All I Want (A Farmers' Market Story) by Nicole Helm Page A

relationship game. Or maybe their disappointment in her was the one thing they could agree on.
    “Do you really think a child is better off always trying to navigate two separate lives?”
    She closed her eyes, swamped with exhaustion. She didn’t want to have this conversation, this argument. She just wanted to sleep and have things be simple.
    But they weren’t. “I think it depends. And I think, in this situation...” Two separate lives. It sounded exhausting. For her, for the Seedling, for everything.
    But she couldn’t marry him.
    “I think it’s important to give our child the truth. Honesty. Navigating two lives will be a challenge, yes, but can you imagine if she grew up to think she was at fault for the way we treated each other? We can’t pretend away the fact that we don’t love each other.”
    “We could try to love each other. Eventually, once we have the important things sorted out.”
    In all the volleys he’d thrown her way, that one stuck the hardest. Because those who’d tried had only failed. The only love she’d ever known had been Grandma’s. Effortless, constant, unconditional.
    It was hard to speak, but she focused on the very important words. “I don’t think that’s how it works.”
    “We could decide that’s how it works. For us.”
    “Charlie...” She sighed, trying to find the words, or the energy for the words.
    “No, you’re right.” He pushed his chair back from the table and stood. “It’s not that easy. I like easy solutions, but there isn’t one.”
    “No, there isn’t.”
    “I imagine with the goats you have an early morning?”
    She nodded, something about the way he was acting not sitting right. She couldn’t put her finger on it, almost like there was something calculated in his retreat.
    Or she was being 100 percent paranoid, which was more than a little likely.
    “Then you should get some rest.” He smiled ruefully. “I’ll work on fighting the urge to tell you what to do.”
    “Thank you,” she said, getting to her feet. Of course, she couldn’t fight the yawn. Only nine o’clock and she was exhausted. But six thirty would come early enough.
    “I’d like to come back tomorrow. I do think we need to keep getting to know each other. Like...Seedling...we’re going to have to navigate two lives too. We should find a way to understand each other, don’t you think?”
    Something about the way he said it, the way he kept her gaze, that focused intent in his dark eyes... Something didn’t sit right. At all. But how could she refuse? How could she say no to this?
    He was right. They needed to understand each other, and they needed to learn how to compromise with each other if this was going to work once Seedling was born.
    So she forced herself to nod and smile. “Seven again?”
    He nodded. “I’ll bring a snack. My sister-in-law’s sister makes the pie you ordered at Moonrise. I can get you one for free. Not to get you to eat, simply as a friendly gesture.”
    “Your sister-in-law’s sister is Cara of Cara’s Local Pies?”
    “Yes.”
    “Bring me two?”
    He chuckled. “I’ll see what I can do.” He held out a hand, a formal, businessman gesture. Shake hands, business done.
    “How about this?” Instead of taking his outstretched hand, she placed her palms on his shoulders, moved up to her tiptoes and brushed her mouth across his cheek. Realizing far too late it was a gesture that wasn’t simply easy and friendly, it was weighted.
    Weighted with sex she didn’t remember and a child they’d created. Weighted by the attraction that buzzed between them even when she was expressly ignoring it.
    Impossible to ignore now, though she’d taken her lips off the stubbled cheekbone, her palms still balanced on his shoulders, she was still standing on her toes, so they were eye level with each other.
    Mouth level.
    She swallowed, her heart hammering in her chest. She could lean in and kiss him. She could test the attraction. She could do more