Page 118 of Shortcake
“Just Mia?” Conrad asked.
“Yeah.”
“Not Adam?” he pressed.
With a roll of her eyes, Harper grunted a sound that sounded like she was hocking a loogie. “No, Dad.”
“Good. You’ve been seeing a lot of him. I want you to come up for air… make sure you nurture the friends with the girls you’re meeting, too.”
“I know, Dad.God.”
“What kind of school supplies?”
“Notebooks. Pens… the good pens, not the crappy BICs. Clear folders for our papers we turn in. Apparently, the teachers here are old school and if you print out your papers and present them professionally you get extra credit.”
“Is Addy there?”
Another eye roll, then she held the phone out to me. “He wants to talk to you.”
I took the phone, ignoring the way my heart fluttered as I held it up to my ear. I walked across the room so that she couldn’t hear the conversation like I could. “Hey.”
“You had her call me,” he said simply. “You didn’t just let her go shopping with Mia.”
I shrugged even though he couldn’t see me. “Well, I’m not her parent. It didn’t feel like it was my call to make.”
“Thank you,” he said, his voice softening.
“You’re welcome. So? What’s the verdict?”
“She can go as long as she’sonlymeeting up with some of her new girlfriends. I’m a little worried she’s spending too much time with Adam.”
I chuckled. “Yeah. But that’s a teenage girl for you.”
“There’s a little stationary store here downtown right beside the precinct. I can bring her home with me after I finish up here.”
Excitement pulsed in my belly as an idea hatched in my mind. Maybe I could pay Conrad a surprise visit to the precinct. I bit my lip as hunger scorched between my thighs.
I missed Conrad. I missed having one on one time with him. And that kiss this morning only ignited my desire to see him again. Alone.
“I can do that,” I said and felt my eyebrow stretch into an arch as I glanced over my shoulder at Harper. She was on the other side of my bedroom, petting Eleanor through the cage.
“I’m looking forward to book club tomorrow night. It feels like we haven’t had a lot of time together lately,” I whispered.
“I know,” he said. “I’m sorry. Work’s just been crazy this week.”
“Is that all it is?” I asked, making sure to keep my voice lowered so Harper couldn’t hear.
The long pause he took made my entire body clench. Tension filled my muscles as I waited for his answer.
“Just a busy week, Addy,” he finally said after a beat. “That’s all.”
“Okay. Well… good.”
This was ridiculous. I was a grown ass woman. And he was even more grown up than I was. If he said everything was fine, why couldn’t I just take him at his word? Wasn’t that a complaint men always had about women? That we read too much between the lines?
If Conradsayseverything is okay, why shouldn’t I believe him? Weren’t we both too damn old for these games?
“Is it busy at the precinct tonight?”
