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He shrugged his shoulders. “Yep.”
Jamie looked at the others around the fire then glanced at Duncan. His fiancée was gone for the evening. This was her chance. It had to be now.
“Hey, Duncan, can we maybe go somewhere and talk?”
His eyes met hers, and he looked as if he was searching for what to say. “We can’t let what happened before happen again.”
That’s why he hesitated? He thought she wanted to … what? Sneak off and do it again? She wasn’t sure whether to be insulted or not, but it didn’t matter. Now was the time.
“That’s not … I didn’t mean that. I respect your relationship, and I would never do that.” Maybe the old her would have, but not anymore. She wanted to tell him everything that had happened to her when she was in Pennsylvania—the way she had changed, the decision she had made. But first, she needed him to know about the baby.
“I’m sorry.” He stared down at the ground. “I shouldn’t have presumed.”
“There’s something important I need to talk to you about … in private.”
His brow furrowed. “All right.”
“Where can we go?”
“I know a place.” He stood, and she did the same.
Her eyes met Shannon’s over the fire, and Shannon pressed her hands together as if to show she’d be praying. Jamie had never felt as many butterflies as were flipping and fluttering around in her stomach at the moment.
She and Duncan walked across the lawn into the darkness and out onto the dock. The boards creaked beneath their feet as they moved to the end.
“These look so pretty,” she commented on the floating candles in the water around the dock. Her hands were suddenly sweating as Duncan sat down and patted the boards next to him.
Jamie took a seat beside him, leaving enough room between them to give him space when he heard the news.
“So, what’s up?” he asked.
Her heart raced at an alarmingly rapid rate. She took a shaky breath in and let it out slowly as her eyelids closed. Tears burned with the sudden fear of what his reaction might be.
Please, God, please give me the strength to do this. Give me the words to say. This prayer thing was coming more and more naturally to her every day.
“Jamie?”
She opened her eyes and saw his concern.
“Are you okay?”
She shook her head slowly, which caused him to lay a hand on her shoulder.
“What is it?”
How was she supposed to say this? Just blurt it out? She turned her gaze to the dark, rippling water before them and focused on one of the floating candles. “I’ve thought about this conversation for weeks. Playing the whole thing over in my mind. All the possible outcomes. But now that I have you here … this is so hard.” She was trembling, and her chin quivered as she fought tears.
Duncan took her hand and squeezed. “Whatever it is, you can tell me. We’re friends, right?”
She closed her eyes again, then opened them and looked him straight in the eye.
He reached over with his other hand and sandwiched hers between his. “Maybe you don’t consider me a friend anymore, but I hope we can find some way to move forward. Because you’re my sister’s best friend, and I know you’ll always be in our life.”
An unexpected laugh escaped Jamie before she could stop it. “You have no idea how true that is.”
His brow scrunched up.
She took the deepest breath she could and let it out slowly, then shifted to face him, determined to spit it out once and for all.