The Best Man's Baby by Victoria James

Author:Victoria James
Language: ara
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: one-night stand, unrequited crush, accidental pregnancy, motorcycle, wedding, florist, victoria james, category romance
Publisher: Entangled Publishing, LLC
Published: 2013-08-11T14:00:00+00:00

“This is so not fair,” Claire grumbled under her breath, her eyes glued to the front door of the Italian restaurant. She poured herself a glass of San Pellegrino, thinking how a glass of merlot would have numbed some of the pain this lunch date was about to inflict. She was waiting, rather impatiently, for her mother to arrive. She had thought it wise to make her little announcement in a public venue. Her mother was not the type to create a scene. Ideally, she would have liked to wait until her father was back home to make this announcement, but because of the burger-stabbing, she was left with no choice. It would be devastating for her mother to hear about her pregnancy from someone else.

She fiddled with the paper label on the bottle. Since Jake had returned to Red River, her entire life had become a circus. Her stomach clenched painfully as she spotted her mother’s beige Buick glide into an empty spot near the front door. She waved and forced herself to plaster on a smile as her mother approached. After all, she had to look like the blissful mother-to-be.

Her mother was decked to the nines as usual, her perfect size-four figure wrapped up in a pale-pink suit, her face and hair primped to perfection. Even a tornado wouldn’t budge a strand on her mother’s head. Claire gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before they sat on opposite sides of the booth.

Her mother shook her head as she settled into her seat, emphasizing her discontent with a tsk sound. “I must say I am surprised you picked this restaurant. The Italians are fixated on carbohydrates. I mean, it’s impossible to even look at this menu without gaining a pound.”

Claire slowly raised the menu to cover her face, pretending to be absorbed in the details and not at all ready to crawl under the table. She was going to try her best not to respond to her mother’s comment, but she knew her obsession well and that she would complain for the rest of the meal.

“Mmm. These gnocchi in a rosé sauce sound great,” Claire said, suddenly getting an overwhelming craving for the potato dumplings as she looked at the menu. Her appetite had been returning at unpredictable intervals, and it was such a wonderful contrast to the nausea she had endured the last two weeks.

Her mother gasped, reacting as though Claire had just told her she was an alien from another planet. “Of all the things to order, you choose carbs on top of carbs smothered in a rich creamy sauce. That’s hardly a figure-flattering choice. And after all the work you’ve done to trim those excess pounds.”

Claire felt her face ignite like a box of kindling. She focused on the thick black print of the menu. She focused on the letters. Anything to keep her mind from going back there. First the doctor’s appointment and now this.

She felt bile start to churn, felt her body go hot, but not because she felt anything like that girl anymore.

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