Finding Perfect (Fool's Gold #3)(69)

She felt as if she’d just stepped into something sticky. “Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything.”

Nicole laughed. “Much like pregnancy itself, there’s no do-over. Sorry. Besides, I’m really happy. For what it’s worth, I was pregnant when Hawk and I got married.”

“Yes, but it was probably his baby.”

To give her credit, Nicole barely blinked. She picked up her mocha, took a sip and said, “Why don’t you start from the beginning?”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

PIA EXPLAINED ABOUT Crystal and Keith and the embryos. “I’m still not sure why she left them to me, but she did and they’re implanted and I’m pregnant.”

“Triplets,” Nicole said. “I’m a twin and I had twins, so I know what that’s like. You’re going to have three. That’s a lot of diapers.”

“I try not to think about it,” Pia admitted. Or feedings, or getting them all to sleep at the same time. In fact, she was pretty much in denial.

“What did Raoul say when you told him what you wanted to do?” Nicole asked.

She was assuming they’d been dating, Pia thought. That the embryos had added an extra dimension to an already ongoing relationship.

“He offered to be my pregnancy buddy,” she said, determined to stick to the truth as much as possible.

“That sounds like him.” Nicole studied her. “You could have walked away from them.”

“No,” Pia said firmly. “I would never abandon them.” She knew what that felt like.

“What about giving them to someone else?”

Pia shook her head. “Crystal left them to me. I may never know why, but I’ll do the best I can with her children. She was my friend.”

Nicole reached out and squeezed her hand. “You’re nothing like Caro, are you?”

“I don’t know much about her. What was she like?”

Nicole released her hand and leaned back in her chair. “Beautiful. Smart. She’s a news anchor.”

Pia already hated her. “Great.”

Nicole laughed. “Please don’t tell Raoul, but that was my reaction when I met her. She says all the right things, but I always had the feeling she would rather have been anywhere but with us. I want to say I’m sorry about their divorce, but honestly I was relieved. I’m so glad he found you.”

“Me, too,” Pia said. Maybe theirs wasn’t the fantasy love every little girl dreamed of, but it was stable and solid and for her, that was going to be enough.

RAOUL AND HAWK made their way to Jo’s Bar.

“Brace yourself,” Raoul said as he pulled open the door. “It’s not what you think.”

Hawk stepped inside, then came to a stop as he stared at the big-screen TVs. Three were on the network soaps and the fourth was on a home shopping channel.

“What the hell?”

“Don’t ask,” Raoul told him, then glanced toward the bar. “Jo, could you send over two beers?”

“Sure. Going into your man cave?”

“As fast as we can.” He pointed to the doorway off to the side. “Through there. You’ll feel better.”

The smaller room had a couple of pool tables, a couple of TVs tuned to sports and was a masculine dark blue color. A relief from the pink and lime green Jo had recently painted the main room. For once it was relatively crowded with men, most of whom Raoul didn’t recognize.

Jo delivered the beers and left them with a bowl of pretzels.

“Interesting place,” Hawk said, then took a sip of his beer. “You like it here.”

Raoul nodded.

“Are you happy?” his former coach asked.

“Not a real masculine question,” Raoul joked.

“I’ve been married nearly all my adult life,” Hawk told him. “I can barely hang on to any masculinity. Just don’t tell anyone I talk about my feelings.”

“I won’t say a word.” Raoul rested his forearms on the table and looked at his mentor. “I’m happy. I didn’t know what to expect when I moved here, but it’s turning out even better than I thought.”

“You have the camp.”

Raoul explained how it was being used as a school. “It’ll be a while until they’re able to move back into their old building. We’ll still have camp in the summer, when the local kids are out of school, but we’ve had to put our winter plans on hold.”

“You okay with that?”

“I would have liked to get started with the math and science programs sooner rather than later, but they needed a place to have school. I’m not going to put three hundred kids out on the street because I have an ego problem.”

Hawk slapped him on the shoulder. “I like hearing that. It means I did a good job raising you.”

“It couldn’t be my sterling character?”

“Not likely.”

They laughed and clinked bottles.

“Pia seems nice,” Hawk said.

“She is. She was born and raised here. I told you she runs all the festivals in town. It’s a lot of coordinating, working with different people. When the school needed an emergency fundraiser and supply drive, she got it done in a couple of days.” He glanced at his friend. “She’s pregnant.”