Her eyes lit up, but Mina didn’t answer right away. “I’ve been working with one of my friends from college. I got my degree in graphic design, but I—I really love fashion.”
“Wow. I really chose the right clothes for you, then.”
She laughed, a low sound that sparked something deep in his belly. “It’s actually quite appropriate. One of the things I focus on is clothes with pockets.”
“Clothes with pockets?”
“Lots of women’s garments don’t have pockets. Or they have fake pockets, or pockets that don’t actually hold anything. I want cute and fashionable clothes that have plenty of pocket space. So that’s what I’m working on with my friend.” She blushed a little. “I haven’t really told anybody else about the project.”
“Aha. Is that your biggest life secret?”
“I don’t know if I’m the only one with life secrets.” Mina gave him a pointed look across the table.
“What’s that look for?”
She took a deep breath, like she was preparing to jump into the deep end of the pool. “Liam,” she blurted, after a heavy silence, “are you a sperm donor?”
4
The empty mug clattered out of his hands and onto the antique surface of the table. Liam scrambled and caught it, thanking his lucky stars that only the dregs of the cocoa were left. His heart raced a million miles an hour. “I—wow, I—yeah. I did. I donated years ago. Signed about a half a year contract, but I ended up going out on the circuit not long after that and only had time to go in the once. So, yes. I did donate sperm at one point.” He was talking way too much. “That’s your answer.”
Mina stared at the table, her face scarlet. He couldn’t figure it out. What did this have to do with anything? Why would she be red in the face about it? It wasn’t as if they’d been in contact. It wasn’t as if they’d been anything to each other. “Okay,” said Mina softly, clutching her mug. “All right. That’s the answer, then.”
“Yeah.” The kitchen closed in around them. It had seemed like such a good idea to live in the cottage when he came back to stay on family land, but now he was wishing they had extra breathing room in the farmhouse. Though there were people living there, too, so maybe this was for the best. It was so hot in here. He hadn’t even cooked anything substantial on the stove. Maybe it was just being this close to Mina that did it. He wished for a mansion. He wished for a football field’s worth of space between them. And then he wished for even less than that. Some conversations were better had naked, he thought, the idea striking him as so absurd and funny that he had to choke back a laugh. Mina would not find it funny. He could tell from the look on her face.
The silence grew until it pressed out against the walls of the kitchen. Liam started to be afraid it would blow the whole house apart. Then where would they be? They’d have no choice but to sit together in his truck. Which was even smaller than the house.
“Mina—”
“The reason I’m—like this…” She gestured at her face. “The reason I don’t seem cool about this, maybe, is what I’m trying to say—”
“What is it?”
She held the mug even tighter in her hands. “I was going to use that sample to get pregnant.”
Sweet, sweet relief moved through him like a wind off the mountains. Visions flashed into his mind. Mina, her belly round and beautiful, the baby inside his child. The way her cheeks would flush as she glowed from the pregnancy. A little baby, cradled in her arms…and then his arms. And all of it starting the old-fashioned way, with Liam braced above her in the bed, looking down into her satisfied eyes as she traced a path along his chest with one fingertip…
Woah. No. That was way too much. He had no right to be happy about what she’d just said. No right to imagine it going any way. But he couldn’t stop his mind from going along down that path. His heart ran free with all those visions like a horse set loose in the pasture. Would it really be so bad, if Mina were pregnant with his child? He didn’t think so.
“I’m going to go outside. I need some fresh air.”
He watched her get up from the table as if there wasn’t a storm raging outside. Instead, he stood and took the mugs to the sink, tipping them in one by one. It didn’t take long. When he’d rinsed them both out, he followed her into the main room. Mina stood at the open door, looking out into a pure white wall of snow. Unblinking.
“I forgot it was storming,” she said, the wind wrapping around her voice and tossing it back into the cabin.
“Happens to the best of us.” He went to the door and reached over her. But just when he was about to shut it, something caught his eye out in the swirling snow. Liam squinted. Then he reached for his coat, shrugging it on at top speed and stepping into his boots. “You stay here,” he told Mina. “I’ll be right back.”
“What is it?” The last part of her question was stolen away on the wind.
Five steps from the house, Liam plunged into a deep swell of snow. It was coming down fast, spurred on by heavy winds. This was nothing to mess around with. People could get disoriented in storms like this and never find their way back. For a series of moments, he heard nothing but his own breath and the howl of the wind. Maybe he hadn’t seen anything. Maybe his mind was playing tricks on him in an attempt to get him out of an uncomfortable conversation. Liam lifted his
