Page 34 of If This Was a Movie

“No way! Wasn’t she trying to hook you up with her brother the last time we were out together?” I nod. “God, it’s almost poetic, you know? Like a romance book.”

“I don’t know about that,” I say with a laugh. “More like a sick and twisted thriller.”

“I’m sorry, I just don’t get how we went from him running into you to you now sleeping at his place,” Harper says.

“Did you sleep with him?” Ava shouts.

“Why didn’t you call me?” Harper asks. “You could have stayed at my place. Jeremy wouldn’t have minded.”

“The fuck he wouldn’t,” Ava says under her breath because it’s no secret Jeremy is not our biggest fan, and the feeling is so very mutual. I decided ignoring them both would be better.

“There’s an unattached cottage behind Nate’s house that Claire used to live in as his nanny, but she’s moving, so it’s empty.”

“Oh, I see where this is going,” Ava says.

“Long story short, we’ve come to a bit of a…pact. I’m staying in the guest house, babysitting occasionally when he needs it, and helping to convince his daughter that Christmas miracles do happen. In exchange, he’s giving me a place to stay and helping me fix my place.”

Neither of them say anything, which is both a relief and a bit of a surprise. While Ava loves to jump into chaos and, pre-Jaime, would absolutely have done something like this, Harper is logical. At the very least, I expected her to have a few more questions.

“So what now?” Ava says.

“Well…” I start. “Well, I guess I have to unblock him first.”

“You’re living in his house, and he’s blocked?” Harper asks, and Ava just laughs.

“God, so typical,” Ava adds through her laughter.

“Jules, you need to unblock him,” Harper insists.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know.”

“Like, now.” Harper’s mom voice comes into play, and I groan before tapping at the screen of my phone and scrolling to where the contact Nate with a pink heart is.

I don’t know why I didn’t delete the contact or why I simply blocked him and left it that way, but I never looked at that too closely. Now, I guess I can be grateful for that small oversight. I tap on the screen a few times until I see unblock and hesitate.

“Did you do it?” Ava asks. I shake my head. “Why not?”

“I’m…nervous?

“You’re living in his house and agreed to watch his kid, Jules. I think we’re a bit past being nervous to unblock him,” Ava says.

Taking a deep breath, I press the unblock button, then stare at my phone, waiting as if something magical is going to happen instantly.

“Did you do it?”

“Yeah,” I say, and a moment later, a new message pops up.

Nate

Did you unblock me yet?

Finally.

I smile at the screen, and Ava laughs. Harper shouts, asking what happened. “He texted me,” I say, panicking a bit.

“What did he say?” Ava asks.

“And why are you smiling like that?” Harper asks.

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