Page 40 of Time Out

“Ugh. I hate that name.”

“Then maybe don’t give my number and address out to almost-strangers, regardless of how cute they are?”

She laughed. “I promise I won’t give your address or phone number out to anyone who hasn’t already gotten you pregnant. How’s that?”

Considering this was a once in a lifetime situation… “Fine. I agree and forgive you.”

“So, how did it go? Did he call you last night? I thought about warning you, but then didn’t want to get your hopes up in case he backed out.”

“I talked to him. He was at my apartment when I got home from work.”

“Oh… well, I hadn’t exactly expected that.”

“Neither did I. He scared me so bad I almost fell down the stairs.”

I told her everything else on my walk home. From Davis showing up and scaring me in the hallway to cooking me eggs this morning. She was all caught up by the time I walked into the building and found a maintenance worker bent down handing something to another worker standing in the open shaft of our broken elevator.

Thank goodness. Four flights of stairs were a killer after a long shift at work.

“I’m going to lose you in the stairwell, so I’ll let you go.” Cell reception vanished around the second story landing. Another reason I was glad the elevator was getting fixed.

“All right. Have any plans this weekend? It’s New Year’s.”

“Pretty sure I’ll be asleep by eight and alone.”

“You can come hang out with Lance and me. My parents are throwing a party at their place.”

Spend the night in a mansion with a bunch of drunk rich people, while I had to struggle to stay awake? Who could pass that up?

Me. One hundred percent.

“Next year.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m pregnant, exhausted all the time, and just like you said, there’ll be people there who might recognize me.” It was, after all, how Belle and I became such good friends and why she helped me out the night we met.

“Fine,” she pouted. “But I don’t like the thought of you alone.”

I was always alone when I wasn’t with Belle. I’d gotten used to it long before I ever tried going to college.

My phone buzzed and I checked the screen, surprised to see Davis’s name appear.

“Hey, I need to go. We’ll talk soon, okay?”

“All right. Love you, Mags. Call if you need me.”

“Will do.”

I ended the call and pulled up Davis’s text. When he left that morning, he said we’d talk later. But he was busy with football, and he’d told me this Sunday’s game was the last of the regular season. It’d determine who would end up as the divisional champion. I’d smiled and pretended to understand I knew what they were talking about. Either way, I hadn’t expected him to reach out so soon.

Any chance you’re not working and want to have dinner with me tonight? I was thinking of ordering pizza.

My stomach rumbled as I caught sight of the word pizza. All those chewy carbohydrates? I could probably eat pizza every day. I hadn’t even told him it was something I’d been craving.

Crazy.

Which meant there was really only one option.

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