her door. Well, actually, it was Emily’s door, which made it all the
more confounding. “How did you find me?”
                Dawson
arched a brow in that sexy way of his and folded his arms across his muscular
chest. He was wearing jeans , a red
t-shirt and a black leather jacket—quite a change from the winter gear
they’d both had to wear back at the resort. “It’s nice to see you, too.”
                Embarrassment
flushed Jade’s cheeks, and she stepped
inside, suddenly feeling awkward. She’d envisioned flinging her arms around
Dawson, telling him how happy