Page 42 of Up All Night

“Uh-huh, sure.”

I didn’t appreciate her disbelieving tone. “I’m serious.”

She put down the book she was reading, letting out a sigh as she gave me her full attention. “You can deny it all you want, but you like him. And I’ll be patiently waiting here to say, ‘I told you so.’”

I crossed my legs and leaned against the table. “I’m not saying I agree with you, but let’s just say I did like him. He and I would never work. We are way too different.”

“Sometimes opposites attract,” she countered.

I shook my head. “We aren’t just different personality-wise. We’ve lived very different lives. We come from totally different worlds.” I doodled in the margin of the notebook where I’d been writing notes. “Add on top dating someone in your apartment building, and that spells disaster. Whenever we break up it will be super awkward.”

“Who says you’d break up?”

I looked at her like she was speaking a foreign language I didn’t understand. “What are you talking about? There’s always a break-up.” At least breaking up withme, but I kept that part to myself.

“Are you saying you don’t believe that someday you’ll find the one?” The sound of her disbelief bounced off the walls. “A guy you want to start your forever with?”

I guffawed. “The one? Yeah, no. That doesn’t exist.”

“It does to exist,” she insisted. “My parents have a wonderful marriage. Something I want to have someday, too.”

I realized I had offended her. “I’m sorry,” I said gently. “I think it’s great if you want to find your forever person one day, but I don’t have any experience with that. For me, it seems like a made-up story that’s nice to read about in books and watch in movies.”

“I’m sorry, too,” she said. “I know your childhood was very different from mine.”

My childhood had been a lot different from most people’s. But it was all I knew. Happily-ever-afters seemed to be for everyone else. Parker girls seemed destined to be on our own. Which is exactly why I needed to focus on making a business plan for my dance studio.

Relationships would come and go, but what I built for my life would stay.

Yes, I enjoyed talking to West, but that’s where it ended. Where it had to end. Because I knew better than anyone that I was the only person I could ever count on.

14

West

Ihadn’t been in a rush to get home in the hopes that I would get to see Halle at my apartment. I had simply been looking forward to getting home to relax after a long day of work. Plus, I’d already seen her this morning, when I had given her a ride to the gym and during our training session. I didn’t need to see her twice in one day.

I hadn’t been disappointed that this morning was the last time I would give her a ride to work since her car was now fixed. And when her name had popped up on my phone screen saying I had a text from her, I definitely hadn’t smiled like a boy in junior high getting a text from a girl for the first time.

Nope. I was neutral about all of this. She was just my neighbor/substitute personal trainer. And just because my formerly annoying neighbor wasn’t so annoying anymore didn’t mean anything. Us being civil and friendly toward one another instead of getting on each other’s nerves was something to be happy about, and that’s all there was to this.

I had only jogged up the stairs to my apartment because it was good to get the heart pumping every so often, especially with how much I sat at my desk and in a conference room all day. It had nothing to do with the text Halle had sent me asking if she could come by and shower once she got off work.

As soon as I walked through the door, the sound of running water from the shower hit my ears.

I sighed in relief. At being home, of course.

Although, what if it was Kate in the shower and not Halle?

Again, not that it mattered. I was just happy we could help.

Taking off my suit jacket, I went into the kitchen to wash my hands. I absentmindedly glanced around the kitchen and opened the fridge, not wanting to look like a creeper waiting for whoever was in the bathroom to come out. The fridge was practically empty, so I turned to the cupboards to see if there was anything in there that could preoccupy me.

Soon the water turned off, and I quickly grabbed a box of cereal, but then put it back. Would it be weirder if I was eating a bowl of cereal when she came out, or sitting on the couch pretending to be doing something on my phone? Or should I just be walking in the door?

I rubbed a hand down my face. I was being ridiculous.

I grabbed the cereal box again and got out a bowl. I was hungry, and this was the best meal I was going to come up with since otherwise, we had no food.

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