She thought it over for a moment. Letting Finnian stay overnight wasn’t really a big deal—if anything, his presence gave her a deep sense of security. After everything that had happened today, she was desperate for that reassurance. So she stopped objecting, pulled the covers over herself, and settled in to sleep.

The hospital room had two beds-Amara took the one further inside, while Finnian lay down on the one by the door. After turning off the lights, Finnian lay on his bed, glancing toward the dark outline of Amara’s head. Sensing she wasn’t interested in talking, he felt a pang of disappointment. He finally had a chance to be alone with her and wanted to say more, but had no idea how to break the ice.

Thinking it over, he realized Amara had been through enough that day. She was probably far from eager to deal with him. Maybe it was better not to bother her. Finnian gave a soft sigh, closed his eyes, and drifted off to sleep.

Since Finnian insisted on staying with her, the two ended up spending the night together in the same hospital room. Having a grown man so close by-the man she’d once been so in love with and whose child she was now carrying-left Amara feeling a little awkward. But she told herself not to let the awkwardness get to her. Wasn’t there a saying, “If you don’t feel awkward, it’s the other person who will”? Of course, Finnian was shameless enough that he probably wouldn’t be embarrassed either, but that was his problem, not hers. She just needed to calm down and get some sleep.

She closed her eyes and did her best to ignore the fact that a man was in the room. She let her mind drift, thinking about the TV show about to start filming, then about Elysia and everything going on. Gradually, a wave of sleepiness swept over her, and she finally fell asleep.

The next morning, Amara woke up a little after eight. It was late for her. When she sat up, she noticed Finnian’s bed was empty-the blanket was folded up neatly on his pillow, and he was nowhere in sight.

Sitting up, Amara checked in with herself-her stomach didn’t hurt at all now and her body felt light, free of worries. She felt reassured. Stepping over to Finnian’s side, she touched his bedding and found it was cold; clearly, he’d been up for quite a while.

Where had Finnian gone, vanishing so early in the morning? Amara guessed with his workload, he probably hurried off to the office first thing.

But before she could finish making the bed, the door opened. Finnian came in, carrying a few plastic bags.

“You’re awake?” he greeted, pulling over a small table. He unpacked the breakfast food-fried dough, buns, and more—and neatly arranged everything on the table. “Go wash up, then let’s eat,” he said.

So Finnian had gone out to get breakfast Amara nodded and went to wash up in the bathroom. When she returned, Finnian had already laid out a dozen or so breakfast items he’d brought back

“Why did you buy so much?” Amara asked. “There’s no way the two of us can finish all this.”

“I wasn’t sure what you’d feel like eating, so`l got a bit of everything

pet

Finnian replied. “Eat whatever you

want, and we can pack up the rest to take with us.”

Amara shot him a glance. Was this really Mr. Finnian Everly, actually suggesting taking leftovers home? That was rare.

She sat down to have breakfast with

Finnian. Last night, she hadn’t given their situation much thought-she’d fallen asleep not long after lying down But now, sitting across from Finnian over breakfast, especially with how attentive he

was watching her closely, placing, anything she glanced at in front of her-she couldn’t help feeling a bit self-conscious.