Free The Pregnancy Plan by Brenda Harlen

reflection of the nomadic childhood that had taught her, at an early age, not to form close attachments to people who wouldn’t be in her life for very long. The pattern had changed only when Paige’s father decided she needed more stability than his lifestyle afforded and finally left his daughter in the care of his sister and her husband. Ashley and Megan had forged an unbreakable bond with their cousin, but by habit or deliberation, she continued to keep everyone else at a distance.
    “Is that why you’re here?” Ashley asked her now. “Becauseyou had nothing better to do on a Friday night? Or because you were worried that I was going to fall apart?”
    “You’re not the falling apart type,” Paige said, with such conviction Ashley almost believed her.
    “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
    “Seriously, you’ve dealt with a lot in the past six months and stood up through it all.”
    “I had a minor meltdown on Wednesday,” she admitted, reaching for her glass. Thankfully the Fedentropin trial didn’t prohibit the consumption of alcohol, and the wine she’d drank was already helping smooth the roughest of the edges.
    “When you found out Cam had a child? Or when you learned that your sister’s pregnant?”
    “It was probably a combination of both.”
    Paige nodded and set a slice of blue cheese on a rye cracker.
    “I’m happy for Megan and Gage,” she said. “And I’m thrilled about the baby.”
    “I know you are,” Paige agreed.
    “I just want to know when it’s going to happen for me. When is it going to be my turn?”
    “What happened to your appointment at the clinic?”
    “I got bumped,” she grumbled. “The doctor had some kind of emergency.”
    Her cousin smiled. “I think that’s the nature of the medical field.”
    “I know. It just seems like one more detour sign on a road that’s been littered with them.”
    “What kind of sign is Cam?”
    Ashley sipped from her glass again. “Dead end.”
    “Are you sure about that?” Paige asked. “Because if I’m not mistaken, that’s him walking up your driveway.”
    Ashley set down her glass before she spilled the contents all over herself. “Don’t you dare leave—”
    But Paige was already on her feet, reaching for the tray of snacks. “I’ll just go refresh this.” She turned and smiled at the uninvited guest who had stepped up onto the porch. “Hello, Cam,” she said, then slipped into the house before he could even respond.
    Cam glanced at the closed door, then at Ashley. “Did I say something wrong?”
    She didn’t smile at his attempted humor. “Not yet.”
    He held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. “I just came over to apologize.”
    “What, exactly, are you apologizing for?”
    “For not telling you that I had a child.”
    She lifted a shoulder. “You don’t owe me any apologies, Cam.”
    “I didn’t mean to blindside you.”
    “It doesn’t matter.”
    “It does,” he insisted. “Maybe I figured you would have heard about Maddie a long time ago, but I shouldn’t have counted on that, and I should have given you the courtesy of an explanation.”
    “No explanation required. You dumped me, met someone else, got married, had a child.”
    “It wasn’t quite that simple.”
    “I’d say it was exactly that simple.”
    “I’m not going to apologize for not wanting what you did when I was nineteen,” Cam said. “Because any nineteen-year-old who wants to marry his high school sweetheart is either blinded by lust or completely without ambition. I’d apologize for hurting you because I was insensitive jerk, but I’ve already done that and I’m tired of trekking down the same path.”
    “Then you can just follow the path right back to your own house,” she said coldly.
    He shook his head. “That would be the easy way, and I’m not taking the easy way again.”
    “It’s a way out,” she said. “And that’s all you ever wanted.”
    “Wrong. I wanted you, Ashley. I wanted you a hell