Page 82 of Her Christmas Wish

And, of course, only the stronger and bigger dogs would be capable of adult rescue. But the smaller ones could still alert to a potentially life-threatening situation...

Morgan ran from his side, and he turned to see that Sage had joined them. Her presence jarred him, stole his train of thought. Sage...she didn’t attend the actual class.

She had news.

Because he’d interrupted himself to stare at her, everyone else was watching her, too.

It wasn’t their news.

“I just wanted to let you all know that I put together a package of toys and other objects you can use for your individual work with your dogs. I found everything on sale and got bulk rate on shipping. Anyone who’s interested, let me know...”

Itwastheir news. She’d even talked to him about it that morning, just before class. When he’d asked where Leigh was.

She’d been in the house getting ready because Uncle Scott was taking her to the park to play.

Gray had seen Scott just before he’d come out to the beach. They’d stood in the kitchen, sipping coffee. Talking guy banalities. Scott hadn’t said anything about taking his niece out for the morning.

And Gray had zero business feeling left out due to the fact that he hadn’t. He had no business beingin.

He hadn’t been himself since he’d woken up that morning. Other than class time, when he was in his zone, doing what he loved, he hadn’t been focused at all.

Mostly, he’d been trying not to focus on the one thing consuming his mind.

Sage’s bodily functions.

Was she pregnant?

They’d reached the two-week mark. If she hadn’t started yet, they could do an early test. He’d looked it up. Ten days after conception, home tests could often detect positive results.

And he had a right to know.

She could have texted him. She knew Gray had to be living on the edge of cold blades, waiting to find out if his worst nightmare was coming true.

At the same time, she needed to take care of her. She had a little girl wholly dependent upon her and had to keep herself above water.

So she’d taken the night. And then had asked Scott to watch Leigh so she could have time alone with Gray—not that her brother had any idea about that.

Which had been part of the plan.

She didn’t want Scott to know—and couldn’t guarantee that, on a Saturday morning, her twin wouldn’t wander in on a tense conversation and get suspicious.

“You got a minute to walk up to my place with me?” she asked, as the final laggers in Gray’s class dissipated with their dogs. She held up the folder of class paperwork, some of which she’d just had signed.

“Just let me get changed,” he said, barely looking at her, as he took a couple of steps backward while he spoke, heading toward Scott’s place. “Tea on the porch in five minutes?” he asked, and barely waited for her nod before he turned and jogged up the beach.

Leaving her with more minutes of anxiety to get through. And...on the porch...

Not at all how she’d planned.

And she’d planned it all so carefully.

The segue in with class paperwork. Talking about how it was going. Keeping it calm. Casual.

Because she needed it that way.

And the privacy? That was all for her, too.

The last time things had ended between her and Gray, while starting out with a private moment between them, had precipitated the canceled wedding, the canceled life, and had been the most humiliating experience of her life.