Page 124 of If Only In Our Dreams

Nancy rolled her eyes. “If I hadn’t told you not to call me you’d be bothering me every day when you were supposed to be resting. Besides, he’sbirthdayBen. I remember.”Birthday Ben? What did that mean?

Nancy took a step back, hands on her hips, her eyes sweeping over me. “Have you ever thought of modeling?” she asked, point blank.

“Modeling?” I blinked, confused. My cheeks went hot. “No—I…”

“He’s tall,” Nancy nodded toward me, talking to Robin now. “Good bone structure.”

“Hot like fire,” Robin agreed, making my cheeks burn even more.

“I’d like to see him in a tux,” Nancy hummed thoughtfully. “If we gave him a trim, shaved off the scruff, I think he could be a good candidate for a men’s magazine. He’s got that aged like fine wine look about him.”

“Ben doesn’t like that stuff,” Robin replied, because he was the sweetest man in the entire world, and knew that about me, even without me having to say a word. “He doesn’t even have his picture in the back of his books.”

“His books?”

“Yeah,” Robin hummed, getting excited all over again. He launched into a happy tale about how we first met, embellishing my charm—Jesus god, I’d been awkward—and updating Nancy on every single thing we’d done together from that point onward.

Nancy took hold of the bags, before I could, and marched us toward the elevator as she listened.

Robin’s hand found my own, squeezing, squeezing, squeezing.

It centered me as we launched toward the sky, my belly left somewhere down on floor one as we climbed and climbed. By the time we reached the top of the building—because of course Robin lived in the penthouse, why was I surprised at this point?—Robin had just finished telling Nancy about how I hadn’tgotten mad at him when he’d made us lose the relay race at the Pie Festival.

“He didn’t make us lose,” I interrupted for the first time.

Nancy twisted to look at me, dark eyes flooding with warmth.

“I tripped you,” Robin squinted at me, like I was lying.

“We tripped together.” I smiled at him, and he melted, this sweet little grin spreading across his lips. “Mutually assured destruction.”

“I guess we shouldn’t have expected anything different,” Robin laughed, surprising me—and proving how far he’d come with that simple statement. “I mean, your legs are like twice the length of mine.”

“It was inevitable,” I agreed, leaning down and kissing the top of his fluffy hair, because I could. Nancy’s eyes burned a hole into the back of my head, but I tried to ignore it. I wasn’t about to start acting weird around Robin just because we had an audience.

I’d already promised myself that nothing would be different out here.

And I wasn’t about to break that promise.

Robin’s apartment was pretty much what I’d expected after seeing the lobby, and figuring out he lived in the penthouse. The wide open floor plan made the place feel cold and sterile, white walls climbing nearly thirty feet into the air. The back wall was made entirely of glass that led to the city below. I could see the cars piling up for rush hour down on the street, small as ants.

A large white couch sat in the center of what was supposed to be a living room, but was more similar to a warehouse with its concrete floors and metal support pillars. Beneath it was a white and black rug, something cold and artsy, that I got the feeling Nancy had picked.

There was no sign of Robin anywhere.

And that made me…so incredibly sad.

Robin and Nancy were chatting while I wandered. I could hear them discussing the dress rehearsal that would be hosted here tonight, and all the people that would be coming to set up—only to take everything right down immediately after.

The cupboards in his kitchen were mostly empty aside from a half dozen different kinds of teas. All seemed to be supposed to promote sleep, and my heart hurt for him as I slid the cupboard shut and eyed the white island distrustfully.

Did he even know how to cook?

Did he have pans? Pots?

I ducked beneath the counter, movements even more careful than usual. I refused to hurt my back again. Not when we had plans this weekend.

Inside the cupboard there were a few pots and pans, but they looked brand new. Frowning, I straightened. Robin had wandered his way over, apparently done chatting with Nancy. He was back to his usual self, his eyes bright as he hopped up onto the island beside me, his cute little feet kicking as he reached out to reel me in.

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