Page 75 of Roommate's Guide to Love

“Well, well, well…what do I owe this pleasure?”

“Maeve and I have the day off, so we figured we’d make the trip down from Nashville,” Ainsley says. “You know, just a nice lunch.”

I raise an eyebrow as I pour my sisters their wine. “Really? This is what you two are choosing to do on your day off?”

“Why not?” Maeve asks nonchalantly. “It’s not like this is theonlyway we get a chance to see our newly-back-in-town sister since she’s basically ignoring us.”

“And maybe we just want to see where her mind might be since the last time we talked,” Stella says. “You know, if she made any big decisions, like moving, she wanted to talk to us about.”

“Or maybe catch a glimpse of that baby. Considering I’ve been your twenty-four-seven phone-a-friend, it’s the least you can do.”

I set down their drinks with a little more force than necessary. “Next time, give me a heads up when you’re planning on having another Quinn-tervention. Also, it’s highly unfair that y’all can drink through this and I can’t.”

“Not an intervention,” Maeve says before shooting a look to Stella. “Remember? We promised this was just a visit.”

Stella rolls her eyes. “Fine. But if it comes up naturally, I’m not dropping it.”

“No need to bring it up,” I say as I send their order back to the kitchen. “I still don’t know what I’m going to do.”

None of my sisters say anything as I pour myself a glass of water—which of course complements the iced coffee I grabbed earlier today—and go take a seat at their table. We’re pretty slow right now, so no one will mind if I join them for a few minutes.

“Really? You don’t know?”

I give Stella a hardened look. “I don’t. I’ve thought about it a little. I miss the kids like crazy, but I hate the politics that has overtaken our schools. If I go to a new school and they have their own P.E.N.I.S. Posse, which most schools do these days, I’ll quit before I start.”

“Maybe it would be different at another school district?” Ainsley suggests. “Or, you know, one that you once attended?”

I let out an audible “Ha!” before realizing that Ainsley’s serious. “Really? You want me, the girl who’s not allowed within fifty feet of the chemistry lab, to go teach in Rolling Hills?”

“That’s not true,” Stella says. “Plus, that chemistry teacher is gone. They probably wouldn’t remember that you once filled it with foam.”

Well, that’s good at least. “I know where your heart is at, Ainsley, I really do. But me teaching in Rolling Hills is out of the question.”

“And girls, let’s not forget she has no time to think, you know, what with helping raise a baby with her hot roommate and all.”

I narrow my eyes at Maeve. “Smooth transition, sis.”

She shrugs her shoulders. “Let’s consider it payback for when you not-so-subtly asked me about my husband’s dick size.”

Stella and Ainsley can’t hold in their snickers as I tip my glass to Maeve. She’s right. I did not so subtly dig for details. Though, in my defense, at the time they weren’t even fake married. She was just his interior designer.

“For one, you’re a married woman, you shouldn’t be calling other men hot.”

“I’m not married so I can say it. He’s hot, Quinn. Very hot.”

I gasp at Ainsley. “Ainsley Mae!”

“What? I may be sweet, but I’m not blind. And neither is any other woman in this town. So spill. Or next time you message me about the baby, I’ll leave you on read.”

“I liked you a lot better before you realized you held a superpower,” I say to her, but she only flashes me the sweet-and-innocent smile that I’m starting to think might not be so sweet and innocent. “But there’s nothing to dish. Yes, I moved in to help him. Yes, we’re just roommates. That’s it. I’m only there until he gets a handle on things with Grace or I move to my next stop. Whichever comes first.”

I know Porter was scared when Grace first arrived. But I must say, he’s adapted faster than I expected. He mastered diaper changing within a few days and only threw up once during an especially epic poop from his little princess. He was very proud of himself when he came up with installing the whiteboard—which was started for foods and now has grown into an “everything about Grace” board. Foods, nap schedules, milestones, you name it, the man is tracking it.

It’s kind of adorable.

But only kind of.

“That!”

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