First Comes Baby

If he planned to be around. Caleb counted silently to ten.

“I plan to be around. But I think I’ll skip the coffee tonight, head on home.”

“Oh?” She didn’t sound as if she cared. “I’ll walk you out.”

“No.” Once upon a time, he might have wrapped her in a hug or kissed her cheek. Now he only nodded toward the refrigerator. “Get yourself something to eat. But call me if you want me, Laurel. I mean it.”

Her voice softened, or at least he imagined it did. “I know you do, Caleb. Thank you for coming tonight.”

“Any time,” he told her, and let himself out.

Time to tell his own parents.

HIS FATHER SET DOWN his drink so hard, liquid splashed onto the table. “Are you crazy?”

Caleb had braced himself for their questions and concern, but he hadn’t anticipated the genuine shock on their faces when he told them right before dinner at their house.

“You know how long Laurel and I have been friends.”

“Friends don’t impregnate friends.”

“Clay.” His wife shook her head in warning.

“What?” he asked her. “I’m supposed to smile and say, Isn’t that nice? Do you think it’s nice that some woman who isn’t married to our son is going to be raising our grandchild?”

“Some woman?” Caleb’s temper sparked. “Laurel’s a hell of a lot more than that! You claimed to like her!”

“We do like her…” his mother began, but was interrupted by her husband.

“What does liking her have to do with anything? She’s not our daughter-in-law. Hell, she could decide we shouldn’t see the baby if she feels like it.”