“I didn’t know her until this year,” Logan admitted. “We’ve only saw each other a few times, really.” He leaned his arms on the counter, clasping his hands together. “We met by accident when one of her hens ran in front of my car. Then things got a little out of hand.”
“Wow.” Gray raked his hand through his hair. “I had no idea.”
“Nobody did. It was a casual thing. She didn’t want anything serious, and neither did I.”
Gray chuckled. “Getting pregnant sounds pretty damn serious to me.”
Logan sighed, staring out of the glass doors. Night had fallen, and the sky was dark. And he still hadn’t gotten his head around what Courtney had told him. “It was an accident.” He shook his head. “My fucking fault. I forgot to use a condom.”
“You forgot?” Gray gave a low whistle. “Oh boy. It’s not like forgetting to turn the light off or something. You only had one damn job.”
Logan dropped his head into his hands. “I know. I fucked up. And I have no idea what to do about it.”
Gray was silent for a moment. Logan swallowed hard, the reality of his situation pressing down on him like a dead weight. “She’s having my baby,” he said, lifting his gaze to his brother’s. “I’m gonna be a dad and I’m not ready for it.”
“Nobody’s ready for it. I know I wasn’t.” Gray wiped his hands on a towel and took another mouthful of beer. “But really, that doesn’t matter because the baby’s coming whether you like it or not. So what are you gonna do?”
Logan blinked like a deer in headlights. “I’ve no idea.”
“It’s a long way between here and Boston,” Gray said, his voice even. “You planning on being a part-time dad?”
The question felt loaded. Logan lifted his hands up. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “My business is there. My baby is gonna be here. I have no fucking idea how to make this work.”
“How far along is she?”
“Ten weeks.”
The corner of Gray’s mouth quirked up. “Then you have around six and a half months to figure it all out.”
Six months. Damn. That didn’t feel like very long at all. “I’m gonna mess this up. The way I mess everything up.” He shook his head. “This poor kid is doomed from the start.”
Gray threw the towel at him. It brushed against Logan’s hair before landing on the floor. “Shut up,” Gray told him. “You’re not gonna mess it up. And you’re not gonna be a bad dad. Not unless you really work hard at failing.” He walked around the counter, and pulled out two stools, sitting on one and offering the other to Logan. “You’re gonna be there for your kid, right?”
Logan frowned. “Of course I am.” He was as surprised as Gray by the vehemence in his voice. “I mean, I’m going to fuck it up. We both know that. But I’ll try to be there anyway.”
“What about the mom? You said it was casual. Does that mean you’re not a thing?”
Logan shook his head. “I asked her to marry me. She said no.”
Gray started to laugh.
“What?” Logan asked, his jaw twitching.
“One minute you’re telling me you don’t know what to do, that this thing was casual. The next minute you’re saying you asked her to marry you. I’m getting whiplash, bro.”
“Join the club,” Logan muttered. “It felt like the right thing to do.” He swallowed. “She’s a widow. People are gonna talk. And it’s my fault she’s in this situation.”
“You can’t marry her because you feel guilty.”
“Yeah, well your point is moot, because she told me no.”
“She sounds like a wise woman.”
Logan swallowed, thinking of the way she’d looked as she’d walked away from him. Her hair tumbling over her back, her hips swinging. “She’s good people.”
“You told anybody else about the pregnancy?” Gray asked him.
“Just you. And I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell anybody else apart from Maddie.”