Page 24 of Blind Date: A Single Dad Baby Romance

I let out a long sigh.

“You do!” She perked up at that.

“I don’t know. I can’t risk losing my job over a man.”

“There are other jobs.”

I shook my head. “Teaching jobs aren’t always that easy to get. And they’re even harder if you’ve been fired from a job because you’ve been sleeping with a parent.”

She blew out a breath. “I see. That would be a conundrum. What are you going to do?”

I shrugged. “I need to stop having sex with him. He’s looking at buying a house for himself and Mollie. The sooner that happens and he’s not my neighbor, the better.” But the prospect made me sad. I blamed the wine when tears came to my cheeks.

“Oh, honey.” Angela put her ice cream down and scooted next to me. She wrapped her arm around me. “Something will work out.”

I rested my head on her shoulder. “I’m supposed to be comforting you.”

“We’ll comfort each other. Should I ask my cute coworker if he’s got a friend? My last attempt to set you up went pretty good. Perhaps I have a future in matchmaking.”

I laughed and felt so grateful to have a friend like Angela. I told myself that whatever happened with Will, or even my job, she’d be there for me.

Chapter 10

Will

It was the middle of the day on Friday, and I was working like a madman to complete this project for an online start up needing ad copy for its website. I wanted to get it done and invoiced because I had a new project for an existing client that paid well and I wanted to focus on that next week. That project would give me the final few thousand I needed for a down payment to buy a house for Mollie and me.

I was just hitting save on the sales letter when there was a knock and then my door opened.

“Will?”

“Rick.” I stood from my makeshift office in the dining portion of my condo. When I bought Mollie and me a house, I’d have a room for a separate office. I was looking forward to that, although I would miss having the ocean as my office view. “What’s up, man?”

“I know you’re working, but it’s Friday. I brought us some brew.” He held up a case of beer.

I quirked a brow. “Where’s Angela?”

He sighed and it looked like all the air had gone out of him. “She’s gone, man.” Then he straightened. “But I’m a free man. Can’t be tied down, you know?”

I nodded, although it appeared to me Rick wanted to be tied down. It also appeared he needed a friend. My mother was picking up Mollie from school for a girl’s weekend, so I had time to help a friend in need. Hopefully, he’d be gone by the time Ellie got home because I had plans for us that involved her little toy, Fred. “Let me send this invoice and I’ll meet you on the balcony.”

“I’ll start without you.” He made his way outside.

I sent my invoice and then grabbed a bag of tortilla chips and salsa to help absorb Rick’s beer drinking. I suspected this wasn’t the first one of the day.

I sat next to him and watched the ocean roll in and out. It was a kind of therapy. “So, what happened?” I opened my beer and took a long swig.

“Fuck man, I’m not sure.” He drank from his bottle. “She was saying something about how all my stuff was there and I blew a gasket. I’m not ready to move in with her.”

I wasn’t sure I heard him right. “She asked you to move your stuff in?”

“Nah. I spend a lot of time there, right? So, I have a lot of stuff there, and she was pointing that out. But I knew what she was really saying.”

“What was she really saying?” I grabbed a chip, scooped some dip and put it in my mouth.

“She wants to move in together. Take the next step. You know.”

“So, you told her you weren’t ready?”

“Yes, and then she was in my face about how I was an arrogant ass and that wasn’t what she was saying, and it just went all off the rails from there.”

It sounded like my friend lost his girl over a miscommunication. “I’m sorry. Do you think you two will work it out?”

He shook his head. “I don’t have any stuff there now. I packed it all and hightailed it out of there. I spent that first night at the Blue Light, drinking my fill, and checking out the ladies.”

I rolled my eyes. I wasn’t quite sure how serious Rick and Angela were, but I felt certain that his finding companionship with another woman wasn’t going to help him, and would likely make it hard to reconcile with Angela if that was an option.

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