She put her phone back on the bedside table, knowing he wouldn’t message her when he arrived at the airport, nor when he got back to Boston.
The fact was, he wouldn’t be messaging her again.
Somehow, her heart would have to get used to that.
Chapter Eight
SIX WEEKS LATER.
Courtney rushed across the town square, zipping her padded jacket up and nestling her face into the silver scarf she’d wrapped around her neck. The air had turned cold in the past few days, making her cheeks turn pink and her breath opaque. It was a little over a week until Thanksgiving would be here, and the shops had already started to decorate their windows for the holidays. Red tinsel was strung across the window of Murphy’s Diner, sparkling silver bells hanging from it. On the wall outside was a poster for the Chaplin Drive-In Theater’s Holiday season, starting with It’s A Wonderful Life on the first of December.
She used to love this time of year. As a child, their Christmas countdown had always begun on the Friday after Thanksgiving, when she and her mom would pull out the three huge boxes of decorations stacked in the garage, and together they’d decide on that year’s theme. For the past two years, she hadn’t even bothered to decorate her little cottage. There didn’t seem much point when she was there alone.
She tightened her hold on her oversized purse, her mind drawn to the brown paper bag nestled inside. It had been in there unopened for two days. Ever since she’d had the gumption to drive to Maple Cross and walk into the drugstore, hoping nobody would recognize her in the town across from Hartson’s Creek.
It had been more than a month since she’d heard from Logan Hartson. To her surprise, he’d messaged her when he returned to Boston, just to check she was feeling better. She’d replied that she was much better and that had been that.
No more words. No more messages. No more frantic visits on a night where time seemed to disappear and only desire mattered. He was gone for good, and that was exactly how it should be.
Didn’t matter that it felt like she didn’t quite fit into her skin anymore. It was for the best, anybody could see that.
Or it was, until she’d missed her second period.
The first one she hadn’t noticed. It was a couple of weeks after he’d left her that night and she still wasn’t thinking properly. It had been difficult enough to put on a normal face for Ellis and Mary, and smile politely at Ca
rl whenever he visited them for dinner.
But then she’d missed her second period last week and that’s when she started panicking. With her being sick, she wasn’t sure whether she’d taken her pill the weekend that Logan visited.
The fact was, she couldn’t remember. Her skin prickled at the thought of it. How could she be so stupid? They’d always doubled up on contraception, but this time, they’d failed completely.
She walked into the I Can Make You Beautiful salon, the bell ringing over her head. Lainey looked up from the desk where she had the phone jammed under her chin and her laptop open.
“You got it?”
Courtney nodded.
“Ladies,” Lainey announced loudly to her co-workers, hanging up the phone and walking around the desk. “We’ll be in my office if you need me.”
“You don’t have an office,” Courtney said, frowning.
Lainey grabbed Courtney’s hand, dragging her to the restrooms at the back of the shop. Once they were inside, she slid the bolt firmly closed and held her hand out. “Gimme.”
Courtney opened her purse and pulled the brown bag out, passing the rectangular carton to Lainey. Her friend turned it over, squinting as she read the words, before she opened it up and pulled the wand out.
“Okay, you need to pee on this.”
Courtney let out a deep breath. Maybe she should have gone home and done this in the privacy of her cottage, but the thought of being alone when she got the result made her want to hurl.
Everything made her want to hurl. Dear God, was she really pregnant?
She took the stick from Lainey and turned it over in her hand.
“Come on, just go and do it. You need to know either way.” Lainey gave her a small smile.
Yeah she did. But the self-preservation part of her wanted to hide and pretend none of this was happening. There weren’t many reasons why you missed two periods and felt nauseous in the morning.
“Go on.” Lainey made a shooing movement with her hands. “Go tinkle.”