Page 35 of Twenty Years Later

"Oh, yeah? What's that?" Although I knew of a few things she was really good at.

"Pancakes. I make killer pancakes."

"Really? Interesting. I'm pretty good at pancakes too actually," I bragged.

"Really? Hmm." Again, she had that teasing tone.

"You say that like you don't believe me."

"No, I do. I just wonder who'd win in a pancake-making contest between us."

"Oh, definitely me," I said.

She giggled in that way that I'd loved since the age of fourteen—one of the reasons I had always teased her. I heard a noise from the monitor and saw Gabby stirring. Sighing, I realized I was probably in for one ofthosenights.

"Are you all right, Alex?"

Man, I loved the way she said my name. "Yeah. I just think Gabby's about to wake up. She's probably starving."

"Ah, well, I hope you have better luck feeding her this time."

"Me too." I really hoped so. Gabby moved more and started making some noises.

"I'll let you go and deal with it before she gets too upset," Jayda said.

"Okay. Yeah. I guess I better get on it." There was a brief silence as I hesitated, not wanting to say goodbye.

"Well, thanks for calling me," Jayda said. "It was really nice talking to you."

"Thatwasnice." More than nice. "Same time tomorrow?" It just kind of slipped out, and I could almost hear her mind processing that.

"Yeah. I'd like that," she finally said.

"All right. Goodnight, Jayda."

"Goodnight," she said in that sexy, soft voice that made me want more.

As I walked down the hallway to a now-awake Gabby, I realized I wanted a whole lot more of Jayda. Much, much more.

Chapter Twelve

Alex

The next day, I had a few post-op appointments in the morning and thought I'd take Gabby to the beach in the afternoon when she woke up from her nap. I needed something to take my mind off of Jayda.

I just couldn't stop thinking about her. And I couldn't wait to call her again tonight. But a big part of me also wanted to hold back because, again, what was the point? Why make it even harder by calling her?

When I came home from work, my mom greeted me at the door. "Shh," she said with a finger to her lips. "Gabby's asleep."

I nodded and came in, expecting her to take off right away like she usually did. But she hung around the kitchen while I made a sandwich. "What's up, Mom?" I said, feeling a little suspicious.

"I don't know. Why don't you tell me?" she asked in a tone I hadn't heard in a long time.

A bit wary, I glanced up from slicing a tomato. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, you've been acting strange the last couple of days."

"I have?" I asked, surprised to hear that. "How so?"

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