Page 102 of Best Frenemies

Her building is only one subway stop and a two-block walk away from my place, and I manage it at record-breaking speed.

When I walk into her building, I offer Terry, her doorman, a friendly wave. He’s busy talking to a man with a Pomeranian on a leash, but since I’ve been here so many times in the past month we’re on a first-name basis, he doesn’t hesitate to give me an approving nod as I head to the elevators.

But just as I’m taking a step toward the next available cart as it opens its doors, the woman I came here for is walking off it.

“Katy?”

She stops on a dime, and her expression is a combination of outright surprise and kid-who-just-got-caught-with-their-hand-in-the-cookie-jar. And she’s not put-together like she normally prefers when she goes out. Her hair is in a messy bun, and she’s currently wearing sweatpants and a hooded jacket.

“Uh…hi,” she says, but her voice matches her odd appearance. It’s all off, and if I weren’t standing right in front of her, I’d question if the words even came from her mouth. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to check on you.”

“Oh.”

Oh?

“You never called me yesterday, and I wanted to make sure you were okay,” I explain and step closer to her. The instant the scent of her familiar flowery perfume hits my nose, the urge to hug her becomes too strong to resist. “Babe, I was worried about you,” I whisper into her hair. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she answers and ends the hug with a pointed step away from me. “I’m just…kind of in a rush right now.”

“Are you going somewhere?”

“Yeah…” She pauses again and stares down at her sandal-covered feet. “I…uh…have somewhere I need to be.”

“Where are you going?”

“I just have somewhere to be,” she repeats her earlier explanation, which is no explanation at all.

“What’s going on, Katy?”

“What do you mean?” she tosses back, her voice snapping softly like the edge of a barely jerked whip.

I don’t know what’s going on, but I certainly don’t like the feeling I have standing here with a Katy I can’t even recognize. She’s flighty and nervous and makes me feel like she wants to be anywhere but next to me. Hell, back when she couldn’t stand me, she’d at least make eye contact with me.

But right now, her eyes look every which way but at my face.

“Katy…you’re acting strange.”

“I’macting strangebecause you stopped by unannounced, and I don’t have time to sit here and chat because I have somewhere I need to be.” She is on the defensive, which is crazy, because I didn’t realize we were in a battle.

“Let me get this straight…you’re pissed at me for stopping by?”

“A little heads-up would’ve been nice.”

“I tried to call you three times this morning. You didn’t answer,” I counter. “Kinda hard to tell you anything when you don’t pick up the phone.”

“I was busy,” she snaps, completely losing patience with me. “I don’t know why you even care so much. It’s not like we’re in a relationship, Mack. I don’t owe you any explanations.”

It feels like her words dive-bomb straight to my chest and cut me wide open.

The way the word relationship falls from her tongue makes it feel like being in a relationship with me is the very last thing she’d ever want to do.

All I can do is laugh, but it’s harsh and rough and not out of humor at all. “Well, sorry I was worried about you,” I retort and run a frustrated hand through my hair. “I’ll try to worry about someone else next time.”

The instant the words leave my lips, I regret them.

But she doesn’t give me any room to apologize.

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