Under Your Skin Read Free Page A

I’m not going anywhere.”
    â€œYeah, you are. You’re already gone.” She focused on slowing her breathing and calming her system. Being upset wasn’t good for the baby.
    â€œI’d like to take everyone out to dinner tomorrow so you guys can all get to know Moira.”
    â€œDoesn’t everyone already know Moira? She grew up across the street. You’re best friends with her brother. I haven’t lived here in ten years, but I know that.” She didn’t know why she was feeling ornery. Part of her wanted to lash out at his happiness, even though she knew it wasn’t fair.
    â€œYeah, they know who she is, but they don’t know her. You’ll like her if you give her a chance.”
    Norah had nothing to say. She suspected she would like Moira, given how much grief Moira had given Jimmy. And that was only the little bit Norah had gleaned from hiding out for the past few weeks while Jimmy fell in love.
    â€œWhatever.” She couldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing she liked the woman who kept him on his toes. She looked over the room. “If I’m going to stay in here, you think I could have a few drawers or something?”
    â€œI’ll do better than that. I’ll clear it all out except for the furniture. Make it yours.” He stood and stepped closer to her. “You are staying, right? Not going back to Boston?”
    â€œThere’s nothing in Boston for me.” Avery wasn’t even there because he still had one more year of college. More than anything she wanted to be at home. For all the years she’d lived in Boston, it had never felt like home. The few short visits she’d made to Chicago each year had felt like a homecoming.
    â€œHave you decided what you’re going to do?”
    She shook her head.
    â€œHave you called the father?”
    â€œNot yet.” She raised a hand to cut him off from yelling at her again. “I said I would and I will as soon as I know what I want to do. There’s a lot to weigh. What if he wants me to come back to Boston? I don’t know if I want that.”
    â€œI guess what I’m really asking is if you want to keep the baby.”
    She pressed her lips together for a moment before answering. “It’s not about what I want anymore. It’s about what’s best for the baby. I’m not sure what that is.”
    â€œWe can make it work.” He nodded and left, closing the door behind him.
    She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to take away from that. Knowing Jimmy, he meant she should keep the baby, that he’d help out. She knew he would, but it wasn’t his responsibility. He was getting ready to start his own family.
    Norah sat with her laptop and began her search. She’d ignored thinking and making a decision for almost seven months now. Complete denial was the basis for the beginning of her pregnancy. She’d worn baggy shirts and told no one. Then when she had to face the pregnancy as well as her aunt’s fury, she’d switched to survival mode. She’d focused on passing her classes while couch-surfing to have a place to live.
    It was time to get real.
    What would it take for her to keep the baby? What were her options for adoption? The questions alone made her heart hurt. Although she’d done a bang-up job of keeping emotionally distant from the baby growing inside her, she still cared. More than she wanted to.
    And now she only had weeks to figure it out. She’d wasted too much time already.
    She searched for adoption agencies and began clicking away. The Open Door sounded promising. She spent more than an hour on the site. She took a quiz to determine if she was ready to be a parent. Her answers split right down the middle. Half said she was ready, the other half not. Looked like there were no easy answers to be found.
    The Web site offered a wealth of information. She gleaned a basic understanding of open and