Page 12 of Only for Tonight (Only For #1)

ten

Ariella

“T onight, you’ll call him,” I tell myself.

“You will come back from lunch and text him and then tell him to call you.” I slip off the plush robe that I’ve been wearing since I got out of the shower this morning.

“Or you call, make it ring twice, and then hang up.” I dig through the clothes in my suitcase before walking to the side of the bed, putting on my earrings, and then walking outside to the sitting area.

Picking up the phone beside the couch, I press the valet button. “Good afternoon, Ms. Weber,” the guy greets me with a chipper tone in his voice.

“Hi. I’m going to be going out in a few minutes,” I tell him.

“We’ll have your vehicle waiting for you,” he assures me right away. “Give us five minutes.”

“No worries,” I respond, putting the phone back in its cradle before grabbing the white sneaker beside the couch.

I slip my foot into it before tying the laces and repeating it with the other one.

Then I stand up and walk over to the hanging mirror in the corner of the hotel room, right near the entrance of the door.

I take one look at myself before I tuck my hair behind my ear and turn to grab my black purse.

I’m wearing tan-colored, high-waisted dress pants that go right to my ankle and a white short-sleeved, soft cotton shirt tucked in.

The pants are a bit snug on me, but I’m convincing myself it’s because I ate two slices of cake and ice cream for breakfast. I’m about to walk out of the room before I remember my phone that is on the bedside table.

I walk toward the bedroom, grabbing it and then seeing my silver watch and the silver bracelet my father gave me last year for Christmas, so I put them both on.

Snapping the watch clasp shut, I hold the phone in my hand as I walk out of the room.

I almost forget the key card. “Pregnancy brain is a fucking thing,” I mumble, grabbing the key card and sliding it in my purse before finally walking out of the room.

I hold my purse in both hands as I wait for the elevator to come up to collect me. I smile at the couple in the elevator when it stops on my floor, and I step in. Looking forward as it goes down, stopping at a couple of floors, before finally opening and everyone exiting on the lobby level.

I make my way toward the valet stand, seeing the rental car parked at the curb. “Hi,” I greet the valet who smiles at me. “That’s me.” I point over to the car.

“Do you have the valet stub?” he asks me, trying to be polite about it and I laugh at him.

“That would help, wouldn’t it?” I open my purse and reach into the little pocket inside, taking out the white stub with black writing. He takes it from me and grabs the car keys in front of him, handing them to me.

“Have a nice day.” He smiles at me as I head toward the rental car. I open the driver’s door and get in before starting the car and putting in the address to the restaurant.

I pull out of the hotel, my head trying to not spin with all the things that are going to happen. I turn the radio on, hoping it calms me down. I’m two minutes into the song when the phone rings and I see it’s my father calling.

“Hey, Dad,” I answer the phone.

“Hey yourself, Ariella, where are you?” His voice is tight and he sounds worried.

“I’m in LA,” I tell him, “I had a couple of clients to see out here.” And a baby daddy to inform that he is in fact going to be a baby daddy.

“I was getting worried when you haven’t called me since last week.”

I follow the directions to the restaurant. “Sorry, the trip came up last minute, and by the time I got here, and the time change,” I start to fumble my words, “it’s just been a busy trip.”

“When are you heading back home?” he asks me. “Your mom and I were thinking about coming to visit.”

“Oh, I’m not sure just yet, to be honest. I want to make sure I see everyone I need to see.” Like Jaxon and tell him that I’m having his kid. “So I don’t have to make another trip west.”

“Okay, are you going to see Zoey while you are there?”

“I’m on my way to go and have lunch with her right now,” I inform him.

“Okay, well, I’ll let you go, and keep me updated with your plans, please. Even though you live in a different state, I like to know where my kids are.”

“You got it, Dad,” I tell him, “I love you.”

“Love you more, kiddo,” he says and disconnects the phone at the same time I pull up to the restaurant, and I start to get nauseated. Which isn’t out of the norm for me now, but the back of my neck starts to tingle as I park my car.

“Well, let’s hope when you tell him you’re pregnant, he doesn’t put two and two together and know exactly why you are here.

