if she were the breath in his chest.
When he released her, Claire smiled, but her face lacked its usual sparkle. She looked drawn and pale. Bridget’s heart squeezed to see her friend in such obvious pain. Still, the love she and Evan shared was plain to see. She hoped to have that herself one day. Connor’s face flashed through her mind. She smiled. There were definite possibilities there. As long as she handled this ugly business first. She wanted to be able to focus on Connor and she couldn’t do that with Whittier breathing down her neck.
She’d almost spilled the beans about it all to Connor that morning, but something had stopped her. On one level, she understood that she really had no good reason to keep this from him. But, on the other hand, she felt as if she needed to keep this to herself.
He kept her so off balance she needed to feel as if she had complete control in one area of her life.
Didn’t she?
A horn blared, startling her out of her thoughts. She peered through the grocer’s display window to ensure that Claire and Evan were gone. The coast was clear so she hot-footed it over to her car. There were plans to be made. Stashing her packages in the trunk, she headed home to tell Skyler what they were going to do.
‘You’re sure about this?’ Skyler furiously twirled a lock of her ponytail around her fingers.
‘As I can be.’ Bridget sipped the sweet tea she’d poured for them as they talked. ‘Obviously, I’ve never done this before and there is some risk.’
‘Ya think?’ Skyler smirked before tossing back her own tea as if it were something much stronger.
Bridget reached across the table and took her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.
‘You don’t have to do this. We could report him to the authorities. Or I could be the one to do it.’
Skyler squeezed Bridget’s hand hard, but shook her head. ‘No, if you do it, it will be too easy to claim you set him up. Me, though, once I tell him I kept the baby, he’ll lose it. His reaction will be too over the top for anyone to protect him.’
A tremor ran through Skyler and Bridget wanted to wrap her up and protect her from all this ugliness.
‘How are you doing, sugar?’ She released Skyler’s hand and began clearing the dinner dishes from the table.
‘OK, I guess.’ She joined Bridget at the sink and began drying the dishes as Bridget washed them. ‘I still haven’t told anyone yet. I don’t want to burden my parents with this when I still don’t know what’s going to happen with Dale.’
‘That’s understandable.’
Bridget wanted to say so much more, but what could she really say? Skyler needed her support more than she needed a lecture. Besides, a small worm of censure was wriggling up Bridget’s spine at the hypocrisy of advising Skyler on total disclosure when she wasn’t telling Connor everything.
‘Professor?’
‘Hmm?’
Bridget wrung out the sponge and joined Skyler in putting the dishes in the cabinet.
‘Thank you for this.’ Her voice broke and Bridget took the cup from her hands and set it on the counter before enveloping her in a hug.
‘Of course, sugar. You can stay here as long as you like.’
Skyler sniffled and pulled away, shaking her head. ‘I couldn’t do that. You don’t need a single mom and a newborn here.’
‘Skyler.’ Bridget’s voice was firm. ‘Sit down for a second.’ She pointed at the table.
Skyler raised an eyebrow, but sat nevertheless.
‘I’m going to tell you something I’ve never told anyone.’ That eyebrow shot even higher, but she waited for Bridget to continue. ‘I can’t have children. Well, I guess the more accurate phrase is it’s highly unlikely I’ll ever carry a child to term. Complications during an abortion left me with too much scar tissue, and even if I ever manage to conceive, I’ll likely not be able to carry it.’
Skyler started to speak, but Bridget waved her off.
‘My circumstances were a little different than yours in that I was raped. That’s how I conceived.’
Shock and anger replaced the sympathy that had been welling in Skyler’s face, but Bridget just squeezed her hand.
‘It was a long time ago, don’t worry about it.’ Taking a deep breath, she continued, ‘I had an allergic reaction to the anaesthesia and had a seizure. The end result is … I’ll never be a mother. I also had no one to turn to. My parents, while they love me, would not have handled the knowledge of the rape well, let alone the abortion. They’d have demanded I kept it and I wasn’t willing to do that.’
She sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose, ‘Look, hon, I’m not trying to burden you with my past, I’m simply trying to give you context to understand that when I say you can stay here as long as you need, I mean it. You contribute as you can, but you have a safe place here – for you and the baby – as long as you need it.’
Skyler stared at Bridget for several moments before bursting into sobs. Hard, gut-wrenching sobs.
‘Honey.’ Bridget moved over to put an arm around her shoulders. ‘Shh,’ she murmured soothingly. Soon, Skyler settled enough to splash cold water on her face.
Turning, she said, ‘Thank you, Professor.’ She grabbed Bridget and hugged her fiercely.
Laughing as she struggled to catch her breath, Bridget hugged her back and said, ‘Call me, Bridget, hon. I think we’re past Professor.’
Chapter Twenty-three
Connor’s skin flamed as he pushed open the door to Intimate Moments. He had to be going over the edge to be doing this but he was rapidly reaching the end of his patience with Bridget. On that thought, he spun on his heel to leave. He was being an ass. It wasn’t as if she didn’t have valid reasons for the things she did. That he didn’t agree with her take on what had happened didn’t give him the right to push her too far too quickly. It had only been a couple of months, after all. It’s not like they were talking years or anything.
On the other hand, when was the timing ever going to be right? The longer he let her go on without pushing the envelope, the more comfortable she was going to get in her shell with him. It would only make things worse the longer he went without confronting her and trying to take them forward in their sexual relationship.
He spun again and advanced into the store, only to stop short once more.
What if he was wrong? What if she was doing what was best for her and he screwed everything up by being selfish? Was he being selfish? Thinking only with his dick?
He spun again and headed back toward the door. He needed to think this through.
‘Perhaps I can help you, or would you prefer to continue turning in circles?’ A large man with a curious smile on his face stepped into the showroom where Connor was. Definitely not who Connor would have expected to work here.
‘Do you work here?’ Connor’s face flamed again. He was seriously out of his element in this store. While he’d had some toys over the years, he’d never walked into a store before. He’d always done the online, brown paper wrapper deal.
‘You could say that.’ He held out a hand to shake as he walked over to Connor. ‘I’m Victor. The owner. And you, brother, look utterly confused.’
Connor chuckled helplessly. That was a definite understatement.
‘Yeah, you could say that.’ He ran a hand through his hair, took a deep breath, and sighed.
‘Female trouble? Do you need a sexy apology?’
‘What?’ It took a second for his words to register. ‘Oh!’ He flushed deeper. ‘No. Nothing like that. I was, uh, I was thinking about getting some toys for my lady.’
Victor’s eyes crinkled as he grinned.
‘Have you ever done any in-person shopping for toys before?’
‘Nope, strictly online, but I want to be very careful in what I get so I wanted to see everything in person first this time.’
‘Makes sense.’ Victor turned and waved Connor toward the back of the store. ‘My playroom is in the back.
