Page 35 of Perfect Persuasion (Love’s Second Chance #2)

Her stomach rumbled noisily, reminding her that it was lunchtime. Pulling open the fridge, she inspected its contents. “Hmm. What do we want today, Baby?” She’d begun talking to the baby when Sophie and Trevor moved out. She really had no one else for conversation.

Because while so many things had changed, one thing had not.

She and Logan were still functioning at arm’s length.

Their work relationship remained strictly professional and their only contact outside the office was doctor’s appointments and phone calls.

The calls were always polite and distant, inquiring after her welfare and the baby’s and nothing more.

Nothing personal. God forbid.

Sometimes, she brushed past him at work and she wanted to scream with the frustration of being so close to him, yet so far away.

The chasm between them widened each day.

Claire tried to be strong, to tell herself she didn’t need Logan.

Lots of women tackled single motherhood.

She could do it too. Of course she could.

But she missed him.

She missed seeing genuine smiles lighting up his face, missed his devouring kisses, his arms around her at night. She missed laughing with him, sharing her baby with him. She missed, well, everything about him.

Logan, on the other hand, didn’t seem to miss her at all.

It was as if he had an emotional on-off switch.

He seemed perfectly happy with their relationship, or lack thereof.

At her last doctor’s visit, Logan had watched the sonogram for all of fifteen seconds before excusing himself for a meeting he’d forgotten.

As though any meeting could take precedence over the sight of his own child.

Claire could still recall the look of naked pity on her doctor’s face at Logan’s hasty exit.

Somehow, the caring, considerate man he’d been in Maryland had disappeared in the harsh light of reality. King Monroe took his place. She didn’t think she could manage to peacefully coexist with him like this, pretending not to care at all. Pretending not to be hurt by his sudden defection.

“Knock knock.”

Claire started and turned to find Marcus hovering in the doorway of the kitchen. “Marcus.” She smiled, truly happy to see him. He had become a much-needed friend to her in the last few weeks. “I didn’t hear you come in.”

“I know.” He grinned, looking utterly gorgeous in faded jeans and a soft gray sweater that complemented the vibrancy of his green eyes. “You really should lock your doors, or you’ll have unwanted guests just inviting themselves inside.”

“Like you?” She couldn’t resist teasing him.

Marcus pressed a hand to his heart. “I’m wounded.

Should I take that as a hint and drive all the way back to New York after I just drove four hours through weekend traffic to get here?

” He consulted his watch. “I’m sure it’ll take me five hours to get back if I leave now, but that’s okay. I don’t mind long drives. Really.”

Claire was laughing so hard she was crying by the time he finished his melodramatic don’t-mind-me speech. “When you put it that way, I guess you can stay.”

“Big of you,” he murmured dryly, “especially since you invited me.”

She had invited him to an apple festival in a nearby town. Sophie and Trevor had invited her, and she hadn’t wanted to be the third wheel on the bicycle, so she’d asked Marcus to accompany them. He was a bit early, but she didn’t mind. She was grateful for the company.

“Can I get you something?” she asked, belatedly realizing she was still holding the refrigerator door wide open. “I was just about to sneak a snack.”

“Nothing, thanks.” He winked. “I’m saving myself for all that apple crisp and pie you promised would be waiting for me at the festival.”

“Suit yourself.” She whipped out a raspberry yogurt, grabbed a spoon from the silverware drawer and sat down at the kitchen table with a happy sigh.

Her feet ached more and more each day and her stomach felt so large she knew she looked like Humpty Dumpty. But Claire didn’t mind so much, as long as she didn’t fall off any walls.

“Are you eating raspberry yogurt?” Marcus asked with disbelief as she dug in with typical zeal.

“Mmm-hmm.” She didn’t bother forming a coherent response. Her mouth was too full of delicious, gooey raspberry yogurt.

“Yep.” He nodded. “You’ve got to be pregnant. No one else could possibly like yogurt that much.”

“Mmm.” Claire scraped the bottom of the container, finished it off with record speed. “I’m not sure if I should take that as a compliment or an insult.”

Marcus laughed. “Take it as an observation.”

Trevor and Sophie arrived then, holding hands and as nauseatingly in love as ever.

“No time to dawdle,” Sophie announced. “Put down that yogurt immediately, Claire. There’s pie to be eaten.”

