The Best Laid Plans Page 7

  “Sure. What line?”

  “Three.”

  Alex took the call. The next time she looked up it was nearly midday and Ethan was standing in her doorway.

  “You ready to go?”

  “Um, sure. Just give me a sec to grab my bag.”

  She’d meant to check her hair and lipstick before he showed up, but he was going to have to take her the way he found her. Not that he’d probably notice.

  “How was your morning?” he asked as they exited the foyer into busy Collins Street.

  Her mind flashed to her phone call with the clinic. “Promising.”

  “Wish I could say the same.”

  They talked work for the whole of the brisk walk to Bourke Street where Pellegrini’s had been serving pasta to the working folk of Melbourne for over thirty years.

  They both ordered a bowl of the restaurant’s famous spaghetti Bolognese and cafe lattes before taking stools at the aged Formica counter running along the wall while they waited for their meals.

  “I meant to ask—are we still on for racquetball tomorrow night?”

  Alex shot Ethan a look. She hadn’t thought about their regular game. Not in the context of canceling it, anyway. She’d simply assumed that they would play together, as usual. Which was probably a little naive, given what had happened last week.

  “The court’s booked,” she said. “But if you’ve got other plans…?”

  “No, I’m good. Gotta keep moving or I can say goodbye to my toes.” He patted his perfectly flat belly.

  Normally if he made a comment like that she’d have felt honor bound to rag on him about his vanity, perhaps even crack a joke about how he couldn’t afford to put on weight given how much money he’d invested in his wardrobe.

  Today she slid the napkin dispenser an inch to the left and tried not to look too relieved. She enjoyed their weekly games. Looked forward to them. Although she’d always been careful not to focus on her enjoyment too much—Ethan was a fellow partner, after all. But there was no denying that their hour of sweat and smart-assery had long been a highlight in her week.

  Ethan shifted to one side as the waitress set down their coffees. It was only when he reached for a sugar packet and almost knocked his coffee over that she registered how tense he was. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes.

  She wasn’t imagining it. The tendons in his neck were as taut as bowstrings and a muscle flickered in his jaw. Then Ethan reached for his coffee and she saw that there was a slight tremble in his hand.

  It took her a moment to understand what she was seeing: Ethan was nervous. Really nervous, if that hand tremble was anything to go by.

  She frowned. Why on earth would a man as inherently confident and cocky as Ethan Stone be nervous about having a bowl of pasta with her?

  “What’s going on, Ethan?” she asked. “Are you okay?”

  He looked at her, then he glanced at his coffee for a long beat. Finally he met her eyes again.

  “Last week, you said you’d prefer for your child to have a relationship with his or her father if it was at all possible.”

  Her stomach sank. He was going to lecture her again. Tell her she was wrong, that what she was planning was wrong. She’d really hoped that they could get past this, that he could accept her decision and they could remain friends. Hell, she’d even imagined that their friendship might deepen now that they had breached the invisible wall between their work and private lives.

  But apparently Ethan wasn’t going to let this go. Which meant she was going to have to leave. Then she was going to have to cancel their racquetball game and let their friendship fade to polite nods in the hall and the occasional discussion about the weather when they crossed paths in the kitchenette.

  “We had an agreement. No more lectures.” She pushed her coffee away and started to slide off her stool.

  Ethan’s hand curled around her forearm.

  “Give me five minutes. I promise it’s not a lecture,” he said.

  His hand felt very warm where it gripped her arm.

  “What is it, then?” she asked.

  Ethan’s gaze searched her face. “I’ve been thinking about what you said last week. About always wanting to be a parent. About not wanting to miss out.”

  She frowned, trying to understand where this was going.

  “I don’t know if I ever told you, but I was married once. Cassie and I divorced five years ago. When we got married, we planned on having at least three kids. But it never happened.”

  If he was about to tell her that he’d resigned himself to missing out and that she should, too, she was going to dump her coffee over his head.

  Ethan swallowed nervously. “I guess what I’m trying to ask in the least eloquent possible way is how would you feel about me offering to be your sperm donor?”

  Alex stilled. For a moment the world seemed to go quiet. Or perhaps she was simply so stunned she’d blocked out everything except for him and her.

  “I’m…sorry?”

  “I’d like you to consider me as a potential father for your child,” he said. “You should know up front that I’d want to be actively involved in his or her life. I’d want visitation rights and equal say on important issues like education and health. I’d expect to contribute financially. I’d want it to be a real partnership.”

  He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a folded sheaf of papers. “I’ve had a complete medical checkup. My doctor says there are no issues there.” He slid the folded sheets toward her.

  Alex looked from him to the papers then back. She shook her head, utterly blindsided.

  Ethan frowned. “Is that a no? You don’t even want to discuss it?”

  The intense disappointment in his face was enough to spur her past her shock.

  “Ethan. This is—this is not what I was expecting,” she said.

  Understatement of the year.

