Grady stared at the lengthy message. God…even her texts suffered from verbal diarrhea. He read the message several times over, that awful, all-too-familiar sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach making itself known. Fucking hell. What was happening to his life? Not only were he and Suzanne supposedly in a relationship, but now he’d knocked her up as well?

Christ. Cora…

Quickly, he scrolled to his aunt’s text, hoping against hope it was about something as innocuous as her semi regular reminder he hadn’t attended church in forever.

Nope.

Met your Suzanne today. She’s perfect, Joshua. I’m so happy for you. And is there something else you haven’t told us yet, young man?

Well, crap. When his aunt called him young man, she was already convinced.

“There’s fascinating new research on neural tube defects, in fact—”

Whatever tidbit of information Drew had been about to impart was cut off abruptly by Grady practically leaping out of the booth.

All three guys looked at him quizzically. “Where’s the fire?” Tucker asked.

“Gotta go and see Burl and Cora,” Grady replied, not stopping to finish his beer or even to say goodbye as he strode out of the bar, his mind grappling with the conversation he was about to have and the strange cramp in his chest at the thought of being a daddy.

Even a fake one.

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

It was almost eight by the time Grady stepped into the cabin. The immediate warmth was a welcome relief from the already freezing temperatures outside. Most of the snow that had fallen last night had melted, but it was going to be another cold one, and the weather bureau was predicting blizzards to sweep across the country in two days’ time. Which meant he was going to be busy around the ranch getting everything ready for the cattle to survive what could be a potentially catastrophic weather event.

He didn’t generally welcome blizzards, but they could always count on at least one during winter, so it might as well work to his advantage. The less time he had to spend in Suzanne’s company, the better. A fact reinforced by the lurch of his body as he spied her all the way across the kitchen. She shot him a nervous smile and took a gulp of wine from the glass she was holding. Her parents were nowhere in sight, and the lights were on in the cottage, so he presumed they’d retired for the night.

“Hi.” She cleared her throat as she placed the wineglass down on the bench. “I was starting to worry about you.”