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.George was quiet and self-possessed.There was a remoteness about him even though, as they talked, Sophy was aware of his jade-green gaze boring into hers.They didn’t talk long and she never mentioned her pregnancy.It was winter.She was wearing a heavy coat, and at just five months along, she wasn’t yet as big as the house she would become before Lily’s birth.So George had had no idea.None of his family had.If Sophy had ever imagined that Ari might have proudly proclaimed—or even quietly admitted—he was going to be a father, she knew that day that he’d never said a word.She’d felt a little bereft as she was leaving, and it must have showed on her face because George had drawn her into his arms and given her a hard, steadying hug.It had felt so good, so supportive, so right that Sophy had wanted to lean into it, to draw strength from it.From George.But fortunately common sense had prevailed and she had stepped back, decorum prevailing.Still he’d held on to her hands.“Take care of yourself.” His voice had been like rough velvet.Stronger than Ari’s.Deeper.Sophy had nodded, exquisitely aware of her hands being chafed and squeezed lightly between George’s strong fingers.“Yes,” she said, throat tightening.“Yes.You, too.”She’d given him a watery smile, then desperately pulled her hands out of his and fled before sudden tears from God knew what complicated emotions spilled over onto her cheeks.She’d hung on to that memory of George to get her through the days and weeks that followed.She told herself it was because he reminded her of Ari—but not Ari as he’d been, but rather the man she’d wanted him to be.If this child was a boy, she’d told herself, she hoped he’d be more like George than like Ari.Not that she had a lot of time to think about either one of them.She had been teaching at a preschool-cum-day-care, a fun but exhausting job, and every day she came home more tired than the last.She loved the children, but as she’d grown bigger and the baby had become more active, simply getting through the day took a lot out of her.When she went home after school, she had longed for a bit of adult conversation, just someone to be there.But there was none because a few weeks before Ari’s funeral, her roommate, Carla, had accepted a job in Florida and moved out.After Carla had moved, Sophy hadn’t looked for another roommate right away.She was nesting and she’d liked having the space to herself.Her cousin Natalie in California, the only relative she was very close to, had suggested Sophy come out there when she’d learned Sophy was expecting.With her parents dead and no siblings, Sophy was on her own.But while she appreciated Natalie’s suggestion, she wasn’t ready to take it.“No.My doctor’s here.I’m taking prenatal classes here.My job is here.I want to finish out the school year.”But her West Village apartment was expensive, and while she might have liked to live there alone, she wasn’t going to be able to keep it if she didn’t make an effort to find a new roommate soon.So she put an ad up in the faculty room at the preschool and at the gym where she went to her prenatal classes.She got calls.Several of them.Most were not at all what she had in mind.But one seemed possible.A second-grade teacher named Melinda, with a four-year-old boy and a parrot, was looking for a place to live.Sophy wasn’t sure about the four-year-old or the parrot, but she imagined Melinda wasn’t sure about a newborn, either, so one afternoon in early May she invited Melinda over to talk and see the apartment.She’d just put the last of the dishes away and was sweeping the floor, hoping to impress Melinda with her housekeeping skills, when the doorbell rang.A glance at her watch told Sophy that Melinda was half an hour early.But better early and eager than late or not at all.Besides, if the place wasn’t pristine, there was no point in pretending to be something she was not.So she stuck the broom in the closet, pasted on her best welcoming smile and opened the door.It wasn’t Melinda.It was George.George? Sophy felt suddenly breathless.Her knees wobbled.She stared at him, words failing her.George didn’t speak at once, either.He just stood there, lean and rugged and as gorgeous as ever, looking down at her with those smoky green eyes of his.They held her gaze for a moment, then slowly, inexorably slid southward so that she could almost feel them touching her full breasts and her now very noticeably pregnant belly.It wasn’t winter any longer, and she wasn’t wearing a coat—only a loose smock that did nothing to conceal her shape.Sophy gripped the doorknob so tightly her hand hurt.She didn’t move.She didn’t see shock in his gaze so much as curiosity and then something like confirmation.Confirmation?George’s jaw tightened briefly as his gaze lingered on her belly.But then it eased as his gaze traveled back up to meet hers.“You are pregnant.” It even sounded like a confirmation.Sophy ran her tongue over dry lips.She nodded.“Yes.” She was strangling the doorknob now.But she met his gaze steadily.She had nothing to hide.And it was far too late for George to say what Ari had already said: “What are you going to do about it?”It had to be apparent to him what she intended to “do about it”—she intended to have it, welcome it.In fact the baby’s cradle was clearly visible in the living room behind her.But he didn’t question that.He simply asked, “Are you all right?” His eyes were searching hers.“Yes, of course.I’m fine.” Or as fine as a seven-month-pregnant woman with an active kicking person inside her abdomen, a back ache and varicose veins could possibly be.What did he want? She hesitated, wondering if she should invite him in because at any moment Melinda and her four-year-old and her parrot might be showing up.But she couldn’t just say, “Go away.” She didn’t want him to go away.“Come in,” she said and opened the door wider.George came in.He didn’t sit down.He paced around her small living room even though she gestured toward the couch.“Won’t you sit down? Would you like something to drink?”He cracked his knuckles and shook his head.“Why didn’t you say something?” he demanded, his gaze on her belly again.Instinctively Sophy put her hands on her abdomen, as if they were a shield.She shrugged.“Say what? ‘Oh, by the way, before he died, Ari knocked me up?’ Why? What point was there?”“He’s responsible.”“Yes, well, perhaps he was.Now he’s not.And he didn’t want to be, anyway.” She turned her back and fiddled with the blinds, but she heard something that sounded like George’s teeth coming together.“How do you know?” he demanded.“I talked to him about it.I told him.He said, ‘Oh, too bad.What’re you going to do about it?’”George muttered something and rubbed his hand against the back of his neck.Sophy, watching him, tilted her head.“How did you find out?” she wanted to know.“Your letter.”“Letter?”“You wrote him.Told him.It was in his backpack.We found it when they finally shipped his stuff home.”“Oh.That letter.” The one she’d sent when she’d first found out.The letter that Ari claimed he’d never got.“It was in his backpack? I see.”So Ari had already known about the baby before she’d tracked him down in person to tell him the news.When she’d never heard from him, she’d been afraid he hadn’t received her letter.Obviously he had.He’d simply chosen to ignore the fact.Somehow Sophy supposed she wasn’t surprised.Not anymore.Not about Ari.Hiding his head in the sand and pretending it didn’t exist was typical of Ari.Not surprising at all.But finding George on her doorstep was surprising.What did he want?Her back was hurting, so Sophy sat down.George didn’t [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]