” I take a deep inhale before grabbing my purse and walking toward the brown door, pulling it open and stepping in.

I try to calm myself down but know nothing is going to make me calm.

I stop at the hostess stand that says “please wait to be seated” before looking around the restaurant to see if I can spot her.

I see her sitting in the corner of the room, and I smile as I make my way to her.

“Well, there she fucking is,” Zoey announces when she looks up from her phone and spots me coming toward her.

“Here the fuck I am,” I reply, looking around the restaurant to see if anyone is listening to our exchange. I notice the restaurant is practically empty, which makes sense since she did this in the middle of the afternoon after the lunch rush.

She gets up and comes over to give me a big hug.

I try not to cry when I feel her arms around me, but I’m literally filled with all kinds of hormones.

I close my eyes as a tear escapes without me wanting it to.

I step away from her and wipe the corner of my eye.

“Sorry, I’m”—I throw my hand in the air—“filled with all these feelings and shit.”

“Feelings and shit?” She grabs my hand and pulls me to the table, going to her seat as she waits for me to pull out the chair in front of her.

I place my purse on the chair beside me, and before I can say anything, the waitress comes over, dressed in a white button-down shirt, black pants, and a black bow tie.

“Hi, welcome to Deluca’s Italian Steakhouse.” She smiles at me. “Can I start you off with a cocktail?”

“I’ll have sparkling water,” I tell her and she nods at me, then looks over at Zoey.

“I’ll have a glass of pinot,” Zoey orders and smiles at her, waiting for her to walk away before turning back to me.

“Okay, well, let’s start with things slowly,” she starts, moving the big brown leather menu from in front of her. “Why the fuck are you here and you didn’t call or come and stay with us?”

“I think that’s not starting slowly.” I laugh and take a sip of the water that was poured when Zoey got here.

“I had some work,” I lie to her and her eyebrows pinch together.

“Okay, fine, I didn’t have any work,” I tell her and stop talking when someone brings over a basket of bread with a plate of butter.

“So what are you doing here?” she asks. “I’ll get into why you aren’t staying with us in a bit.”

“I came out to talk to the father,” I state and she gasps.

“Have you spoken to him?” she asks and I shake my head. “Have you called him?”

“I sort of showed up at his house,” I tell her, without mentioning his name. She gasps again.

“Shut the fuck up.” Her eyes are big and her mouth hangs open. “You just showed up at his house?” All I can do is nod. “Talk about freebasing.”

“I don’t think that saying makes sense in this situation since that’s about cocaine”—I shrug—“but what do I know about lingo?”

“You showed up at his house,” she repeats, still in shock. “Like, knock, knock, knock. Can me and your child come in for a cup of water?”

“Well, I showed up and—” I close my eyes and tell her all about the scene.

“His girlfriend was there.” She slaps the table. “I’m going to kick his ass, and I don’t even know who he is.” She picks up her phone.

“What are you doing?”

“Calling in reinforcements,” she scoffs at me. “I think this is what the Bat Signal is used for,” she mentions the way her mom’s side of the family deals with things, “but I’m not sure.”

I reach up and grab her phone from her. “Can we not send out any signal?” I put the phone down beside me.

“Well, I have to at least tell Nash that he is going to have to bail me out of jail.” I laugh when I see she is one thousand percent serious.

“I love you so hard, but no one is going to kick anyone’s ass.” I try to defuse the situation. “He said he didn’t have a girlfriend when we hooked up.”

“Of course he did.” She shakes her head. “Maury says that’s a lie.”

“I have no idea what that means either,” I tell her and stop talking when the waitress comes over with our drinks.

“I’m going to need you to keep this coming,” Zoey says, grabbing her glass of wine and taking a huge sip.

The waitress smiles at her. “Will do. Do you want to hear about the specials?” she asks us.

“No,” Zoey snaps out. “Sorry, we’re in the middle of something.

How about you bring out the meatballs, the beef carpaccio, and the Italian salad to start?

” She nods at her. “Then we’ll see if we need more food.

” She walks away and then Zoey turns back to me.

