Read Online The Best Laid Plans by Sarah Mayberry - Free Book Online

you can keep up.”
    Derek smiled. “Try me.”
    They ran in silence for a few minutes, neither of them pushing the other. Finally Derek stopped, forcing Ethan to stop, too.
    “You gonna spill or what? The suspense is killing me.”
    Ethan eyed his brother. Then he stared down at the toes of his sneakers. After a long beat he met his brother’s eyes again.
    “First up, I want you to understand something. I know we joke about it a lot and I let you nag me, but I’m never going to get married again. Period.”
    Derek frowned and Ethan could see he was about to launch into the same-old “you don’t know what might happen in the future, don’t close yourself off to possibility” speech.
    “This isn’t a stage I’m going through, it’s not something that’s going to change, and I need you to accept that. Okay?”
    Derek’s focus shifted down the road, his hands on his hips. Then he shrugged and looked at Ethan. “It’s your life.”
    “Yeah, it is. Which brings me to my next question.” He took a deep breath. He knew his brother was going to have strong feelings about what he was about to suggest, but he needed a sounding board before he made any irrevocable decisions or commitments.
    “I’m thinking of offering to become a sperm donor for a friend,” he said.
    Derek opened his mouth. Then he closed it again without saying anything.
    Fair enough. Ethan was aware that he was hitting his brother with this out of the blue.
    “She’s a friend. She’s worried she’s running out of time and she hasn’t met anyone. She doesn’t want to miss out. She’s considering using a bank. And I’m thinking that I could step up instead. Offer to be the father. Have a kid.”
    “Jesus. I don’t even know what to say,” Derek said.
    “Lots of people do it.”
    “Yeah. Gay people. Infertile people. Desperate women. You’re forty-two, Ethan. Kay could name half a dozen of her friends who would lie down right now in the middle of the street and make a baby with you.”
    “I covered that. I’m not getting married again.”
    “Then don’t. Live with someone, whatever. But don’t become a parent by proxy.”
    “It wouldn’t be by proxy. I mean, the conception would be, obviously. But I’d want to be a part of the kid’s life. We’d raise him or her together, like any divorced couple. A custody agreement, child-support payments.”
    “You’re really serious, aren’t you?”
    “Yeah, I am. I’ve always wanted kids. After everything with Cassie I thought I’d put it behind me. But now this opportunity has come up and maybe I don’t have to miss out. Maybe there are other ways to do this.”
    Derek blew out his breath and shook his head. “Who is this woman, anyway? How close a friend is she?”
    “I work with her. I respect her. She’s smart, funny, attractive. I think she’d be a great mother and we could parent together really well.”
    “Wow. She sounds almost too good to be true. Why hasn’t some other lucky sucker snapped her up?”
    Ridiculously, Ethan felt himself bristle on Alex’s behalf. He knew his brother was only trying to protect him, but this wasn’t about Alex. She didn’t deserve Derek’s scorn.
    “The guy she was with for seven years didn’t want kids. She thought she had more time, but the doctor says once she’s over forty it’s slim pickings.”
    “Right.”
    Ethan cocked his head and waited but Derek remained silent. Ethan made a beckoning motion with his fingers. “Come on. I know you’ve got more. Hit me with it.”
    “That’s why you came here at five-thirty in the morning? For me to play devil’s advocate?”
    Ethan shrugged. “I knew you’d have an opinion. And there’s no one I trust more.”
    “Damned right I have an opinion. For starters, what are you going to tell your son or daughter when they ask how mommy and daddy met? ‘Mommy and Daddy had a great date down at the lab’?”
    “We’d tell them that we were friends, which is true. And when they