That Thing You Do (Whispering Bay Romance Book 1) (Volume 1) by Maria Geraci

him. “I was so freaked out when I heard you were sick!”
    He held onto her tightly. Too tightly.
    “Um, Tom, you’re kind of squishing me here.” She disentangledherself from his arms and looked him over. His eyes looked hollow and there was a strange expression on his face that made Allie’s heart leap to her throat. “Oh, God, you are sick. Should you be out? Shouldn’t you be—”
    “Allie, I’m getting married.”
    Her heart came sliding back into her chest. She laughed with relief. “Okay, so that’s kind of funny, but—”
    He caught her hand. “I’mserious. Lauren’s pregnant…and I’m the father, and…” He shrugged.
    Her heart shifted around again. Only this time it began to fall south. “This is a joke, right? I mean, you do know you have to have sex to get pregnant.”
    He wouldn’t look her in the eye. “I’m sorry, Allie. I’m so damn sorry, but…I have to do the right thing here.” His voice cracked.
    “The right thing? Are you friggin’kidding me?” Allie pulled her hand from his grasp. She began pacing the grassy strip next to the water. This didn’t make any sense! She stopped and whirled around to face him. “How far along is she?”
    “Four months.” He looked so miserable that Allie wanted to put her arms around him and tell him everything would be okay. But it wasn’t going to be okay. It was never going to be okay again.
    Tears welled in her eyes. “Do you love her?”
    He hesitated, then for the first time tonight, met her gaze square on. “Yeah, I guess a part of me does.”
    “A part of you? Let me guess which part. Captain Fucking Crunch, that’s just peachy.”
    He flinched. “I don’t blame you for hating me.”
    Hate him? She didn’t hate him. She… Oh, God . When she thought about all the thingsshe’d let him do to her. And all the things she’d wanted him to do her. Her face felt like it was on fire. How could she have been so stupid? He was getting married because he’d knocked up Lauren Handy. If the whole thing wasn’t so ridiculous, she would have laughed.
    Anger oozed like a river of lava through every vein in her body. She wanted to yell at him. To tell him to go fuck off. Butsomewhere beneath it all, she could hear Buela’s voice telling her to hold on to her pride.
    She straightened back her shoulders. She wasn’t going to ask for any more explanations. And really, what more explanation did she need? He hadn’t wanted to sleep with her, but he had no problem screwing perfect little Lauren.
    “Congratulations, Tom.” He started toward her but Allie put up herhand to ward him off, stopping him dead in his tracks. “No really, have a great life. Maybe I’ll see you around sometime.”
    *~*~*
    A nd that was the last time she’d seen Tom Donalan. Until last night.
    They arrived at the senior center. Mimi parked her van along the side of the road. The parking lot was abuzz with activity. There were all kinds of big machines and lots of men inhard hats milling about, but it was still easy to spot Tom. He wasn’t the tallest or the loudest but there was an air of authority about him that made him stand out.
    Allie weaved her way through the parking lot teaming with construction workers.
    “Lady!” yelled a guy in a hard hat, “You can’t be here. We’re about to tear down a building.”
    “Yeah, yeah, I know, but that’s my carright there.” She pointed to the VW bug parked in the middle of the lot.
    He looked her up and down. “So you’re the Flaky Biscuit who broke into the building last night. Boss says I’m supposed to bring you to him when you show up.”
    Flaky Biscuit ?
    Was that Tom’s terminology or Hard Hat’s?
    She took a deep breath of the crisp gulf air and tried to stay calm.
    You can dothis, Allie . Part Three of her Life Plan depended on it.
    Hard Hat escorted her to Tom, who was busy talking on the phone. In the bright sunshine Tom’s eyes looked impossibly blue. He wore snug bleached out jeans, a black