His Best Friend's Baby. Susan Carlisle

two days ago. Her hair lay along her shoulders. Dressed in a brown, tan and blue dotted top over brown slacks and low-heeled shoes, she looked professional, classy and fragile.

      “Are you looking for me?” Ryan asked.

      “I’m here for my appointment with Sophia.”

      Another mother-to-be came up behind Phoebe. She moved back and out of the way, allowing the woman to go past her. Ryan held the door wide, moving out into the hall. He said to Phoebe, “May I speak to you for a minute?”

      A terrified look flicked in her eyes before she gave him a resigned nod. He had the impression that if she could forget they had already met, she’d gladly do so.

      Before he could say anything she started, “About the other evening. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have put you on the spot. I had no right to do that.”

      Here she was the one apologizing and he was the one who should be. “Not a problem. I should have visited you after Joshua died.”

      Her look was earnest. “That’s all right. I understand. Well, I have to get to my appointment.”

      Apparently whatever she’d needed had been resolved.

      “It was nice to meet you, Phoebe.”

      “You, too.” She walked by him, opened the door and went through it. With a soft swish it closed behind her.

      Why did he feel as if he needed to say or do more?

      Ryan made it as far as his car before curiosity and a nagging guilt caused him to return to the clinic. He waited until Phoebe was finished with her appointment. Phoebe might not agree to him taking her to dinner, but he was going to try. He needed to know why she’d come to see him and even more if there was some way he could help her.

      Now that she had contacted him he felt like he owed Joshua that.

      On the way to his office he passed a nurse and asked that she let him know when Mrs. Taylor was finished.

      Thirty minutes later the nurse popped her head in the door and said Phoebe was on her way out.

      Ryan hurried to the waiting room and spotted her as she reached the door. When he called her name she stopped and turned. Her eyes widened in astonishment, then filled with wariness.

      “I thought you had left.” Phoebe sounded as if she had hoped not to see him again. After his behavior the other night he shouldn’t be surprised.

      “I came back. I wanted to ask you something.”

      She raised her brows.

      Phoebe wasn’t opening the door wide for him. She wouldn’t be making this easy.

      Thankfully this late in the day the waiting room was empty. “I wondered if I could buy you dinner?”

      Phoebe turned her head slightly, as if both studying and judging him. He must have really put her off the other evening. He prided himself on his rapport with people, especially pregnant women and their families. He had let this one down. The guilt he’d felt doubled in size.

      “Please. I’d like to make up for how I acted the other night.”

      “You don’t owe me any apologies. I’m the one who showed up on your doorstep unannounced.”

      “Why don’t we both stop taking blame and agree to start again?”

      Her eyes became less unsure. “I guess we could do that.”

      “Then why don’t we start by having a burger together?”

      “Okay.” She agreed with less enthusiasm than he would have liked.

      “I know a place just down the street that serves good food. Andrew’s Burgers.”

      “I’ve heard of it but never been there.”

      “Great. Do you mind walking?”

      “No, I haven’t had my exercise today.”

      Ryan looked at her. If it hadn’t been for the baby, she would have been a slim woman. With her coloring she was an eye-catcher, pregnant or not. Her soft, lilting voice was what really caught his attention.

      “If you’ll wait I’d like to lock up my office.”

      She nodded. When he returned she was sitting in one of the reclining chairs in the waiting room with her hands resting on the baby.

      “I’m ready.”

      Phoebe looked at him. She pushed against the chair arm to support herself as she stood. “I think this baby is going to be a giant.”

      “Every mother-to-be that I see thinks that about this time.”

      As they made their way down the hall to the elevators, Ryan asked, “So how’re you and the baby doing?”

      A soft smile came to her lips. “Sophia says we’re both doing great. I’ll have to start coming to clinic every week soon. I just hate that I’m losing her as my midwife. I’ve become very attached.”

      “You are getting close.”

      “I am.”

      There was depression in her tone that he didn’t understand. He knew little about her, but she struck him as someone who would be ecstatic about holding a new life in her hands and caring for someone. Yet he sensed a need in her that he couldn’t put a finger on.

      They went down the six floors to the lobby of the art deco building and out into the sunlight. The restaurant was a few blocks from the hospital.

      “Let’s cross the street. I know a shortcut through the park.”

      She followed him without question. A few minutes later they exited the park and were once again walking along the sidewalk. A couple of times they had to work themselves around other people walking briskly in the opposite direction. Ryan matched his stride to her shorter one and ran interference when someone looked as if they might bump into her.

      “I can walk without help, you know.”

      He glanced at her. She was small but she gave off an air of confidence. It was in complete contrast to her actions that night at his house. Something was going on with her. “I know, but I wouldn’t want you to accidentally fall and Sophia would have my head for it.”

      “I think they gave up chopping off heads in Australia a long time ago,” she said in a dry tone.

      “Still, I’m kind of scared of Sophia. I don’t know if I could face her if I let you get hurt.”

      That got a smile out of her. “Here we are,” Ryan said as he pulled the glass door of the restaurant open and allowed Phoebe to enter ahead of him.

      She wasn’t sure sharing a meal with Ryan was such a good idea. He’d asked nicely enough and she hadn’t eaten out in so long she hadn’t had the heart to say no. She suspected either his curiosity or some kind of obligation he felt toward Joshua had made him ask. No way had he changed overnight into being the emotional support she’d naively hoped he might be. A nice meal shared with someone was all she expected to get out of the next hour.

      When Ryan was asked if they wanted a booth or table he glanced at her middle and grinned. He had a wide smile and nice even teeth. “I guess we’d better go for a table.”

      They were directed to one. The restaurant was decorated in a 1950s diner style, all chrome, red-covered chairs and white tile on the floor. Lighting hung over each booth and table. It was still early for the dinner crowd so it wasn’t noisy. Phoebe wasn’t sure if she considered that good or bad.

      She took a seat. Ryan sat in the chair across the table from her.

      “So I need to order a hamburger, I’m thinking.” Phoebe took the menu out of the metal rack on the table.

      “They have good ones. But there are also other things just as good.”

      The