Sunshine had grown silent, simmering with what looked like rage. He hadn’t seen her so angry since the first few days of their acquaintance. He wanted to muzzle Fran, and considered raising his voice at her, but with the waiting room so crowded he didn’t want to make a scene—or worse, get them kicked out of the airport. He also felt sorry for the woman; Fran’s father had received bad news and Fran was masking her fear and sorrow with alcohol. Her dad, who’d been treated for stage-two colon cancer, had found out he would need to undergo another operation, followed by chemotherapy. Fran had been telling him about the prognosis when Sunshine reappeared from buying them dinner. He’d also gleaned that Fran had gone through a divorce a year and a half ago. She wasn’t in a good place.
He wanted to explain all of that to Sunshine, but she’d been too put off by Fran’s behavior to listen. He couldn’t blame her. Fran was acting out and making a nuisance of herself, and worse—she kept touching him. He was more than a little relieved when their flight finally took off and Fran was seated nowhere near them.
They’d boarded different planes in New York and they hadn’t seen Fran again. Cole had finally relaxed, but Sunshine hadn’t lightened up, even when he tried to make a joke about the whole thing. When he ventured forth on another explanation, she turned her back on him and told him she didn’t want to hear it.
What a way to arrive home, Cole thought with a sigh. But home they were—at last.
He certainly felt like a world traveler now. He could boast that he’d set foot on six out of the seven continents and Sunshine could say she’d cooked on them, too. Cole had been impressed with the way Sunshine adapted to sleeping in huts in the Andes, on pontoon boats in Southeast Asia, and in yurts in Mongolia. Her stamina put his to the test as they explored the furthest nooks and crannies of the world.
But Sunshine had tired of rustic living after the first year. A city girl born and bred, she then took Cole on an expansive tour of the cities of Europe and Asia. A tour that lasted nearly two years.
When their trip stretched on and on, Cole ached for the open skies and broad expanses of the country, but Sunshine became more citified with each metropolis they visited. As her heels grew higher and her makeup more expensive, she exchanged the handwoven leather and bead bracelets she’d been given by villagers for diamond earrings and necklaces bought on the main shopping strips of Paris and Rome. Cole began to wonder if he’d ever known Sunshine at all.
But she’d remained cheerful and excited through it all.
Until now.
Cole glanced at her again. She’d sat in an exhausted stupor through the last flight. Cole had found it equally hard to sleep, and even when he dozed he had woken frequently when the plane encountered turbulence.
Now it was almost dinner time again. She leaned back against the seat with her eyes closed, but he couldn’t tell if she was sleeping. He reached over and put a hand on Sunshine’s shoulder. “We’re here.”
She opened her eyes, took in the drab facade of the motel and nodded. Without a word she undid her seatbelt, gathered her purse and stepped out. Cole joined her, taking in her ridiculous but beautiful high-heeled leather boots. She’d likely break her neck on the ice before they reached the front entrance. When he went to take her arm, Sunshine smiled at him, but that didn’t dispel the tiredness that etched her face. He needed to get her to their room, fast.
They walked in silence to the lobby where a woman greeted them with a frown. “Sorry, folks. We’re full up, just like the sign says.”
“We have a reservation,” Cole said. “Under the name Linden.”
The woman was already shaking her head. “Like I said, we’re full up. Everyone’s already checked in.”
“We have a reservation.” He couldn’t keep the steel from his tone. “Look it up.”
“Okay, Mr. Linden.” She typed into her computer and shrugged. “I’m sorry. Just like I said.”
Cole braced his hands on the counter. “We have to be in there. We’re a little late, but—”
She pursed her lips and typed some more. “You’re more than a little late, Mr. Linden. Your reservation started last night.”
“We got held up at the airport.”
“It’s a shame you didn’t let us know. We could have held your room. Instead we gave it to someone else.”
Anger boiled up inside Cole. “Like hell. I reserved that room for two weeks!”
“And you didn’t show up or notify us of your change in plans. We didn’t charge you.” The woman shrugged again.
“I don’t care if you didn’t! I need a room—now!”
“Cole.” Sunshine’s voice held a warning.
The woman folded her arms over her chest. “We’re fully booked, Mr. Linden. I think you’ll find most places are. You might try Billings—”
“I’m not driving two hours to find a motel.”
“Cole,” Sunshine said again. “You’re not helping.”
He clamped down on the urge to swear. She was right. Guilt swamped him again at the unhappy expression on his fiancée’s face.
“Isn’t there someone you know?” she asked.
He’d never seen her so pale and drained, even in the deepest jungle or on the most forbidding mountain. Maybe Sunshine was getting ill. If so, he couldn’t waste time arguing.
“Take a seat,” he told her and waved at the armchairs positioned by the window. “I’ll find us somewhere to go.”
If she had to wait another minute to go to bed, she was going to be sick, Sunshine thought. This pregnancy stuff wasn’t for the faint at heart. Not after hours and hours of listening to another woman flirt with her fiancé.
She couldn’t believe Cole hadn’t shut Fran down. She understood he didn’t want to make a scene, but surely there was something he could have said to make her stop. On some level, Cole must have enjoyed being flanked by two women, one his fiancée, the other obviously wanting some kind of relationship. She couldn’t believe he’d promised to stop by and say hello to Fran’s folks. Didn’t he know he was encouraging her?
Or was that his plan?
She watched Cole pace the small lobby with his phone pressed to his ear and prayed he’d find them a place to go. She had to get out of these stupid high-heeled boots.
She tried to distract herself by making lists of all the things she’d need to do at the ranch before she showed it to Cole, but the fun had gone out of the game. Every time she thought about Christmas morning, she thought about Fran saying, “We’d love to have you join us for dinner some night.” If he actually tried to go she’d have to slug him.
And she didn’t believe in violence.
Fran certainly wasn’t the first woman to make a play for Cole since Sunshine had dated him. It used to be funny, but now she was pregnant, it took things to a whole new level. Maybe she’d feel differently if she and Cole were already married. As it was, she felt too vulnerable. It was one thing to decide to put her career on hold while she raised a child with Cole. It was another thing altogether to end up a single mother while Cole reunited with his childhood love.
Sunshine sighed. She didn’t really think Cole would leave her. She was letting her imagination run away with her because she was worried about the future. Given the circumstances, it was easy to feel like her choices had been taken away from her. She hadn’t ever made concrete plans around parenthood, mostly because she’d never seen herself as a full-time stay-at-home mom. On the other hand, Cole had made it very clear during this last portion of their trip he thought children belonged with their parents, rather than with the nannies that seemed ever-present in London. All the questions that swirled in her mind only served to make her feel worse.