Cart Before The Horse Read Online Free PDF Page B

will.”
    “Okay.” He turned around and leaned his hand against the doorjamb. He sucked in a deep breath and let it out. “I guess I’m going to head back to my office and call my mother. This very well might make her year.”
    “Your mother? You’re going to tell her?” Her voice rose in pitch and fear struck her in the gut, forcing the first tear. She batted it back.
    He let go of the door and he looked at her in disbelief. “Holly, it won’t be a secret forever.”
    “But… well…” She was at a loss. She certainly wasn’t going to be calling her mother the moment he walked out the door.
    “I have to tell them, Holly. They’re going to be grandparents. And they’re the kind to dote on a child.”
    She felt lightheaded again and reached for the doorknob for support and with hopes it would hurry him along before she
     
    exploded. “Fine. I’ll talk to you later, then."
    He gave her a smile and shut the door behind him.
     
    Holly tried to rest. She lay in bed for two hours and all that changed were the numbers on the clock. She couldn’t sleep. She couldn’t relax. Her life was in a spiral and she didn’t know where it was going to head. All that she knew was Gabe Maguire was now involved.
    She sat up and tunneled her fingers through her hair.
    Like it or not, the man was in her life forever. That was as crazy as those people who jet off to Vegas and marry someone they meet in a casino. Crazier. It didn’t only involve her and Gabe. It involved a person who was going to be dependent on them forever.
    She fell back on her pillow.
    Forever was a long time when you hadn’t planned for it. She’d always assumed she’d have trust funds set up and names picked out before she had a baby. Oh hell, she’d thought that for one time in her life she’d do something right and have a husband before she had a child.
    “One more time, Holly. One more time you got your events messed up,” she thought. Why couldn’t she have just been normal and done it all by the book? Graduated with people her age. Snuck out at night and TP’d someone’s house. She should have learned to get drunk at a frat party in college, but no one in college would talk to a fifteen-year-old.
    She looked at the clock. It was four. Gabe would be heading into his dinner rush as people began to pack up their business day and head out without a care.
    Carefree, that’s what she could have been if she wasn’t her. She could just leave work and go have a drink with a friend—a man, even. But no. Holly worked twelve-hour days every day. And because of it she owned a condo on the tenth floor, a Mercedes, Chanel shoes, and Gucci purses. But the love of a man had never fit into her plans. Those men who had tried had left.
     
    Now she had Gabe and a life she’d yet to meet.
    She lowered her hands to her stomach, and a warmth filled her. There was life within her.
    Tears welled in her eyes and spilled down her cheeks. She wasn’t sorry—and it was the best feeling she could ever have hoped for. She was going to be a mother, and she swore she’d be a good one, too.
    Through the tears laughter burst. She’d be the kind that expected matched socks in drawers and clean hands at all times. Gabe probably would let their kids pick up frogs or wear pretty dresses out to have ice cream.
    Could they balance each other out enough to raise normal children? Children? Her mind was already on the fritz. One was already more than she could handle.
    “I promise I’ll try, little one.”
     
    Gabe did his best to occupy his mind, but the best way to do that was to work, and he enjoyed all aspects of the resta urant. He poured drinks and delivered them to tables. He manned the hostess station and seated new parties. When a table needed clearing he bussed it and mingled with guests. Chandra scooted behind him with a glass in one hand and a bottle of whiskey in the other. “You seem out of sorts tonight. I really can handle this if you need to relocate