Tangled Web: A Small Town Romance (The Cortell Brothers Book 6) by Giulia Lagomarsino (an ebook reader txt) 📕

Sofia, I studied her. She looked a little sweaty and that couldn’t be good. “How are you? Are you okay?”

“Uh…totally. I just…” Her eyes flicked to Kat and then back to me. “You know, worried about Kat.”

I picked up Kat’s hand and pressed my fingers to her wrist, counting the beats.

“What are you doing?” Kat asked.

“Checking your pulse.”

“But…you’re not watching the clock.”

“Am I supposed to?”

She gaped at me. “What exactly are you checking if you’re not watching the clock?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Your heartbeat? It’s still going, so that’s a good thing.”

“Oh, for Pete’s sake,” she said, snatching her hand away from me.

The door to the bakery flew open and Eric came rushing in with Robert and Josh in tow. Carly and Anna walked in behind them with what looked like a hidden smile on their faces. Before I could figure out what that meant, Eric was rushing over.

“Are you okay?” He glanced at me and then back at Kat. “Uh…” He squeezed his eyes shut and murmured something under his breath. “Uh…anything hurt? Should I take you to the hospital? I called Will and Charlie already.”

“You really didn’t have to do that,” Kat said. “I’m sure I’m fine.”

“No you’re not,” Sofia cut in, her eyes going wide. “Don’t lie to them. This could be serious.”

Kat’s nostrils flared. “But not so serious that I would have to go to the hospital.”

“Uh…yeah. We should just wait for Charlie,” Eric nodded. “I’m sure everything’s fine.”

“Everything’s fine?” I asked, my eyebrows shooting up in surprise. “Since when do you take that attitude?”

“It’s really fine. Nothing that a pastry won’t fix.”

“A pastry will fix your leg?” I asked.

“Or a headache,” Sofia rushed on. “Sugar can help everything.”

“See, it’s not the baby,” Eric asked.

“No, the baby’s fine,” Kat reassured him.

Sighing, I leaned back on my haunches and finally felt relief flood me. “Good, that’s really good. Well, since you have this under control, I’ll just head home,” I said, standing up.

“No!” Sofia shouted. “You can’t…because...” She glanced around frantically and then her eyes landed on Carly. “Because Carly’s pregnant too!”

Somewhere in the bakery, gasps could be heard. My eyes flicked to Carly, who looked completely shell-shocked. Josh looked almost pale.

“Are you really pregnant?”

Carly’s mouth opened and closed comically before she finally nodded. “I didn’t want to say anything.”

“Why not?” I asked. “Did you think this was bad news?”

She shook her head slightly and her face flushed as she glanced around the bakery at all the people staring at her. “Um…No, I was actually more worried about the town.”

“The town?” I asked, a little confused.

“You know, because everyone’s being an asshole, thinking that we’re about to murder someone or get someone killed,” Josh cut in. “Maybe it’s best if you stay. You know, in case this gets out of hand.”

I winced, glancing around at the crowd that grew suspiciously silent. “Fuck them,” I finally said. “We know you’re not a murderer.” Not that I could say the same about the woman I loved. Maybe that was a good thing. Maybe it would take the heat off Carly. Or maybe it would make it worse because they would think our family was psychotic.

“Well, sure, if it’ll make you feel better,” I said, puffing out my chest a little. “I’ll stay.”

“Hey, while we’re waiting, maybe you could get me a scone?” Kat asked.

“A scone.”

She nodded, “And maybe one of those Frappuccinos that Mary Anne makes, you know with the caramel?”

I looked at her funny, still wondering what was wrong and why I had to be here. I went up to the counter, noticing the small crowd that was forming in the bakery and sighed.

“Quite the crowd you’re collecting today,” Mary Anne winked at me.

“Not by choice,” I muttered, pulling out some money.

“It’s a shame Derek isn’t here. I love it when all of you are together. It really spices things up around here.”

I grunted in reply and she leaned on the counter. “What happened to Lorelei? I haven’t seen her around here in weeks.”

“Uh…she had to go home for a little bit.”

“And everything’s good between you two? She seems like quite the catch.”

I internally chastised myself. I should be happy she was gone. But I kept remembering the whole thing about how she said she would let a bear eat her. Nobody said they would let a bear eat them. That was just crazy, but she had said it. That couldn’t mean that she felt nothing for me. She had to feel the same way about me that I felt about her. Only I had turned her into the police.

“She’s very talented,” I said diplomatically.

I thanked Mary Anne for the coffee and took it over to Kat. “You know, I think I’m just going to head out. You’ve got things under control here.”

“No!” Kat shouted. “You can’t go yet. We’ve still…”

The door to the bakery opened and Will walked in with Charlie.

“We’ve still got to see what Charlie thinks,” Kat finished.

“Yeah, but you don’t need me for that.”

“What if she prescribes pizza?”

I sighed. “You’ve got Eric for that.” I headed for the door just as Charlie shouted out, “I’m pregnant!”

I slowly turned, staring at Charlie. She shrugged. “Uh…yeah, it happened.”

“Wait, so all of you are pregnant?” I asked.

“Uh…yeah, I guess so,” Charlie nodded.

“Will?”

He turned to me and nodded. “Oh, yeah, right. Yep, she’s totally pregnant.”

“You don’t seem very happy about this.”

“Oh, I am. This is my happy face.”

“That’s not your happy face.”

“Really?” He grinned wide, but it was all fake. “See? Happy.”

“What’s really going on here?”

They all looked at each other and then back at me.

“What do you mean?” Sofia asked.

“Look, you guys don’t need me here, but you’re trying to get me to stay. And Kat, you’re injured, but you don’t know where, and Eric should be rushing you off to the hospital, but instead, he’s playing it cool. Then all the sudden Carly’s pregnant? And if there’s really an emergency, where the hell is Joe? Oh, and let’s not forget that the woman scared to