Page 74 of The Omega's Fake Mate

Breathe, Nick. Breathe.

Kade came back down the stairs, carrying two cups of coffee. “That's decaf for you,” he said, handing me one of them.

“I got a job interview,” I said before he could lay in on me about baby names again. Oh God, the baby. I couldn't keep living in LA with the baby, could I?

“A job interview?” Kade looked confused. “I thought you were working at that one diner now.”

Right, I'd never told him that I'd applied for a job with that studio. “I am.” And it was a horrible job too, but the tips were all right. “I applied for a couple more jobs before I came here in November, though. I never thought I'd be hearing back from any of them this late.”

“You make it sound like getting a job interview is a bad thing. What sort of job are we talking about?” Kade pulled up a chair and sat across from me.

Instead of wasting my breath on a long explanation, I simply showed him my phone with the email still opened on it. “Speed Lines Studio?”

Ugh. Obviously, my friend had no idea what sort of company that was. “It's a comic studio,” I explained. “It's okay if you don't know them. They only published the greatest comic bookever.”

“What's the greatest comic book ever?”

“Midnight Ranger, duh! He’s got alaser lasso, you can’t beat that.”

“Oh. I think Conner's friend Jake reads those.”

“Then Jake has good taste.” I huffed. “This is mydream job, Kade.”

“Really?” Kade handed the phone back to me, forehead creased in thought. “You never told me about that.”

“Because I never thought I had a shot. I don't know why I even applied, to be honest.”

“But now you've got an interview! Isn't that fantastic?” Kade looked like he was about to jump out of his chair from excitement. Was he really not getting this?

“If I got the job, I'd have to stay in LA,” I said. “I was kinda thinking about moving back here, though, you know.” Zander and I hadn't talked about it yet, but I didn't want to raise our child away from him. He had a store here, and there was nothing really keeping me in LA. Not until now, anyway.

“Oh.” My friend deflated. Finally, he seemed to be seeing the problem. “You should interview anyway. Maybe they can offer you a remote position if they really like you.”

I shook my head. “It's a miracle they offered me an interview at all. No one's going to hire a pregnant omega.”

Kade looked like he wanted to say something, but then he didn't. He knew the world we lived in too, after all.

“It's fine,” I said. “Not everyone can be as lucky as you.” My friend had it all—his dream job, a mate he loved, and a beautiful daughter. He deserved those things; he'd worked hard for them. But he was lucky too.

Kade licked his lips. “I'm sure you can find some way to make money off your drawings, even if you move here. Look at me, I had to resort to YouTube for a while too.”

“Yeah, you're right.” I put my phone away. From here on out, I was just going to pretend like I'd never seen that email. I'd been happy before it had arrived, why shouldn't I be happy again? “Let me hear those baby names you thought of,” I said to Kade. Baby names, that was what I needed to be thinking about now, not jobs I would never land anyway.

* * *

Igot backto Zander's place late that night. Kade had insisted I stay for dinner, and then we all got to talking for quite a while after. But I could see from the street that the light was still on in Zander's apartment. A smile formed on my lips, looking up.

Moving back to Oceanport wouldn't be so bad. I'd thought a lot about this over the past few weeks. Zander's apartment was big enough that the three of us could live there comfortably for a few years. It was way better than anything I could offer my child in LA. I wanted him or her to grow up the way I had, with snowball fights and sledding in the winter and treks through the forest in the summer. I wanted them to grow up with sea salt in their nose and the mountain wind in their lungs.

This was the right decision.

I just needed to keep that in mind and forget about the email.

Shoving all thoughts of job interviews aside, I moved to ring the door bell, but the door opened before I could.

“Saw you from the window,” Zander said with a grin.

“Anxiously waiting, were you?” I couldn't help but respond to his grin in kind. Everything felt easier around him, even giving up far-fetched job interviews.