She’d never wanted the rift between them. She’d been so hurt when Ivy had left for New York. But after she’d slept with Matthew, she’d snapped out of her funk, and she’d started figuring out what she really wanted next in her life. Art school was still off the table, so she reconsidered moving to New York. There was so much art in the Big Apple, and she could enroll in school, wait tables on the side.

But life took a hard right when the home pregnancy test turned positive pink. Her head spinning, she sat in the bathroom of her father’s house and cried. When she dried her tears, her first inclination was to call Ivy, her wingwoman. They’d watched each other’s backs since elementary school. But what was she going to say to her best friend? I got knocked up by your ex-boyfriend two months after you left town.

Her next fallback was Ruth, who’d tried in her own way to fill some of the role of mother for Dani. But again, what was she supposed to say to Ruth? You know that boyfriend you were glad Ivy dumped? Well, the old boy knocked me up.

She pretended for a few months that the pregnancy test and the five subsequent ones were from a bad batch at the factory. It was Dalton who’d returned home from the navy and noticed she’d gained weight and was always sipping ginger ale.

Five days after he’d joined their father’s business, he grabbed her by the arm and walked her outside the company offices, far out of earshot of their father. “What’s going on with you?”

The late-September wind didn’t temper the sun’s hot rays and sweat quickly pooled at the nape of her neck and between her growing breasts. “What do you mean?”

“I’m not stupid, Dani,” he said. “Who’s the father?”

“What?”

“Dani, who is he?”

Outrage thundered under his tone, signaling he was not going to let this go. Dalton was intense when it came to work, but he was fairly chillaxed in everyday life. He’d sure had his share of girlfriends. But nothing about him in this moment suggested he’d ease up until he had his answer.

Her voice failed her for nearly a minute as the two stood toe to toe. Finally, she screwed up the courage. “Matthew.”

“Matthew? Peterson? As in Ivy’s ex-boyfriend?”

“Yes.”

“Shit, Dani. When did this happen?”

She skimmed over as many details as she could but confirmed she’d gotten pregnant eight weeks after Ivy’s departure. “It wasn’t planned. Please don’t yell, because I swear there’s nothing you can say to me that I haven’t said to myself.”

Concern drove away his anger. “Who knows?”

“I haven’t told anyone,” she said.