I meet Adam in the hotel's breakfast room to eat before we set off again. I serve myself a fruit salad from the bar and pick up a croissant before I sit with Adam at a table by the window overlooking the parking lot.

“Good morning.” He sits opposite me. “How’d you sleep?”

I didn’t sleep a wink. “Fine. You?”

“I did okay.”

“We have a long journey ahead of us today.”

“It’s going to be longer for you than for me.”

“What do you mean?”

I take a map out of my purse and slide it across the table. I picked the map up from the lobby. I press my finger down on an airport logo. “I want you to take me here. I’m going to try and get a flight home today.”

Adam’s shoulders slump. “You really can’t stand to be around me anymore?”

“I feel too guilty knowing Alice is waiting for you back home. Things got messy fast. I want to step away before I do any more damage to either one of us.”

I lift my gaze to look at Adam. He’s picking at his eggs and bacon with a sullen look on his face. Despite the frown, he’s still sexy as hell. My mind wanders to all the nights we spent together. Memories churn through my mind one after the other, and I have to suppress my feelings for him.

When I walked down the aisle to him, it felt like a happy dream. I’d let myself fall in love, and now I’m facing the consequences.

You’ve learned your lesson, Laura. You won’t take a risk like this again.

“I’m sorry you feel like that.”

Is that it? I deserve more than a half-assed apology for everything he’s put me through. I was swept off my feet, but he was simply getting revenge on a woman who made a fool of him. The fling was special because, despite all we said about no-strings-attached and all the rest, I felt our connection growing and believed that anything could happen.

Adam knew the truth all along. Nothing ever would. He offers me a sad smile. “I’ll take you to the airport if that’s really what you want. I can get my lawyer to send you the necessary papers for the divorce.”

“I think that would be for the best.”

“Did you speak to Alice last night?”

“Briefly.”

“Did you tell her what we did?”

“No.”

I bow my head to hide the judgmental look on my face. “She wouldn’t have been happy about it, I guess.”

“Probably not.”

“Especially if she had to wait a long time for a proposal, and you go and marry some stranger in Vegas.” I shake my head slowly. “I feel sorry for her.”

“Relationships aren’t always black and white, Laura. We’ve had our difficulties for a long time. We’ve been drifting apart for years. Finding out Alice was cheating on me was the final straw. She told me last night that it’s been going on for months. Am I the bad guy here? If things were perfect, she wouldn’t have been fucking people behind my back.”

Would I be this hard on him if I didn’t feel so hurt?

I push chunks of melon and grapes around with my fork. “Do you think you guys will work it out?”

“Who knows? We’re not on great terms, but we have a lot of history together.”

“You must see a future with her. Otherwise, you never would have proposed.”

“To be honest, I felt pressured to get engaged. We’d been together for so long, and Alice was getting frustrated with how often I was away. I thought getting engaged would give her peace of mind that I was devoted to her. It didn’t make her any more devoted to me. I should never have asked her to marry me when things weren’t perfect.”

“You spoke to her last night. Are you still engaged?”

“Everything is on hold until I get a chance to speak to her properly.”

“When will that be?”

“She wants to meet me in Illinois.”

“Terrific.”

“You sound like you disapprove.”

I take a sip of my coffee. “It’s none of my business.”

“I really am sorry, Laura. I never wanted you to feel used. The time we spent together was very special to me. You’re an incredible woman and, in all honesty, you deserve someone better than me.”

But you’re the one I want.

“Don’t get mushy on me, Adam. I’m made of tougher stuff than that. I wasn’t expecting us to go anywhere, but I would have liked to have known all the facts before I started anything with you, fling or not.”

“I understand.”

“Let’s forget about it. It’s a nice day. We can roll the roof back and enjoy the ride to the airport.”

Adam doesn’t argue, although I can see him holding his tongue like he wants to say more. We finish our breakfast and check out.

The sun is blazing outside. I’m glad I’ve worn a pair of cotton shorts and sandals. There is hardly a breeze in the air. It’s stifling. I let my head lull back on the headrest and nap a while.

Last night, I had another problem filling my head which was already spinning with thoughts of Adam and his fiancée.

I’m four days late.

It hadn’t crossed my mind until I was alone in the hotel room. I started doing the math in my head and realized it didn’t add up. It could be the flight, the heat, or the excitement throwing my body off schedule.

The other possibility isn’t worth thinking about.

We stop off at a gas station to get a drink. While Adam takes a business call in the front, I scurry down the aisle to where the pregnancy tests are. I stand hopelessly in front of the lines of boxes with no idea which one to choose.

One of them claims it can detect a pregnancy earlier than any others. It sounds ridiculous, pee is pee, but I’m willing to try anything. I grab it, sneak it over to the checkout line, and dart into the customer restroom.

The toilet is filthy. It smells like urine and old bleach. There are mysterious stains on the cracked tiles. The walls of the cubicle are plastered with crude graffiti — Shannon loves Zack; Missy was here.

I tear the test out of the box and tug my shorts down, squatting over the dirty toilet bowl. I force myself to pee on the little stick. How far has this fling with Adam really gone?

I can’t bear to watch the tiny digital screen, so I close my eyes and look up. I’d rather look anywhere else than the little strip and everything it might mean.

Two minutes pass. I drag my gaze to the strip in my hand. There it is, my future in one digital word. Pregnant.

My knees go weak, and I lean against the cubicle wall. My eyes fill with tears.

An engaged man knocked you up.

It feels like the world beneath my feet is crumbling. I have no idea where I go from here. A one-night stand turned into a three-week fling, which turned into a road trip, which has now turned into a lifelong commitment and child support payments. It was supposed to be no-strings-attached, once-in-a-lifetime fun.

I dry my eyes. The test goes in the trash. There’s no time to feel sorry for myself. I take a few deep breaths and walk out of the bathroom like nothing unusual happened. Adam is standing at the checkout with a couple bottles of water and a packet of chips.

I stare at him, feeling the gravity of my situation weigh down heavily on my shoulders. Adam doesn’t know what’s about to hit him, and I don’t know how to break the news.

He pays, steps back from the counter and hands me a bottle.

“Thanks.”

“Are you all right?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Like I’m going to tell him I’m pregnant in the middle of a gas station.

“Let’s get you to that airport, then.”

My stomach sinks. It’s one thing to be miles away from Adam waiting for the arrival of divorce papers, but another thing entirely to be miles away waiting for the arrival of a baby. If I even have the baby.

I trace my finger slowly around the bottle cap. “You know, I’ve been thinking about something. Maybe I should stay with you for a while longer. You’re right. We do have things to discuss.”

He raises his eyebrows. “I thought you couldn’t stand to be near me right now?”

“I want to make sure we do this right.”

“It’s up to you, Laura. I’ll take you wherever you want to go.”

“I’m going to travel with you for another couple of days. We haven’t even begun to talk about the logistics of a divorce.”

Adam shrugs. “There’s not much to it. It’s just a load of signed papers.”

“We should do some research together wherever we’re staying tonight. Let’s make sure we’re on the same page.”

I don’t give a damn about the divorce anymore.

There are greater things on my mind, like telling Adam I’m pregnant with his child.