"Look," I say, taking a chance. "Before we make any major decisions, let's just... spend some time together. Get coffee. Have dinner. Talk about something besides Cascade versus Timber for once."
She glances back at me, one eyebrow raised. "You want to date?"
"I want to get to know the woman who might be raising my kid," I say, then add, "And yeah, maybe I want to know if there's more to us than what happened in Vegas."
Her cheeks flush at the mention of Vegas, and not gonna lie, it’s cute as hell. "And if it turns out we still can't stand each other?"
"Then at least we tried. We'll figure out co-parenting if it comes to that." I hesitate, then ask the question that's been burning in my mind. "Do you really hate me that much?"
"I don't hate you," she admits. "You frustrate the hell out of me professionally. But I don't hate you."
It's not a declaration of affection, but it's a start.
"So, what do you say?" I ask. "Give this a shot?"
She takes a deep breath. "We can try getting to know each other," she says finally. "No promises beyond that. And I'll let you know when I've made a final decision about the baby."
Relief floods through me. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me yet," she warns. "I could still change my mind. About all of it."
I nod. "I know."
Wren adjusts her purse strap. “I should go. I have an early meeting tomorrow."
"Can I call you? Maybe we could get dinner this weekend?"
She hesitates, then nods. "Don’t call, though. What are you, a psychopath?” She wrinkles her nose. “Text me like a normal human being. We'll figure something out."
My lips twitch. "Will do."
She turns toward the door, then pauses. "Kasen?"
"Yeah?"
"Breathe a word about this baby to anyone, and I'll rewire your truck so the horn plays 'It's Raining Men' at full volume every time you hit the brakes." Her tone is light, but her eyes are dead serious.
And she has the audacity to callmethe psychopath.
I can't help but laugh. "Noted."
With a final glance, she's gone.
I sink into the booth, the full weight of what just happened crashing down on me. Wren’s pregnant. With my baby. And she's agreed to try to see if there might be something between us.
Considering I haven’t been able to get her out of my head for months, I’m gonna go ahead and guess there is.
Her agreement isn’t the commitment I was hoping for, but it's more than I have any right to expect. And she's leaning toward keeping the baby.
Mybaby.
I reach for my phone and pull up Reed's contact, typing quickly before I can second-guess myself.
Me: Need to talk.
His response comes almost immediately.
Reed: Sure. Everything okay?
