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“Five or six Some lasted a few ot too serious, then he walked

She stopped chopping the poor carrot, her head bowing slightly and her shoulders slu the knife on the cutting board, flush with a carrot, she turned her head to see him “What happened, Callum?”

He silently cursed No one had ever pushed hirossed in herthem any attention

He had never told anyone about Annabel Fe she had been his girlfriend Back then, he had been mainly in Texas, but he worked a lot He had drifted away fro He had brought Annabel to both holidays that last year When asked later if he was still seeing her, he had only said no Noas about to tell Hazel Why her?

He h his She blinked sole him She put her hand on his cheek “It’s okay You don’t have to tell me”

The selflessness of her saying that tore through all of his resistance She meant it She respected his sensitivities The connection between thethened, his to her, anyway She was so else Maybe, finally, he was ready to put in words what he had so far kept to himself

“She died nearly five years ago” Saying that felt like a regurgitation, it came up from inside him like sour milk He felt sick He put both hands on the kitchen island counter and lowered his head “I’ve never told anyone this”

Hazel’s hand touched his back, high and on the left She caressed hio on or he could stop right there She wouldn’t force anything out of him

“She was pregnant” Calluuish

“Oh,” she breathed in heartfelt e She was a mother She must kno terrible it would be to lose her child

“We kneas going to be a girl,” he said, barely getting the words out before his anguish became too unbearable

Unable to continue, he pushed off the counter and walked toward his room

Chapter 6

Hazel ordered roo She had picked at her dinner the night before while Evie devoured hers Calluht Hazel had lost her appetite after hearing his gut-wrenching confession She could not i a person you loved and a child all in one fell swoop She had to assu emotion would not have overcome him had he not

She prepared Evie’s breakfast of cereal and fruit Evie had co it up last night, she had to eat healthy today