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She flushed, dropping her gaze Her belly fluttered with happiness and optiether

“I think I want a sandwich,” he said “Are you hungry?”

She grinned “I’e”

The warm smile disappeared from his face, replaced with a worried scowl

Stop bringing up the baby, she said to herself They’d have the results of the paternity test in a few days, and then she and Owen could focus on the child they shared, the love they should share Until then, she vowed she wouldn’t bring his son up again, because she didn’t like to see Owen scowl

“Do we have any o sherbet?” she asked

“With pickles?” A flash of a smile eased his tension

“Ew, no That’s gross,” she said “I was thinking jalapeños”

He laughed “Now that is gross”

“Everything okay, Owen?” Caitlyn called from the open bedroom across the hall

“Yeah, it was just a vase I’ downstairs to make a sandwich Do you want one?”

“I want you,” she called

“Again? You just had me”

“And I’ll never get enough But a sandould be nice”

Lindsey forced her jealousy down into the pit of her stomach where it rumbled around and made her crave chocolate She was the one to folloen down to the kitchen, though She was the one he cautioned on the stairs She was the one he scooped ice cream for Not Caitlyn

“I thought it was the woman’s job to make sandwiches after sex,” she said as she duo sherbet

Owen chuckled “Yeah, well, Caitlyn is different”

“Masculine,” Lindsey said, and then she bit her lip, wishing she hadn’t said that Insulting Caitlyn’s femininity would only make him defensive of her

“Strong Capable Independent But not masculine Not at all”

“So you like strong women?” Lindsey asked She hadn’t shown hith over the past week, but then she’d been so relieved to finally have so the burden of staying strong to falter a bit Maybe that had been a mistake

“I like Caitlyn,” Owen said, slathering Dijon rainy slices of bread “Love Caitlyn,” he corrected, a crooked grin twisting the corner of his mouth

Ugh Lindsey did not want to talk about that “So why hasn’t Kellen been over to visit? I thought you tere close” And with Owen’s big brother, Chad, in the hospital, Lindsey figured Owen could use a little support from his best friend Also, Kellen had promised emotional support to Lindsey, and she hadn’t seen hiotten news of Chad’s injuries

Oent stiff, as if suddenly stricken by a vicious strain of tetanus

After a moment, Lindsey laid a hand on his wrist “Owen?”

“I’ several cuts of deli ham onto the stack of bread He added cheese slices and picked up the plate of partially asse up?”

He didn’t wait for her to agree, just turned to leave the kitchen with her gaping at his perfect, retreating back What the hell was going on between Owen and Kellen? She’d thought it odd that the two hadn’t been hanging out together, but apparently, she’d e

Shrugging, she scooped a bite of sherbet into heras the tartness clashed with the sweet chocolate she’d duh She’d finish every bite She settled into the bench that ran along one side of the breakfast table and reached for the laptop Owen had let her borrow for her job search

She checked to see if any new postings had been listed in banking and finance since she’d checked before bed and sent her resume to a few positions she wasn’t actually qualified for just in case they were as desperate to hire someone as she was to be hired While she was online, she couldn’t resist logging into her mock stock portfolio She wasn’t sure why she felt compelled to play around with fake funds in the real stock ra stocks at the right moment or she wouldn’t have been fired But she loved the exciterow and used to think she had an eye for trading trends For her enerous hundred thousand dollars of fake invest, she was up six grand If it had been real money, she could ain and lost it all in one bad trade Cringing at how that thought o and chocolate combination in her sto the s

on the table beside her bowl She flipped it to Owen’s page and entered an IOU of seven dollars for the o sherbet and forty dollars for the vase she’d broken

The list of what she oas growing frighteningly long Would she ever get out from under her debts to the man? As she tucked her notebook back into her purse and stuffed another bite of tangy sherbet into her mouth, she decided she’d never be able to truly pay him back for his kindness to her That kind of altruisht be able to pay hi rhythainst the wall et the opportunity The baby kicked her in the side, and she couldn’t tell if her son was agreeing with her skepticis her to have faith in possibility She rubbed her belly and s to hope for her chance, even if the odds weren’t in her favor