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.This is a study date.However, I can tell by the way the guy looks at her, he wouldn’t mind if it were more.I want to assure him he doesn’t have a chance in hell but Paige would kill me.“Well, I guess we’ll let you get back to work.”Paige gives me a tight smile as she hands Bree back to me.Her eyes are telling me this isn’t over.Bree frets initially and it takes me a few seconds to get her settled.I’m able to distract her with one of her toys.Hooking the diaper bag higher on my shoulder, I nod at her date.“It was good to meet you, Craig… I don’t think I caught your last name.”“Hooper,” he replies as if the word is being forced from him.“Right,” I say with a nod.When I shift my attention to Paige, her eyes are quietly blazing.But that’s okay.I can deal with that.At least I’ve seen the guy and I know his full name.That’s worth whatever anger will be coming my way.“Okay, I’ll see you when you get home then.” I flash her a smile.I don’t wait for a response, I simply turn and start toward the front.“Come on, Bree, let’s go to the park.”Paige“So that’s your ex, huh?”Craig’s question jerks my attention back to him.I hastily sit down and force a smile.“Yep, that’s him.” I really hope he doesn’t start in with the questions.Especially after I spent the last five minutes resisting the urge to ring Mitch’s damn neck.“So you too aren’t…?” He raises an eyebrow, clearly expecting me to catch his meaning.“Back together? No we’re not.” I deliberately make my voice firm, hoping to close off this particular line of questioning.“Well you might want to tell him that,” he says with a smirk.“I don’t need to tell him anything.He knows that,” I say, starting to feel a little miffed.Whatever is going on between us is really none of his business.But Craig stopped paying attention to me a second ago, his gaze fixed on something behind me.I turn in the chair and follow the direction of his stare.Mitch hasn’t left yet.No, he’s chatting with a blonde wearing a purple miniskirt and a baby-blue halter-top that leaves a good three inches of her toned midriff bare.God, is that—? Amanda Reynolds.Her hair is blonder and longer than she’d worn it in high school, but that’s her.She and Mitch had gone out when we were all sophomores, and during our senior year, she never missed a chance to remind me she’d been with him first.Once I’d asked Mitch why they’d broken up—the rumor was she cheated on him—and he’d told me they had nothing in common.It had taken him almost a year to figure that out?Watching him with her now—with my daughter—he sure looks like he finds her plenty interesting.She giggles, tosses her hair back, and places her hand on his arm.I grit my teeth and something that feels like heartburn settles in my chest.Mitch says something to her as he glances down at Bree.Even from way in the back, I hear her, “Oh my God, Mitch, she is adorable.” Then Mitch turns and nods in my direction.Amanda’s neck swivel reminds me of that scene in The Exorcist, and when our eyes meet, she flashes a fake smile at me, lifting her hand to give me a poor imitation of one of those British royal waves.Thank God she makes no move to come over.I breathe a small sigh of relief.I was afraid she’d feel compelled to do the PC thing and “catch up”.No, she looks perfectly content flirting with Mitch while making kissy faces at my daughter.Who knew she could multitask so effectively.If I remember correctly, her grades were less than desirable.“Are they together?” Craig asks.What do I look like, Mitch’s keeper?“I have no idea,” I reply as if the thought of them together doesn’t send a bolt of searing-hot pain through me.Craig levels me with a look, weaving his fingers together and widening his elbows on the table.“If the two of you aren’t together anymore, why is he here?”“I don’t know.” I strive to keep the irritation from my voice.Craig and I are lab partners and working on this project together.We are here to divvy up our assignment and go over our notes and that’s all.Which doesn’t give him the right to subject me to this Spanish Inquisition.“I’ll tell you why.So I would know he’s in the picture.And to size me up,” Craig ends with a one-armed shrug before reclining back to regard me.I try to hide my ever-increasing irritation with a laugh.“Craig, you’re acting as if there’s something besides studying going on between us.” I’d made my position on this very clear to him the first week of class.“I’m not talking now.I’m talking about the future.”Oh crap.“Look, Craig, I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but there is no future between us either.I thought you understood that.”His gaze narrows before raking me up and down.“Then what’s with the hair and the outfit?”I gasp.Literally gasp at what he’s insinuating.“What exactly are you saying?” Oh I know.I just want to hear him say it in plain English—a language we’re both fluent in so there will be no ambiguities or misunderstandings.“I’m saying why did you get all dressed up if you’re not interested?”Bitterness doesn’t go well with his whole blue-eyed, blond-haired appeal.He always came across to me as the cool, laid-back type who never lets anything ruffle him.I didn’t think he was the type to get all pissy when a girl tells him she’s not interested.“How about I got dressed up because this was literally the only time I get out of the house when I’m not going to work or to school or have a kid on my hip.I haven’t gone to a movie since I was pregnant and I haven’t been to one single social event that doesn’t include my daughter.So, yes, today I wanted to look nice.” By the time my mini-rant is over, Craig’s face is three shades of red.“Shit, Paige, I’m sorry,” he says, his expression apologetic.“That was…uncalled for.Ignore me, I’m just being a dick.”He can say that again.“And now I’ve ruined everything, right?” he asks, but his eyes are hopeful.“Let’s just finish this, okay?”“Not until you tell me you forgive me,” he says, wearing a repentant half smile.I heave a sigh and roll my eyes.“Seriously.I accept that you don’t want to go out with me.I’ll never ask you again.But you know I’m new in town, so I can’t afford to lose the few friends I’ve made.”Damn.It’s impossible to stay mad at him now.Erin is right.I am too soft.“Fine.I’m wiping the slate clean.Let’s pretend the last ten minutes never happened.”“Good.” He reaches over and picks up his ham and cheese sandwich.“Now, as your friend, should I expect to find the tires on my truck slashed?” he asks wryly, before taking a bite.No.But Mitch might when I get done with him.Chapter 13PaigeI’m waiting in the hall, my arms crossed over my chest when Mitch comes in carrying our sleeping daughter.“What are you doing home so soon?” he asks.For a guy who just crashed my study date, he sure doesn’t look repentant.“We finished up early,” I reply tersely, taking in his mussed hair.“She’s zonked.” His voice goes soft as he gazes down at Bree.“Here, let me put her down.” I walk over to him and he gently places her in my arms.“I want to talk to you so don’t leave.I’ll just be a few minutes.”Mitch lowers the diaper bag to the floor and inclines his head in a nod.Still not looking like he did anything wrong.Well I’m going to fix that.Five minutes later, I find him in the family room looking at a framed picture of me when I was eight months pregnant.My mother loves that picture and I think I look like I swallowed a pumpkin.I resist the urge to snatch it from him.He shouldn’t get to see me like that because he wasn’t there [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]