“And dumplings,” Trevor added with a grin.

“Not to mention fritters,” added Marcus helpfully.

Claire laughed. “When you put it that way…”

“So, what do you think of Marcus?” Sophie asked Claire when the two of them were finally alone.

They were perusing the various wares on display at the flea market segment of the festival, munching on hot apple crisp as they went.

Trevor and Marcus had been enlisted to carry pumpkins back to Sophie’s car for the autumnal display she was planning on creating.

Claire had lost count of how many gourds, pumpkins, and ears of decorative corn her sister had purchased. Half the stand, it had seemed like.

“Well?” Sophie demanded around a spoonful of apple crisp.

Claire smiled, thinking of the friendship that had developed between them over the past few weeks. “I think he’s fantastic.”

Sophie gave her a look. “But?”

“But I don’t think it would be a good idea to start a relationship now, with the baby on the way if that’s what you’re thinking.” Claire paused to examine a quirky-looking ceramic rooster. “It’s a really awkward time to try to date someone. Besides, I don’t think he likes me that way.”

“Marcus is a great man, Claire,” Sophie pointed out. “He’s exactly what you need. You’ve been stuck with jerks for so long and you really deserve to be with someone who will appreciate you. Your baby deserves the same thing.”

Claire sighed. Her baby deserved a father who was open and loving, a father who wasn’t so wrapped up in his work that it took precedence over everything else. She wanted so desperately for Logan to become that man. But she just didn’t know if he was capable of it, not anymore.

“Logan and Garrett aren’t jerks,” she murmured. “Garrett and I just weren’t right for each other, and Logan and I, well, maybe we weren’t either. I really thought that things would work out for us.”

“No you’re not.” Sophie delivered a sisterly slap to Claire’s shoulder, startling her.

“What?”

“You’re not still thinking about making it work with Logan, are you?” Sophie demanded to know.

Claire hesitated for a telling moment.

“You are, aren’t you?” Her sister examined her shrewdly. “Claire, haven’t you learned anything from the last few weeks?”

Unfortunately, it would seem that she hadn’t.

Because every part of her still yearned for Logan.

If only he returned the sentiment. She knew having feelings for him was an exercise in futility but it didn’t stop her.

And she knew that Sophie only had her best interests in mind, that everything she was saying was probably true.

Logan was bad for her, she should move on, and it should be with a good man.

“Soph, Logan is the father of this baby.” She patted her ever-expanding belly. “Like it or not, we’re stuck together for at least the next eighteen years. I’d like to make the best of it.”

“I’ll agree that you should play nice with him,” Sophie allowed, picking up a piece of carnival glass from the table. “Keep everything amicable so that you don’t have to worry about ugly custody battles. But that doesn’t mean that you should try to get back together with him.”

“I’m not saying that I want to get back together with him.” Claire stuffed the last bite of her apple crisp into her mouth and swallowed it. “All I’m saying is that…oh, I don’t know what I’m saying.”

“Claire, think about what he’s been like ever since he found out you didn’t tell Mom and Dad that he was the baby’s father.

You hurt his feelings once, and what does he do?

He lashes out at you. Where has he been, other than showing up at a couple of doctor’s appointments?

He doesn’t deserve you, and if you ask me, he doesn’t deserve this baby either.

” Sophie sighed, shoving the paper bowl containing her apple crisp into Claire’s hands.

“Hold this while I pay for this dish, will you?”

The owner of the stand, a petite woman Claire judged to be in her fifties, swooped down on them, smelling a sale. “Can I help you ladies with anything?” she asked, favoring them with a friendly smile.

Sophie nodded, holding the carnival glass out to the woman. “I’ll take this.”

“Excellent choice.” The woman beamed with approval. “I’ll wrap it up for you.”

“Great.” As the woman retreated to the rear end of a station wagon parked behind the stand to wrap the dish in some newspapers, Sophie turned her attention back to Claire. “Will you promise me that you’ll at least try to keep an open mind with Marcus?”

“He lives in New York, you know,” Claire said by way of distraction. “I don’t think that it would be possible for me to move there, not with Logan living in Philadelphia. It really doesn’t seem like it would work out.”

“Not good enough.” Sophie plopped her hands on her hips. “Trevor lived in New York too, remember? Now we live here, and he’s happier than he’s ever been.”