Only You (Adair Family #5)(98)

There had been no opportunity to buy a pregnancy test without someone at my side, but now that Jock had returned to Ardnoch Estate, I was going to drive to a pharmacy a few villages away and buy one.

I didn’t want to think about how Brodan might feel about me falling pregnant so soon. Or at all. I didn’t think it would happen so easily, considering my age, but there I was … possibly pregnant. A huge part of me was giddy with excitement and gratitude. However, I also didn’t want to ruin what was building between us. So I wouldn’t think about it until I knew for certain. First a pregnancy test and then a trip to the doctor.

The kids had left for the day, and I was just crossing the emptying car park to my car when someone called out to me.

I turned, yanked from my worries, to find Michelle Kingsley standing at the driver’s-side door of her car. Her son, whom I taught, was already in the back of the Ford, not paying attention. “Ms. Kingsley?”

She smiled, but a gleam in her eyes made me wary. “I just wanted to say I’m sorry about all the nasty things people are saying about you online.”

I stiffened. “I wouldn’t know about that.” And I wouldn’t, because I’d promised Brodan I wouldn’t google our names.

“Oh, people are vicious,” Michelle said, taking great delight in telling me. “I mean, just because you’re not a glamour model doesn’t mean you can’t be appealing to someone like Brodan. Attraction sometimes isn’t apparent to the rest of us.”

Bitch.

“I don’t believe them when they say a small-town primary school teacher can’t keep Brodan Adair entertained for long. It’s not like he’ll get bored and run off with a jet-setting beauty who fits his lifestyle better, is it? You’re not worried that he’ll leave you. Again? Are you?” She couldn’t hide her smirk.

Shaking my head, I felt nothing but pity for her. “You never understood Brodan. Or what was between us. You didn’t when we were kids, and you don’t now. And that you find pleasure in trying to upset me just makes me feel sorry for you, Michelle.”

Her expression slackened with surprise and disbelief.

“Have a good evening.” I got in my car and wasted not another thought on her. Or anyone else who allowed their jealousy to control their words and actions.

Shaking off the unpleasant encounter, sure it might not be the last, I drove through Golspie and onto Brora to pop into the pharmacy there. My phone rang, connecting to my car, and Brodan’s name came up on the screen. I hit the answer button on my steering wheel. “Hello, handsome,” I answered, smiling just at the thought of him.

God, I made myself sick with how loved up we were.

“Hello, my love,” he answered in that deep voice that made me tingle all over. “Are you on your way home?”

Home.

My grin deepened. “Not yet. What are you making for dinner?”

“I was actually thinking we could eat at the Gloaming tonight, now that the paps are gone.”

“Aye, that’ll work.”

“I’m just heading home from a meeting in Inverness with Thane about the house. I can’t wait to share the new drawings with you.”

Excitement bubbled inside me. “Me too.”

“So, where are you now? Will you beat me home?”

“Um …” I didn’t want to lie totally, so noting the package on my seat I’d collected from the post office during my lunch break, I replied, “I’m driving to Brora. The gift I got you for your birthday that didn’t show up in time was delivered to Brora’s post office instead of ours.” It was a half lie. The truth was that I had ordered a gift for Brodan’s birthday (January 3) before Christmas, and it had taken weeks to arrive. I’d had his first script turned into a book, leather-bound and everything. There had been some interest from a director, but nothing solid had come of it yet. But I still thought his writing it was momentous and should be celebrated.

“So, you’re on your way to Brora?”

“Yep.”

“Okay, I will probably be home first, then. See you soon, Sunset.”

“See you soon, handsome.”

I will not feel guilty, I told myself as I hung up. There was no point telling Brodan my suspicions until I knew for certain.

Once I parked in Brora, I shoved my hair under my knit wool hat, feeling paranoid after the last week. I didn’t want anyone to recognize me and leak it to the internet that I’d bought a pregnancy test. Bloody Nora, I should have called Sloane and asked her to buy it for me.

Well, I was here now.

The pharmacy had a few people in it, but I kept my head low, found a couple of tests, and brought them to the counter. Thankfully, the young man at the till was so bored he didn’t even look at me as he rang me up. I left the store breathing easy that I hadn’t been seen and got back into the car.

It was growing dark as I drove back down the A9 toward home. The traffic had been fairly busy on the way here, but it had thinned out, and my headlights were the only ones on a stretch of road. There was a field on my left and the sea beyond that and a low stone wall set before woodlands on my right.

Headlights suddenly appeared on the opposite side of the road. I thought nothing of it.

Until the lights swerved onto my side.

My heart leapt in my throat as the vehicle raced straight toward me.