Sweet Deal by Kelly Jamieson Page A

distracted. Oh man, was she angry at him? Dismay twisted inside him.
    “I’m okay.” She focused her attention on him and gave him a small smile that was totally not okay. His concern deepened. “Actually, I got some bad news this morning.”
    When she told him about her friend, he forgot all about asshole Andrew. Sympathy flooded through him along with a somewhat awkward helplessness. Problem solving was one of his strengths, and if Shelby had told him any other story, he would have been all over trying to fix that for her. But this…this was beyond him. His chest ached as he watched her struggle with the words.
    “And Kiara’s six months pregnant.”
    His forehead tightened as his eyebrows shot up. “Oh no.”
    “Yeah, but don’t ever say that to her. They planned it. When they found out Adam was dying, they got pregnant on purpose.”
    Jake stared at Shelby across the table. “You’re kidding.”
    “No.” She shook her head, with another small, sad smile. “They wanted children. They decided to do it, even though Adam would never see his child. And their child would never know his dad.” Shelby’s voice thickened and she coughed. “Kiara says she’ll make sure their child knows all about his or her dad. She loves Adam so much, she wanted to have his baby even though she’s going to end up raising the child alone.”
    “Holy hell. That is…” Jake shook his head, his pathetic little problems reduced to insignificance, his insides feeling hot and tight. “That’s an amazing story.”
    “I know. We all admire them both so much for how they’ve handled this, although privately we’ve wondered how Kiara is going to do it.”
    “I give her a lot of credit,” Jake said. “Wow. I’m not sure if I would want my wife to do that, if I would want to leave her with that burden.”
    “See, that’s why we don’t say anything about our doubts or misgivings to Kiara, because she doesn’t see it as a burden. She sees it as a gift, as a part of Adam that will live on after he’s gone. Someone for her to love.”
    Jake rubbed at his chest and blinked up at the waitress who stood at their table smiling. Her cheeriness seemed incongruous following the astonishing conversation. He and Shelby quickly ordered.
    “What can I do?” he asked as soon as the waitress had left.
    “What do you mean?”
    “For you. For your friends.”
    “Oh.” Her blue eyes softened as she picked up her goblet of water and sipped it. “That’s so sweet of you.”
    Jesus. Had anyone ever called him sweet in his life? He didn’t think so. Sweat popped out along his hairline.
    “I don’t know if there’s anything right now,” she continued. “I feel so helpless myself. I wish I could do more. I know after Adam’s gone, Kiara will need us, her friends. I’m going to be her birth coach when she has the baby, and I know she’s going to need lots of support then.” She shook her head, but this time her smile held a hint of happiness. “A baby is a joy and a blessing for sure, but also a lot of work, especially for a single mom. So we’re all going to be there for her.”
    “Your friends are obviously very special to you.” He envied that. Jake hated to admit that he still felt a hole in his life since Andrew and Gianna had gotten together. At the time, Jake had assured them no hard feelings, they’d all still be friends, yadda yadda. But the reality had been that he couldn’t bear to be around them, and his friendship with Andrew had tapered off into nothingness. They’d been best buddies in college, shared so many interests. Including the same woman. He pushed those depressing thoughts away.
    “They are.” Her smile warmed. “I don’t have much family and my parents aren’t really there for me much, so I guess Kiara and Riley and Myra are like family. I’m lucky to have them.”
    “They’re lucky to have you.”
    Her cheeks pinkened and she looked down at the water glass in her hands. “We’re going to