Page 35 of Temporarily in Love

“Did you buy a pumpkin yet?” I asked Lila.

She shook her head. “I’m waiting for the right one to call to me.” She shivered against the chilly autumn air, and I shrugged out of my jacket and put it over her shoulders.

Kelsey put her head in her hands as she looked at us. “Aw. It’s like you two never broke up.”

Lila flustered at that. “We’re just—”

“Spending time together while Lila’s in town,” I answered for her.

“Mmmhmm,” Kelsey said. “Is that what the kids are calling it these days?”

Lila blushed, and it still looked so cute how her tanned skin reddened in embarrassment. I finished my coffee and took our trash over to the garbage can.

I held my hand out to Lila. “Come on, love, let’s go get you a pumpkin.”

My girl, who loved fall and Halloween like no one else, broke out into a huge smile. She took my hand, and we walked out onto the field to find her a pumpkin. I knew when she left again, my heart was going to be shattered, but when she smiled at me, I forgot all about that. That was future-Declan’s problem.

Chapter Eleven

LILA

“Watch out, or I’m gonna get you with the pumpkin guts!” Declan teased my niece Cora as we scooped out our pumpkins at my sister’s kitchen table.

Cora made a face and pretended to get away from him as he held a scoop of said pumpkin guts into her face. Despite the faces she was making, she loved the attention he was giving her. Kelsey was taking a nap while Callie napped, so we said we’d watch Cora and keep her occupied.

I smiled at how good Declan was with my niece. We tossed the insides of the pumpkins into the trash while Cora decorated her own pumpkin with a glittery face. My sister told me we weren’t allowed to let her carve herself, but she could decorate her pumpkin and watch us carve ours. Declan kept her occupied with pumpkin guts and helped her glue on her design while I carved my pumpkin.

I couldn’t believe he spent the day with me at the pumpkin patch with my sister and the kids. He was so good with Cora and didn’t mind taking photos of my sister and the kids or holding Callie when she fussed. I won’t lie; seeing Callie cuddle into his neck as he talked sweetly to her made me imagine the future we could have had together.

It was a bad idea to start something with him, but the way he was with my nieces made my ovaries melt. And shout at me to let him put a baby in me. I wanted a baby before I was too old, but that ship with Declan sailed long ago. I had to tell my body to be quiet.

“That’s very pretty, Cora,” I said to my niece as I inspected the jack-o'-lantern face on her pumpkin.

“Auntie Lila?” she asked, her blue eyes inquisitive as she looked up at me.

“What, baby?” I asked, looking up from carving my pumpkin. I threw away the triangle pieces for the eyes I had popped out of the front.

“Are you and Declan gonna have a baby like Mommy and Daddy?”

Declan and I met each other with horrified looks. Where did she get that idea?

Kelsey had been keeping the pregnancy on the down low, but kids were perceptive. Once we got back to my sister’s house, Cora asked if she was getting a baby brother or another baby sister. Callie had pointed at Kelsey’s stomach and shouted, ‘Baby.’ So the cat was already out of the bag.

Declan rubbed the back of his neck. “Um.”

“No, sweetie,” I told her gently. “Declan and I aren’t going to have a baby. What made you think that?”

She scrunched her little face up in confusion. “You were kissing like Mommy and Daddy do. Mommy said when two people love each other, they kiss like that and have a baby.”

Declan hid his mouth behind his hand so my niece wouldn’t see him laugh. I shot him a glare. “No, sweetie. We’re not having a baby.”

“Why not?” she asked, and looked mad about it.

I was saved by the front door opening. Cora set down her glitter and jumped out of her chair before we could tell her to wash her hands. “DADDY!” she yelled.

I peered into the living room and saw my brother-in-law holding his daughter in his arms.

A pang of jealousy coursed through me at seeing Brian with his daughter. The clock was ticking on me if I wanted children. I was thinking when I got home, I should look into getting a sperm donor. I wasn’t getting any younger and had the money to afford it. The thought of being a single mother by choice didn’t appeal to me, though.