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“Drunk? No. Tipsy? Yes.”
“You’d been tipsy around Kit before, and I didn’t wind up an aunt.”
I smile, then shrug a shoulder. “I’d just moved to a new city. Everything with Isaac was still fresh. I know you’re supposed to blame the cheater, not question what’s wrong with you, but I hadn’t feltwantedin a while. We were at the same party at the end of the summer. It just … happened. I only expected it to be one night, and it was. Then I wound up as his assistant.”
“In my defense, you’d always ignored Kit. I had no idea you’d?—”
“I know you didn’t. And I probably should have turned the job down after what happened, but I’m glad that I didn’t. I found out I was pregnant a couple of weeks later. Anyway, you know the rest.”
“Actually, I don’t. You’relivinghere?” She waves a hand toward the wall we’re leaning against. “And is that a convenience thing, or are you together?”
“My old apartment was in Brooklyn. It made sense for me to move closer.”
“So, you guys aren’t together?”
I fiddle with a button. “I’m not sure what we are. I don’t want him to feel trapped. I know he chose to be involved, but he didn’t choose this pregnancy. And I don’t want him to think he has to commit to me to prove he’s ready for this responsibility or to be a good father. Or to confuse lust with other feelings because we’re going through this experience together.”
Rather than look sympathetic, Lili laughs. “Are you serious?”
“Yes,” I reply, a little affronted by her amusement. That was all honest.
“Kit has had ‘other feelings’ for you since he was sixteen, Collins. It doesn’t have anything to do with you being pregnant.” She crosses her ankles. “Okay, I went to Kit’s office at lunchtime. He was in a meeting, so I talked his new assistant into letting me into his office. I was going to nap on the couch but decided to relax in his chair instead. You should have seen the look on Kit’s face when he walked in and saw me sitting there.” She giggles. “Anyway, you never looked at the photo he keeps on his desk next to his computer?”
I shake my head. “No. I would just stack papers on his desk. I never went behind it.”
“Well, that makes me feel better because it crossed my mind that maybe you guys used to dostuffin his chair, back when you worked there, after I already sat down in it.”
I make a face. “Lili.”
“That wasn’t my point. The point is, it’s from my graduation party. Me and him and Bash and Flynn.” She unlocks her phone and hands it to me. “And you.”
I stare at the screen. I have a vague recollection of taking pictures at Lili’s graduation party—there was a professional photographer in attendance—but I never saw any of the shots.
“Kit has this on his desk?”
Lili nods. “It was there the first time I visited him. Before you started working for him.”
Before he knew I was pregnant, she means.
“You know, Kit called me twice as much freshman year as he did the rest of college, and it wasn’t because he missed me more at first. The only time he voluntarily helped me move was when I was leaving Montgomery Hall. The only Red, White, and Blue party he didn’t immediately disappear from was the year you came. Kit’s blunt, Collins, and you know that. He’s always acted differently around you, but I don’t think I realized how serious he was about you until last night. Dad’s his hero, and Charlie said he’d been yelling for a while before Mom and I got home. That should tell you everything you need to know.” She yawns. “Okay. I’ve gotta go before I fall asleep again.”
I start to stand as Lili does.
“Careful,” she says, steadying me before reaching down for the cider. She hands the bottle to me with a broad smile. “Congratulations.”
I smile. “Thanks.”
We hug, and it feels different from all the times before. When I was randomly assigned to room with Lili Kensington, I wasn’t sure we’d wind up as friends. I never could have predicted we’d end uphere. Family.
“I’ll see you next weekend,” she says as she releases me.
“Next weekend?” I question. “What’s next weekend?”
“Dinner at my parents’. They wanted to have you and Kit overthisweekend, but he was very insistent you guys had plans that couldn’t be changed?” Lili arches an eyebrow.
For a moment, my mind is blank. And then I realize … this is the first weekend I don’t work for him.
“Oh. Right. Yeah, we’re, uh, busy.”