Total pages in book: 37
Estimated words: 35240 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 176(@200wpm)___ 141(@250wpm)___ 117(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35240 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 176(@200wpm)___ 141(@250wpm)___ 117(@300wpm)
She took a deep breath, then another, as Belle came to nudge her and sat at her feet, giving her a bark.
“I know, I know. I’m freaking out, and I know you’re telling me not to, but I just can’t help it.” She smiled down at her dog. She would love to have a child. She had always wanted to have a large family. Her parents hadn’t wanted a large family. After one child, her parents had wanted to devote all their time to just the one. It had gotten a little lonely at times.
She knew her parents meant well, but she would watch some of her peers at school, seeing them with their siblings, and although they claimed to hate their guts, she always saw the love. It was like a beacon, clear to see. Tillie never had that. Neither did Jaxson. She didn’t even know if he wanted a family.
Kate walked into the shop. “Wow, it is like the whole town of Higher Ridge just decided to walk right into the pharmacy at the same time.” She shook her head.
“People saw you?” Tillie asked.
Kate closed the door, flicking the “open” sign to “closed.”
“Yes, of course they saw me, but no one really knows me. I’m sure they assumed I was a tourist.” She gave a shrug. “Trust me, to most people, I’m invisible.” She reached into her bag and pulled out the pregnancy test. “But I got it.”
Tillie felt that sickness starting to build up.
“You’re scared, aren’t you?” Kate asked.
“Just a little.”
“There’s no reason to be scared, okay? Everything is going to work out fine.”
“And if it doesn’t?” Tillie asked. “I don’t know if Jaxson even wants kids, and I don’t know ... ugh...” She let out a scream. “There is a lot I don’t know.”
“Well, at least if you take that test, there is going to be one thing you do know, so you can narrow down the list.”
Tillie nodded. “You’re right. This is one thing.”
She took a deep breath, then expelled it.
“I’ve got this,” she said in agreement.
“And if Jaxson wants nothing to do with the baby, you’ve got me. I’m always here to help.”
Tillie looked toward her friend. She reached out, wrapping an arm around the back of her neck. “Thank you. You’re a great friend.”
Kate gave her a hug, and Tillie pulled away, as she stalled toward the bathroom.
“Go,” Kate said. “Do you need me to come in with you?”
“No, no, no, that’s okay. I can do this. It’s fine. I’ve just got to pee on a stick.” She rather liked her life the way it was now. She loved waking up with Jaxson and falling asleep in his arms. “I love him,” she said, turning back to Kate. “I really do.”
“And even if he hasn’t said it to you yet, I have a sneaking suspicion he loves you as well.”
Tillie could only hope.
She made her way into the back of the shop and approached the toilet. She was not in any kind of rush to get the results. Sickness swirled in her gut.
Stepping inside the stall, she caught her reflection in the mirror, and she looked pale. This was not what she was expecting. There went the sickness again. The slight fear.
“Enough,” she said. “I’ve got this.”
It took her a few seconds to pee. She nearly peed on the wrong end, and now that she wanted to know the answers, she was a little anxious to get this right. She put the stick on the counter by the sink, wiped, washed her hands, and read the back of the box. She felt a little sick.
There were two tests inside, but she was only going to do one. The time ticked on by, and she looked at what the results would mean, and she gasped. She was pregnant. The test confirmed it.
She didn’t want to be a multiple test taker, but she felt that instinct to try again, to check and see if it was right. This was insane. She shook her head, and she was not going to take the second test. The first one confirmed it for her.
She was pregnant with Jaxson Riggs’s baby.
Opening the door, Kate had Belle in her arms, waiting.
“I’m pregnant,” she said.
Chapter Twelve
Jaxson was pissed off with his tight, pain-in-the-ass customer, Cruz freaking Moore. For the last couple of years, Cruz had been avoiding getting some of his jobs done around the ranch. He accepted it because sometimes it was easier to just do one job at a time, and push the cost down the road. However, with Cruz doing this for a freaking long time, he had caused a domino effect, and now every time one thing was fixed, another thing seemed to break.
So, the kitchen had set off a whole heap of jobs with the electricity, which had turned into a whole house rewiring, and of course, Cruz thought Jaxson was doing it on purpose, which he wasn’t. He wasn’t even overcharging him. He was giving him the total at cost, including labor. That was all. This job was not making him a massive profit.