Page 50 of An Unexpected Match

“Hello?”

He’d called.

“Hi Brendan.”

“Are the girls in bed?”

“Of course. It’s after ten.”

There was silence for a moment.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

She nodded, realizing he couldn’t see her.

“Yes.”

“Not your usual chatty self, however,” he said with a trace of amusement.

“Which is probably a good thing. This way I don’t talk your ear off.”

“I wouldn’t mind.”

“Are things going all right there?” she asked.

“About as expected.”

“I thought you might go out to dinner.”

“I did. We finished a little while ago. That’s why I’m late calling.”

“I didn’t know if you would call at all,” she murmured.

“Didn’t you want me to?”

She held her breath. Dare she admit it?

“Yes, I did,” she said firmly.

He laughed softly at the other end.

“Why? After yesterday, I half expected you to let the call go to voice mail.”

“Yesterday was my day off.”

“So you needed to sneak back home last night?”

“I didn’t sneak back,” she protested.

“The only way I knew you were home was because I saw your car in the driveway.”

Prudently, Arden remained silent. She had deliberately avoided him yesterday. Surely he knew why.

“Talk to me.”

“About what?”

“Anything. Everything.”

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