Best of Three (Counting on Love) (36 page)

Oh, yeah. She couldn’t wait to see Conner fall in love.

“Whoa.”

Michael came into the kitchen to find takeout containers from not one, but three of his favorite restaurants.

“Hoping we could hang out for a while,” Nate said as Michael took in the fact that his father was letting him eat hot wings, manicotti and eggrolls in the same meal.

“Did I do something wrong or did you?” Michael asked, sliding up on one of the stools that lined the marble countertop between the kitchen and the informal eating area.

Nate handed Michael a root beer.

“Ah, you did,” Michael concluded.

Nate routinely lectured his son about cutting back on the soda. So, yeah, it was clear that he was going to be the one confessing. But he didn’t like thinking about it as something he’d done
wrong
.

He and Emma were going to have a baby. That just didn’t feel wrong.

“I have something to tell you,” Nate said.

“Is it about Emma?” Michael asked around a mouthful of spicy chicken.

Nate looked at him in surprise. “Yes.”

“You’re mad because Shannon keeps calling her to help us.”

“I do wish you and I could have worked some of this out between us,” Nate admitted. “But—” Was he mad about Emma’s involvement? How could he be? Because of it, he was in love with an amazing woman and about to be a father again.

“I’m not mad,” he finally said.

“Okay, what’s up?”

Nate waited for Michael to dish his pasta up and worked on not wrinkling his nose as Michael added chicken wings to his plate and the buffalo sauce mixed with the marinara.

“Emma and I are…seeing each other.”

Damn, that sounded stupid. And inaccurate. In fact, he hadn’t seen her in two days.

“Really? That’s awesome.”

“Yeah?”

“Of course. Emma’s great. Just a little surprised.”

Nate nodded. “Us too.”

“Well good. Were you worried about how I’d take it or something?”

“No,” Nate said. He knew his son liked Emma. He wouldn’t have been concerned at all about Michael’s reaction if that had been all the news. “Not that part.”

“There’s something else?” Michael looked at Nate with interest. “You okay?”

Nate took a deep breath. Things were great. But he hoped Michael would feel the same way. “Having you was the best thing that ever happened to me,” Nate started. “I know it wasn’t perfect, I know it was tough sometimes, but I wouldn’t have traded it for anything.”

Michael’s eyes widened and Nate started to assure him that he wasn’t dying or anything.

But before he could say anything, Michael asked, “Is Emma pregnant?”

Nate’s eyes went wider than Michael’s had. “How did you—”

Michael burst into laughter. He shoved his plate back and laughed. And laughed and laughed and laughed.

Nate scowled at his son, but when Michael had to wipe a tear away, Nate felt his mouth curve. And when Michael had to get off his stool and bend over, bracing his hands on his knees to catch his breath, Nate freely grinned.

Michael looked up, shaking his head.

“Dad, that is the best thing I’ve ever heard. And yes, you can raid my condom stash anytime.”

Nate felt his face get hot and Michael looked at him quizzically.

“What?” Michael asked.

“We used condoms,” Nate said sheepishly.

Michael snorted again. “Are you using them right?”

Nate Sullivan had
never
blushed in his life. Until his teenage son accused him of not knowing how to use condoms.

Michael climbed back onto his stool and took a huge bite of pasta, shaking his head. “This is the best thing ever.”

“So you’re okay with this?” Nate asked.

“Totally okay.”

“And you know this isn’t condoning—”

“Dad, I got it covered. I really do.” Michael put his fork down and leaned in. “I don’t want to be a dad yet and I want to go to college. My computer business might take off and it might not, but I do want to go.”

“Because Shannon’s going?” Nate asked. Though he wasn’t as bothered by the girl’s influence on his son as he had been a few weeks ago. Shannon made Michael happy and vice versa. That was really all Nate could have asked for.

“Partly,” Michael admitted. “I do want to go where she goes. See where this relationship can go. And we both want to stay closer to home.” He took a sip of root beer and gave his dad a smile. “Especially now that I’m going to have a little brother or sister.”

The words hit Nate and he had to swallow hard past the sudden lump in his throat.

“I’m glad to hear that,” he told Michael sincerely. Then he coughed and said lightly, “And I’ll be sure you do plenty of two a.m. feedings, just to keep you sure that you’re not ready for the dad thing.”

Michael chuckled and chewed his pasta.

Nate chewed his bottom lip. Finally he said, “There’s one more thing.”

“Well, I’m loving this whole conversation so far,” Michael said. “Bring it on.”

“I need your advice.”

“You need
my
advice? About what?”

“How to get Emma to marry me.”

Michael’s eyes went wide. “I assume you tried asking her?”

“Yes.”

Michael whistled. “And she said no?”

“More or less.” Okay, definitely more. “Can you help me?” he asked. “I need something big and over the top and public.”

Michael nodded. “Shannon would also be helpful. She knows Emma really well.”

Nate smiled. “As long as we’re not talking about
your
proposal and wedding, Shannon is welcome.”

“This is like Christmas and my birthday all rolled into one,” Michael announced.

“How so?”

“You’re in love and having a baby with the one person in the world who tells you no.”

Yeah, it’s fantastic
, Nate thought dryly.

But…it really was fantastic.

She was going to stand him up for their date.

Emma so wanted to go on a romantic date with Nate. She wanted this first date.

But she also wanted candlelight and sweet talk…not talk about what flowers they should have at their wedding and how tall their white picket fence should be.

So, she was going to stand him up.