“Okay, so you show up, and his girlfriend is there. You don’t say anything and you just walk out? ”

“Pretty much.” I grab a piece of bread and slather it with butter. “I wasn’t going to be like, ‘Hey, can we have a minute so I can tell your boyfriend that I’m pregnant with his child and he can be as involved as he wants to be. Come back in five minutes.’ She was wearing his shirt.”

“And that was two days ago?”

“Correct,” I confirm, taking a bite of the bread.

“What the fuck have you been doing the past two days?”

“I’ve been having some me time, and burying myself in carrot cake and cheesecake. Sometimes in the same bite.” Her face grimaces. “It’s not as bad as you think it is. Okay, well, I have to go to the bathroom again because now that I’m pregnant my bladder has become the size of a pea.”

I push my chair back and get up. “Wait until you sneeze and pee yourself. Good times ahead. We are so excited to be pregnant.” She claps her hands while smiling at me.

I wash my hands when I’m done in the bathroom and pull open the door. I walk back toward the front of the restaurant at the same time the door opens, and I look over and stop when I see him. His face shows me he’s just as shocked as I am that we’re both here.

I stop walking, turning as he steps in. I see he’s wearing a pair of black jeans and a white shirt with a brown jacket, the sleeves are pushed up to his elbows, showing off all his mouthwatering tattoos. “Ariella,” he says my name as if he doesn’t believe I’m here.

“I swear I’m not following you,” I reply before I can stop myself. “I’m here having lunch with Zoey.” I point over at Zoey, who is on her phone and I hope she’s not calling in her Bat friends.

“I texted you,” he states and I take a step back.

“I didn’t get a text,” I inform him and he pulls out his phone, his fingers typing in his password as he turns the phone and shows me.

“Oh, that’s not my number. I changed my number when I got my big-girl job.”

“What are you doing in town?” he asks. It’s so awkward I think I’d rather have anal bleaching done after getting waxed.

I take a big breath in. “I actually am in town because I wanted to talk to you about something.”

His eyes go big and he’s about to say something to me when the door opens. I look over his shoulder at the door and I was wrong. Now, right now, I would rather have the anal bleaching. “Spencer,” I say his name and he looks at me, shocked.

“Ariella.” He walks through the door and wraps his arm around my waist, bringing me in for a kiss on my cheek. “Is today my lucky day?”

“No,” Jaxon snaps out and he looks over at him.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Jaxon,” he says, holding out his hand. “I’m Spencer Booth.”

Jaxon puts his hand forward as they both shake hands. “Nice to finally meet you.”

“How do you two know each other?” he asks Spencer, but I answer for him.

“We dated for about a year,” I say, suddenly nervous. “We broke up when he moved from New York to Dallas.”

“Should have tried to get you to come with me,” Spencer says to me. I don’t remind him we broke up because he had a wandering eye, and the fact I was sure he cheated on me, but never had the evidence. “How do you two know each other?”

“We’ve known each other her whole life,” Jaxon states.

“Oh, right, right,” he says. “I forgot about the connection between your fathers.”

“It’s more than that,” Jaxon says, and I want to be like, “You have no idea how much more,” but I just stand here.

“Why don’t you go grab a table?” Jaxon tells Spencer. “I’ll be right there.”

“Will do,” he says, nodding, then turning back to me. “Maybe we can get dinner if you’re in town for much longer.”

“Maybe.” I smile at him, not even interested in having coffee with him. He walks away, going to the hostess stand.

Jaxon waits until he’s out of earshot before he looks back at me. “Why don’t you come over tonight and we can talk?”

“That would be good. What time do you want me to come by?”

He hands me his phone. “Put your number in, please,” he asks me. I go to the text thread with my old number, click the picture, and then edit the contact before putting in my new number. “As soon as I finish here, I’m going to go home so you can come over after that.”

“I’ll call you before I come over,” I tell him. He nods his head before walking over to the table where Spencer is sitting.

After I walk back to the table, I pull out the chair. “Can I ask what the fuck that was about?” Zoey looks over at the table where Jaxon is semi-glaring at Spencer.

I think about making a story up, but I’m so tired and she’s going to find out in a bit anyway. “That would be my ex-boyfriend and the other one would be my baby daddy.” I point over my shoulder. “Jaxon, and not the other one.”