  “Right. Well, I’ve been thinking about it since last week but I didn’t want to say anything until I had the go-ahead from my doctor.” He gestured toward the printout. “I had my sperm tested, as well. Apparently it’s good to go. Strong motility, the report said. Good count. It’s all in there.”

  He shifted uncomfortably on his stool and she realized he was blushing. Would there be no end to today’s revelations regarding Ethan Stone? If anyone had told her a week ago he was capable of blushing, she would have laughed in their face. As for him wanting to be a parent…

  “I don’t know what to say,” she said. “I mean, obviously actually knowing the father of my child would be a huge bonus. Ideal, really. But I never even considered… I had no idea you were interested in children. Or that you’d want…” She lifted her hands in the air to indicate how helpless and blown away she felt.

  At that moment she registered that the waitress hovered behind them impatiently, two plates of pasta in hand. They both leaned to the side to allow her to slide them onto the counter, then they were alone again.

  Ethan shot her a rueful look. “Not the best venue. Sorry. I wasn’t really thinking….”

  She shook her head to indicate she wasn’t worried about where he’d chosen to make his proposal. She was too busy trying to work out how she felt about what Ethan had suggested.

  Shocked, obviously. She’d never had any inkling that he was interested in parenthood. Even if she’d considered approaching a friend for sperm—and she hadn’t—he wouldn’t have been on her list. Not in a million years. He was the office hottie. She simply couldn’t picture him with baby puke on his shirt and bags under his eyes from sleepless nights.

  Also, they didn’t have that kind of relationship. She’d never let her imagination stray outside of the parameters of business. The moment he’d joined the firm she’d privately acknowledged that he was a very attractive, very dynamic man—and that only a very foolish woman would allow herself to fall under his spell. She valued her career far too much to jeopardize it for something as ephemeral as lust.

  But
now he was offering to become a whole lot more. He was offering to merge his DNA with hers to create a child that would bind them inextricably forever.

  Not exactly small potatoes. Definitely not something she could get her head around in the matter of a few minutes. There were so many things to consider. So many potential problems—

  “What if you meet someone and fall madly in love? You’re going to want to have children with her and then you’ll look back at this and wish you’d waited.”

  “It’s never going to happen, Alex.”

  “You sound pretty sure about that.”

  Ethan hesitated a moment, then nodded toward her food. “We should eat before this gets cold.”

  She frowned.

  “Eat and talk,” he said with a slight smile.

  He led by example, twirling strands of spaghetti around his fork. She followed suit.

  Ethan waited until he’d swallowed before talking again. “I was married for eight years, Alex. I won’t go into the details because there’s no point, but I don’t ever want to go there again.”

  “Not every marriage ends in divorce.”

  “Enough do. I’m not prepared to play the odds. The stakes are way too high.”

  His gaze was direct. She had no doubt that he utterly believed what he was saying. And yet…

  “You say that, but what if you fall in love?” she asked quietly. “It happens every day, after all. Whether people plan it or not.”

  He smiled cynically. “It’s been five years and I’ve never even come close. And, frankly, I’m not interested in the high drama and the headaches. Life is much simpler without all the bullshit.”

  “Wow. You’ve got a real romantic streak there.”

  He pointed his fork at her. “You loved Jacob, right? Can you honestly tell me that the fun bit at the start of the relationship was worth all the pain when things went bad at the other end?”

  She thought for a minute. Absolutely it had been hard toward the end with Jacob. The tears, the fights, the almost constant ache in her chest as it became more and more apparent to her that their relationship was doomed. She’d been flat for months afterward, wondering if she’d made a mistake, missing him like crazy.

  “It was hard, definitely. But that doesn’t mean I’m not prepared to try again.”

  “Then let me ask you the same question. What if you meet someone and fall in love? How’s he going to feel about your baby?”

  It was probably very revealing of her psychology at present that she hadn’t even considered how her decisions might affect any future spouse. She’d been too busy focusing on not missing out to even consider how some hypothetical spouse might feel about her unconventional path to motherhood.

  “I guess if I meet someone, he’ll simply have to accept that my child and the way I conceived my child are a part of the package,” she said slowly.

  “Exactly,” Ethan said.

  She forked up more spaghetti. Her brain worked furiously, going over and over what he offered, pulling it apart, trying to find the loopholes and bear traps. It took her a moment to notice that Ethan had finished his spaghetti and was now watching her with unnerving intensity. She pushed the remainder of her meal away and turned to face him.

  He didn’t say a word but she knew what he wanted: to know if she was prepared to consider his offer. If she wanted him to be the father of her child.

  There were so many conflicting thoughts and feelings racing through her mind that she literally felt dizzy.

  She slid off the stool. “I’m just going to… Give me a minute,” she mumbled. Then she made haste for the restrooms in the rear of the restaurant.

  She pushed her way through the swing door and went straight into the first cubicle. She closed the lid and sat on it, then she stared at the graffiti-covered door.

  She needed to think. Ethan was offering her something incredibly valuable and generous, something that had the potential to be wonderful—or potentially disastrous.