Which would also accomplish showing Nate that pregnant or not, he still wasn’t the boss of her.

Emma turned her phone off, put her yoga pants on and settled onto the couch for a marathon of season one of
Hart of Dixie
.

Twenty-five minutes in, she turned her phone back on.

Reading sexy texts wouldn’t hurt anything. And if his texts got a bit demanding and desperate—that wouldn’t be so bad either. Besides, she wasn’t intending to answer any of them.

Probably.

Fifty-two minutes later, she was through the first episode and was growing exceedingly irritated by the lack of texts from the man who said he wanted to marry her.

It was three p.m. Twenty-two and a half hours after she’d told Nate they were going to be joined by another life for the rest of
their
lives. And he wasn’t even texting her?

She paced the living room through the first half of the second episode, then decided if she wasn’t going to lounge or wallow she should try to be productive. She dusted the living room, including taking all the books off the shelf instead of running the dusting cloth around the books like usual.

Episode three started and she turned up the TV volume so she could hear it in the kitchen while she scrubbed the sink.

This sucked.

She hated cleaning.

She glanced at the clock. She still had plenty of time to get ready and show up at the restaurant.

First dates shouldn’t involve picking out baby names. But she wanted to see Nate.

Dammit.

She threw the sponge down and started for the living room and her phone. She was going to text him. Something simple, something ambiguous. She wouldn’t jump right into accusing him of ignoring her.

But if Nate thought he wanted to be married to her, he was going to have to figure out that she needed attention—even when she told him she didn’t want his attention.

As she reached for her cell, it rang.

She grabbed it quickly without looking at the incoming number.

She was pathetic in her need to talk to him, to see him, but hell, she was willing to marry him without him loving her—what difference did it make if she didn’t let the phone ring more than once when he called?

“Hello?”

“Emma, you have to come down here.”

“Shannon?” She hadn’t talked to the girl or Dena since Shannon’s phone call from the police station. She knew the girl would forgive her and they would soon be shoe shopping together again—or maybe baby clothes shopping now. Shannon was going to love being a pseudo-aunt-big-sister to this baby. “You mad at me?” she asked Shannon.

“Only a little.”

“You’re going to get over it and realize it was tough love—for you and your mom.”

“I know.”

“Cool.”

“You have to get down here. Please, Emma. He’s making such a big deal about this and it’s ridiculous. He’s going to piss everyone off.”

“Who? Michael?”

“Nate.”

Her heart tripped even hearing his name. It was probably a good thing he wanted to marry her—no matter the reason—because she’d never feel like this about another guy again. “Where are you?” And what the hell was Nate doing?

“Carl-Mart.”

Emma groaned. “What’s he doing now?” Had her reluctance to marry him pushed him over the edge? She shouldn’t like that idea as much as she did.

She grabbed her keys and headed for the door.

“He’s having a meeting with the management staff. He wants them to put up this huge sign in the store.”

Emma stopped walking. “
What
? A sign about what?”

“A warning sign in the condom aisle. So that everyone can be better informed that condoms are not one-hundred percent effective in preventing pregnancy.”

Maybe he
wasn’t
as thrilled with the baby news as she’d thought.

That sucked.

She started for the car again. “Doesn’t everyone already know that condoms aren’t one-hundred percent effective?”

“He’s got handouts, a Power Point presentation, everything. You’re the only one who can calm him down,” Shannon said.

“I’m on my way.”

This was stupid. No way would Carl-Mart put up a big sign cautioning people
against
buying something they sold. What the hell? He was under a lot of pressure. Michael was growing up, Michael’s girlfriend was a bit of a troublemaker, he was about to be a new dad…maybe he’d cracked.

Shannon met her by the doors at Carl-Mart.

“What are you wearing?” she asked when she saw Emma.

Emma looked down at her yoga pants and tank top. “I was…cleaning.”

“You weren’t getting ready for your date?”

“No.” She’d been thinking about getting ready for her date, but she hadn’t gotten even as far as taking her hair out of the bun.

Shannon smiled. “He was right.”

“Who?”

“Nate said you were going to stand him up. That’s why he’s doing this.”

He’d known? “Protesting the condoms?”

Shannon’s smile turned sly. “Come with me.”

Shannon took her hand and led her down the center aisle. Emma found herself almost jogging to keep up with the younger girl. They turned down the Play Doh aisle, then stepped out into the lawn and garden department.

And there was Nate.

No Power Point, no handouts. He was in a suit and tie and was standing next to the patio table where they’d sat together the day they’d followed Shannon and Michael.

If her heart tripped hearing his name, it swooped and looped and downright fluttered upon seeing him.

“What’s going on?” Emma asked as Shannon dropped her hand and nudged her forward.

“Considering it’s
you
, I knew this had to be big and bold,” Nate told her.

She took a tentative step forward. “This?”

“My proposal.”

She felt her mouth curl. “You mean, ‘we’ll get married’ wasn’t the proposal?”

“No. That was a reaction.” He gave a self-deprecating smile. “
This
is the proposal.”

He stepped back and she saw the patio table was covered with a multitude of items. She stepped closer, taking each thing in. There was a bowl of chocolate covered pretzels, a ticket stub, a blender and a box with a bow.

She picked up the ticket stub and realized it was from the Washburn Theater from the first night they’d hung out, spying on Shannon and Michael. The pretzels were certainly a key to her heart, and she couldn’t help but grin at the blender—and the memory of the woman she’d confessed to about Nate’s effect on her.