Page 36 of Love on the Line

Chapter 13

Anne’s cellphone rang with her sister’s tone, “Wild Thing.” It fit Maddie perfectly. Anne glanced out the window as the last school bus pulled away.

“Hey, Maddie. How you feeling?”

“Like a blimp. Can’t even cough without an adult diaper.”

Uh oh. Still a month to go. “I’m sorry.”

“Eh, it’s okay. I get to eat extra ice cream. Why not? What’s another pound at this point?”

“I’m sure you look amazing.” Anne bit her lip.

“If you say anything about pregnant women glowing, I swear I’ll come through this phone and pummel you.”

“Wouldn’t dare.” Maybe a subject change was in order. “How’s Sarah? I haven’t talked to her in a couple of weeks.”

“Same as always. She has three months to go. I bet she never tops one-ten. So annoying.”

“It’s in her genes. She got the good ones. Even before she did ballet, she could eat like a sumo wrestler and not gain an ounce.”

Maddie sighed. “Sorry, I didn’t call to complain. I wanted to know how you and the All-pro are doing?”

“He’d die if he heard you call him that.”

“Why? He is. I looked him up, and he’s broken a lot of records.”

Everyone had looked him up, except Anne. “I don’t know much about that, but I do know he doesn’t brag.”

“So gimme the goods. What base are you guys on, or did he already hit it out of the park?”

Leave it to Maddie to be direct. Anne’s face heated. “We are not discussing this.”

“Oh hell, you never share. Fine. If you won’t tell me how he is in bed, at least give me relationship status.”

Wyatt in bed. Anne’s stomach knotted. That would be a big step for her. “Well, it’s been a month since the Valentine’s date, and we’ve spent some time on the weekends together. So, I guess things are okay, but he’s interviewing for a coaching job at USC, so I really don’t see this going anywhere.”

“Yeah, and my Scott was going to be an undercover DEA agent forever, until he wasn’t. Things change. Tell me more. Like if you aren’t sleeping with him, what do you do?”

“Seriously? Can we not talk about sex or lack thereof?”

“You wouldn’t be so uptight if you were getting some. Just saying.” Maddie laughed.

“Okay.” Anne blew out a breath. “We watch movies, make dinner, take his dog to the park. You know. Normal stuff.”

“Huh.”

Anne picked up a stack of papers that needed grading and placed them in her briefcase. “What’s that ‘huh’ for?”

“I’m surprised he has a dog and that you’re doing everyday kind of things with him. I mean, there are a lot of flashy pictures of him out on the town with women dressed to the hilt. I figured he lived in some mansion and would be wining and dining you.”

A ringlet of anxiety wound around Anne’s spine. So far, they’d only gone to local hangouts, and she’d been fine with that because she didn’t like flashy or to be the center of attention. If they went some place upscale, that was bound to happen with Wyatt’s celebrity status.

He’d offered to take her to that new Baltimore restaurant once, but that was the only time, and he’d been trying to get her to go on a second date. Was he embarrassed to take her out to the nicer places because she didn’t measure up? Another log to toss on the fire of doubt. Might not take long for him to think she was boring, too.

“Anne? You still there?”

“Yeah?”

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