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I don’t know if I’m on a fool’s errand or not, but Ariana is worth fighting for. She may turn me away, but that’s a risk I’m willing to take. It’s better than wallowing in my own self-pity all day tomorrow. Speaking of wallowing. I sniff my armpits. It’s not good.
Callie laughs. “Maybe you should go take a shower, shave, put on some cologne.” She cocks her head to the side. “Or don’t shave. The stubble isn’t a bad look for you.”
I rub my hand across my pokey face. “If you say so.”
“You should believe her,” Weston says. “Callie knows her stuff. It’s part of why I keep her around.”
“That and you want babies with me.” Callie smirks at him.
“Whoa,” Weston says. “One kid at a time.”
“I’m just saying,” Callie teases. “There are more babies in our future. I want a little Weston Jr. running around.”
“Now that I can get behind,” I say.
And if tonight goes well, then I might have babies in my future one day too.
31
ARIANA
The next morning, Corey comes by to pick up Mittens. It’s a good thing because I’m getting tired of sneezing. We load him up with the cat carrier, cat bed, litter box, and cat bed Farah got last night. She might have gone a bit overboard on the cat toys for one night, but who was I to tell her not to? She wouldn’t even take the reimbursement money from me, insisting that I needed it more than she did if I was going to be looking for a job.
I’d broken down and told her I wouldn’t be working for Keith Enterprises for much longer. I didn’t give her details, and I could tell she wanted to hear the entire story, but didn’t want to press me for too many details.
Over coffee, she said, “You need to tell me what’s going on. Why are you so miserable, and why are you quitting your dream job that you’ve been so excited about?”
“I’m surprised you’ve held out this long to interrogate me.” I sip the hot coffee, feeling better already.
“I wanted to wait until you’d had some sleep. You looked exhausted.”
That might have had to do with me staying up late Friday night reading Kaison’s book. And I couldn’t help myself tonight, either. I ended up staying up until three, finishing the thing. I kind of wanted to leave him a review, but my profile has my name in it and I didn’t want his secret identity getting exposed.
“But you’re awake enough now. Tell me why you’re so upset.”
“Is it that obvious?” I ask.
“You look like you’ve been crying.”
I touch my puffy face. I’d tried to cover it up with makeup, but obviously that hadn’t been enough.
“I broke up with Kaison.”
“Wait. You were dating him? I thought he was a player that you were staying away from? How could you keep something this huge from me?”
“I’m sorry, Farah. I didn’t know it was happening until recently. And even then I’ve been fighting off the idea.”
“But why?” she asks. “Because of the player thing?”
“I don’t even know anymore. I think it’s me at this point,” I say. “My reasoning is all jumbled up in my head, and I can’t even follow it.”
“Well, let’s talk it out then,” she says. “What are you running from?”
“I don’t want my heart getting broken.”
“Has Kaison been having a bunch of girls over at the house since you’ve been there?”
“His ex did show up, and I’m worried he might still be hung up on her. He says he’s not, but I’m not so sure.”