She didn’t disagree. This moment was significant for so many reasons.

He drove with one hand on the wheel, supremely confident.

What would happen to that confidence when she told him her news?

Nausea rolled in her stomach and she was relieved she’d been unable to eat breakfast or lunch.

“You’re quiet.” He threw her another smile.

One hand, no eyes. She didn’t drive, but even she knew that wasn’t the safest combination. She wanted to tell him to keep his attention on the road.

“I’m a little nervous.”

“Are you intimidated? Don’t be. I’m just a normal, regular guy.”

Yeah, right.

He was driving fast now, enjoying the car, the moment, his life. She hoped they wouldn’t be pulled over before she’d had a chance to say what she needed to say. She’d rehearsed a speech. Practised a hundred times in front of the mirror.

I’ve got something to tell you...

“Could you slow down?”

“Don’t worry—I can go slow when I need to. What did you say your name was?”

He didn’t recognise her. He didn’t have a clue who she was. How could he not know?

She sat rigid in her seat.

Was she really that forgettable and unimportant?

In this part of town, where everyone was someone, she was no one.

She fought the disillusion and the humiliation.

“I’m Mandy. I’m from Connecticut.”

Her name wasn’t Mandy. She’d never been to Connecticut. Couldn’t even point to it on a map.

He should know that. She wanted him to know that. She wanted him to say I know you’re not Mandy. But he didn’t, of course, because women came and went in his life and he was already moving on to the next one.

“And you’re sure we’ve met before? I wouldn’t have forgotten someone as pretty as you.”

She’d had dreams about him. Fantasies. She’d thought about him day and night for the past couple of months, ever since she’d first laid eyes on him.

But he didn’t know her. There was no recognition.

Her eyes stung. She told herself it was the wind in her face, because her mother had drummed into her that she shouldn’t cry over a man. She wouldn’t be here at all except that she’d felt alone and scared and had needed to do something to help herself. She was afraid she couldn’t do this on her own—and he had to take some responsibility, surely? He shouldn’t be allowed to just walk away. That wasn’t right. Like it or not, they were bonded.

“We’ve met.” She rested her hand on her abdomen. Blinked away the tears. The time to wish she’d been more careful was long gone. She had to look forward. Had to do the right thing, but it wasn’t easy.

Her body told her she was an adult, but inside she still felt like the child who had wobbled on that bike with her ponytail flying.

He glanced at her again, curious. “Now I think about it, you do look familiar. Can’t place you, though. Don’t be offended.” He gave her another flash of those perfect white teeth. “I meet a lot of women.”