Why Not Tonight (Happily Inc. #3)(28)
“You want a sperm donor so you can have a kid on your own?” Silver asked, her voice incredulous. “Seriously?”
“Maybe. I’m not sure.” Natalie tucked her phone back in her bag. “I love kids and always wanted them, but I come from a long line of women who are unlucky in love. Does that mean I don’t get a family?”
“I get having your own baby,” Pallas said. “Of course you want to experience that, but, Natalie, what about falling in love first?”
“Besides, being a single parent isn’t easy.” Wynn picked up her fork. “It’s great, don’t get me wrong, but it’s work. Hunter is the best thing to ever happen to me. If you’re serious, we should talk.”
“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Natalie admitted. “I’d have to get my life together first. Financially and in other ways, but I do want to be a mother.”
“What does the app do?” Carol asked.
“It helps in finding the right donor. There are all these questions as well as links to reputable sperm banks. It’s kind of interesting.”
“So you’re looking for a donor, not a father,” Silver clarified. “You want the guy to walk away.”
“I guess.” Natalie spoke slowly. “I really haven’t gotten that far. Why?”
“Just asking in case I meet a qualified candidate.”
Natalie rolled her eyes. “Whatever you’re thinking, no. Did I say no? No.”
Everyone laughed.
“While we’re on the subject of breeding,” Carol said. “It’s official. We’re bringing in a male giraffe.”
The current herd was all female. Natalie pressed her hands together. “You’re going to have baby giraffes. I can’t begin to imagine that much cuteness! Is gestation long? Will they all get pregnant right away? Giraffe sex has to be kind of...”
“Awkward?” Wynn offered.
“Not to them,” Carol said. “Giraffe gestation is about thirteen to fifteen months. We won’t know for sure until she’s fairly far along, although there are tests we can do. But we don’t want to start breeding right away and we don’t want the females getting pregnant at once, so I’ll be putting them on birth control.”
“Is it a patch?” Silver asked with a grin.
“I wish. It goes in their food and I have to make sure they eat it all or we’ll have unexpected baby giraffes.”
Which was probably not a good idea, but Natalie had to admit it was a sweet one. She loved the idea of little Millies in the animal park.
Pallas reached in her purse and pulled out a piece of paper. “Natalie, I nearly forgot to give this to you. They announced it at the last business council meeting. The news won’t be going public for a couple of weeks.”
Natalie took the paper and scanned it. The main bridge over the Rio de los Suenos had recently been refurbished. The city council wanted to invite local artists to decorate the bridge as a tourist attraction.
“I love this,” Natalie said. “I’m so going to sign up for a section of the bridge.”
Maybe she could get one section and have Ronan help her. Or even better, she could get two sections and give one to Mathias, while she and Ronan did the other one. That way the brothers could hang out and do a project together because they needed to be close again.
“You should use your totaled car,” Silver told her. “Cut off the front or something.”
Natalie’s breath caught. “That is the best idea ever.”
“I’m more than a pretty face.”
“You are. We could use both the front and the back and call it ‘coming and going.’” She flipped over the paper and began to sketch out the concept.
“And we’ve lost her,” Carol said with a laugh.
“Two minutes,” Natalie muttered as she frantically drew exactly what she was seeing in her mind. “Three, tops.”
Silver chuckled. “We’ll give her three, then bring out the desserts. That will suck her back into our world.”
Her friends knew her well, Natalie thought happily. Her ex might have broken her heart when he’d left her, but finding this wonderful town and the people in it had been worth it all. And she knew Ronan was going to be as excited as she was about their joint project. He just had to be, didn’t he?
CHAPTER SEVEN
THE RESTLESSNESS THAT had dogged Ronan ever since Natalie went home refused to go away. It had been nearly a week and he was still not comfortable alone in his house, which was why he found himself back in town on Monday night.
In most towns, big or small, the time for going out and partying was the weekend, but not in Happily Inc. The income from all the destination weddings meant the town lived on a different schedule. Weekends were for weddings and therefore work. Monday was the big night out.
He didn’t bother going to any of his brothers’ houses. No one would be home. On Mondays they would be at The Boardroom—a pub-style establishment that celebrated all things board-game-related. Built-in bookshelves housed every board game ever invented. The tables were set up for easy play, and on Monday nights there were tournaments.
Ronan rarely bothered to go, but he’d been sucked in a few times. Tonight his restlessness had caused him to walk in shortly before six, only to discover the place crowded with couples and groups of friends.