  She took a deep breath and cudgeled her brain into some semblance of rationality.

  There was no issue with the genetic side of things, obviously. Ethan was every woman’s fantasy in that department—tall, dark, handsome, intelligent, fit and healthy.

  There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that her child would benefit from the best of the best in terms of DNA. Those eyes. That body. That wicked, sharp mind of his.

  And her child would also benefit from actually knowing his or her father. Ethan had said he wanted to be an involved parent, that he wanted visitation rights and to be a part of major decisions. She had no reason to doubt his sincerity; she knew him well enough to know that he would never have made the offer in the first place if he wasn’t certain. Look at the medical tests he’d had done in advance, for example. He’d already shown that he was considerate and prepared and thorough.

  If she said yes, she wouldn’t be alone. She’d have someone to bounce ideas off. Someone to call in the middle of the night for solace or sympathy. Someone to pick up the ball if she fumbled it. A partner, in fact, in almost every way except the most obvious.

  So many pros—and yet the cons were not insignificant. For starters, she worked with Ethan. Not only worked, they were both partners, which meant they were doubly invested in their jobs. If things turned sour between them, if something went wrong, there would be no separation between home and office.

  There was also the fact that despite having worked with Ethan for two years, despite all the lunches and racquetball games, there was still a great deal about him she didn’t know. She’d never seen him really angry, for example. She had no idea how he was situated financially, what his attitude about money was. She knew nothing about his family, whether he was close to them or estranged.

  Admittedly, she wouldn’t know any of those things about an anonymous donor she selected from an online catalog, either, but she wouldn’t be co-parenting with any of those men.

  The bottom line was that what Ethan was proposing could be a dream come true—or it could lock them both into a relationship that neither of them were really prepared for.

  The bathroom door swung open, bringing with it the noise of the restaurant and reminding her that Ethan was waiting for her. Waiting for her decision. She stood and smoothed her hands down her skirt. Then she flushed the loo, more for show than anything else, and exited the cubicle to wash her hands.

  Ethan was studying the coffee grinds in the bottom of his cup when she slid onto her stool. He looked at her, his eyes full of uncertainty. Nerves twisted in her stomach as she took a deep breath.

  “We would need to sit down and talk things through in a lot of detail before we made any final decision. If we’re going to even consider sharing the parenting of a child, we need to be on the same page on so many things…”

  A slow smile spread across Ethan’s mouth.

  “It’s not a yes, Ethan,” she felt compelled to point out.

  “But it’s not a no.”

  He was trying to temper his smile but she could see the relief in his eyes. The hope.

  He wants this as much as I do.

  She’d spent so many years trying to coax, cajole, beg and plead with Jacob to get him to even consider becoming a parent that she’d forgotten that there were men who craved children as much as women did.

  “We need to talk more,” she said. “A lot more.”

  “Absolutely. How about dinner at my place on Saturday night?”

  “Okay. That sounds good.”

  “Then it’s a date,” he said.

  Even though she knew there were so many things that could go wrong, she felt lighter than she had in weeks.

  If this worked out—

  She clamped down on the thought. There was no point in getting excited over something that hadn’t happened. Yet.

  ETHAN RETURNED TO his office after lunch and stared at his blank computer screen.

  If things worked out, if he and Alex were both satisfied that they were on the same page,
he had a shot at becoming a father.

  He propped his elbows on his desk and pinched the bridge of his nose as a wave of emotion threatened to overwhelm him.

  He’d thought that dream was done. He really had. And now he had a chance. Thanks to Alex.

  Get a grip, Stone. It hasn’t happened yet.

  The thing was, he hadn’t realized how much he’d staked on this, how much he’d invested until she’d returned from the bathroom and told him she was willing to consider his offer.

  It was probably just as well that he and Alex had agreed not to discuss the matter again until Saturday night. He’d need the rest of the week to get his head together.

  He had a preliminary settlement meeting booked this afternoon so he gathered his files and went to collect his client from reception. Jolie King had been married a little under five years and had two children under four. Her soon-to-be ex, Adam King, came from money. She did not. Like most of his clients, Jolie was not a happy woman. She was grieving and angry, bitter and hurt.

  It went without saying that divorce lawyers rarely saw the nobler aspects of humanity.

  Jolie gave him a wan smile when he greeted her.

  “How are you doing?” he asked.

  “Oh, you know. Okay.”

  He took her to his office and waited until she was settled before saying the things that needed to be said.

  “Tomorrow’s going to be a tough day, Jolie. And I know it’s going to be hard for you, but I need to reiterate that you need to let me handle the negotiation. Okay?”

  Jolie shifted defensively. “Yeah. Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”

  Ethan was tempted to remind her about the constant string of angry text and phone messages that had passed between her and her ex since divorce proceedings had started. He’d asked her to limit conversations to day-today matters and issues surrounding their two children but had little faith that Jolie had listened to his suggestion. She had too much emotion invested in this situation to see past the here and now.

  But tomorrow was important. Tomorrow could keep them out of court and save her thousands of dollars.