Page 26 of Why Not Us?

“That’s kind of the point,” she says with a laugh. “If you don’t want to eat them both, you could share one with Nate.”

“I’m not seeing him until Thursday. These will be gone long before then.” I point to the remaining pieces with my fork and take my first bite. It’s perfect. The cake is buttery and sweet, the whipped cream is light, and the berries are tart. I’ve only taken one bite when my phone rings.

Derek looks at me with a sly smile. “Who’s calling you, Adalie?”

“You told him to call tonight, didn’t you?” I ask, though I don’t need to. I pick up my phone and answer it. “Hello, Nate,” I say, staring at Derek.

“How did you know it was me?” he asks slowly.

“Because my friends are nosy as fuck. Hang on a minute.” I stand, then say, “I’m going upstairs,” I look pointedly at Derek, “so you can’t eavesdrop.” I grab my jacket from the front door and take my cake, climbing the two flights of stairs to Derek’s roof top patio. His cat Abyss is sitting in her catio and watches me. No wonder she hasn’t been in my lap all night. She’s been enjoying the cool, fresh air.

“Sorry about that,” I say, taking a seat on one of Derek’s chairs. The cushions are all put away until summer, but it’s still comfortable.

“Did I call at a bad time? Derek said—”

“I can guess what Derek said. I’m at his place now. He wanted you to call while I was here, so he could be nosy and probably tease me about it later. It’s fine. Why did you call?”

“I wanted to tell you, everything is sorted for this week. And I wanted to organize a time.”

It’s silly of me to wish he’d called because he wants to talk to me. That’s not the kind of relationship we have. Also,I’mthe one who said we can’t kiss again.

“What does your evening look like?” I ask, getting my mind back into the conversation.

He tells me their routine for weeknights and we settle on a time. And that’s really all we need to say to each other. Yet, neither of us says goodbye.

We sit on the phone in silence for a few moments until Nate says, “So, did you end up getting that birthday cake?”

I look down at my plate and my half-eaten slice. “Yes. Lis made me one. Strawberry shortcake. My favourite. I’m eating it now, in fact.”

“Good.”

We drop into silence again.

After a while, Nate says, “I guess I should go. Let you get back to your friends.”

“Yeah. I’ll see you on Thursday.”

“Right. Goodbye, Adalie.”

“Bye, Nate.”

I remain there for a while before going back inside, letting myself slowly come to terms with the fact that my friends are right: I have a crush on Nate Sinclair.

Chapter 10

Nate

When Adalie knocks on my front door on Thursday, Dani races to open it. I glance over from the kitchen where I’m starting dinner, but Adalie doesn’t even look at me, all her attention focused on my daughter. Her hands are full of bags, and I call to Dani to help her carry them in. They set everything down in the living room and I listen as Dani gives Adalie the tour.

“This is the living room. Dad and I play games in here sometimes, but it’s kind of boring otherwise. Over there is his bedroom. He has his own bathroom in there, but there’s another one here if you need it.” She leads Adalie closer, taking her hand and tugging her along. “This is the dining room and the kitchen. There’s Dad.”

Adalie smiles at me and I nod back.

“And this is the family room where we watch TV. Dad hung my painting and his right there.” Dani points to the wall beside the TV where I’ve hung the matching paintings side-by-side. “I told him it was silly to have two of the same picture up, but he said he doesn’t care because we did them together. The back deck is out there and in the yard, Dad has a hot tub and a tree house!”

“Excellent,” Adalie responds, barely able to get a word in edge-wise around my daughter.

“Uncle Taylor lives downstairs, but he’ll be up later. He always eats dinner with us. Do you want to go see my bedroom?”

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