Maria rolls her eyes. “Man, you haven’t changed at all. Spouting shit like you know what you’re talking about.”
I smile. “Sounding confident is the key.”
“Well, thanks. I think. It’s not like I have a way out, so I’m just…making the best of it.”
“It’s going to be great. My niece Lexi is one of the best things that’s ever happened to me. In fact, she’s about the only human I would miss a meal for.”
Maria giggles, joking, “You’re a big, strong boy. You need fuel in the form of food.”
“Yes. That is verbatim what I tell myself when I go for the second brownie.”
“Sorry, by the way,” she says, and I tilt my head to the side in confusion.
“Sorry for what?”
“Tossing all my crazy baggage onto you. I’m sure that’s the last thing you felt like hearing while being stuck in an elevator,” she explains, and I have the urge to pull her into my arms and tell her everything will be okay.
But I don’t. It’s nearly a thousand million degrees in here, and I can only imagine how little she wants to be smothered. Instead, I go for verbal reassurance.
“I’m glad you told me,” I say, and I mean every word to my core.
“Yeah, well, I’m sure you weren’t expecting that kind of reality when you saw my pregnant belly.”
“No,” I answer honestly. “But that’s life, Maria.”
“Yeah. That’s life.” She repeats my words. “And life can be a real bitch sometimes, you know?”
“Oh, trust me, I know.” A soft laugh escapes my lungs. And then I can’t stop myself from trying to make her feel a little better at my expense. “You want to know something wild about my life?’
“Um…yes. Please.” She nods with wide, urgent eyes.
“I still see Charlotte,” I tell her with a conspiratorial whisper. “She’s married to Nick Raines, Winnie’s ex and the father of my niece, Lexi.”
Even though I’m truly okay with the whole situation now, it isn’t necessarily one I enjoy talking about. But for some reason, with Maria, it’s easy. If anything, I want to tell her.
“Seriously?”
“My niece’s father is married to my ex-fiancée who left me at the altar.” I nod. “It’s almost some Maury Povich type of shit.”
“Man, we really are two peas in a crazy pod of life, huh?” she comments through a quiet laugh.
“Yeah, babe.” I chuckle. “We really are.”
Smiles and silence settle over us, and it’s all I can do to stop myself from ogling Maria in the time gap. Her brown hair and brown eyes both glow, and her lips—always plush and perfect—seem even more so in the dim light of the broken elevator.
Fuck. She’s still painfully beautiful.
I don’t know what’s coming over me, but if I’m not careful, I’m going to be the kind of creepy guy who gets a hard-on at an unbelievably inconvenient time.
She’s carrying her dead sister’s baby, for fuck’s sake, Remy. Show a little respect.
My phone chimes with a message, and I pull it out of my pocket to check the screen. For once in my life, I’m thankful for a distraction from my brother.
Ty: Bad news, bro. Lloyd’s a fuckwit and can’t do anything. We’re waiting on the fire department.
Talk about being a little late to the fucking party. This is exactly why I called the fire department myself.
Me: Were they able to give you an ETA? When I spoke to them, they didn’t have any idea.
Ty: My guess is that it’ll either be before the power comes back on or after.
Me: How is it possible that you’re tenured? How?
Ty: Tenured in English, bro. Not fucking elevator engineering.
Me: Thanks. Really. This has been helpful.
I tuck my phone back into my pocket and watch as Maria lifts her head from her own. Her thumbs are moving at warp speed, even while she’s not looking at the screen, and I can’t help but smile.
“Okay, is it just me, or are you not looking at what you’re typing right now?”
She shrugs. “When you text and call as many people as I do in the real estate business, you can pretty much do it in your sleep.”
“And you have little thumbs.”
Her face pinches and curls with humor at the same time. “Huh?”
I hold up my hands and flash them around a bit. “I’ve got these giant meat clubs. It’s hard to make them work in such a tiny area.”
She raises a teasing eyebrow, and I immediately groan. “On phones, Maria. They work just fine in other tiny areas.”
Her cheeks pink slightly, and a vise grip clutches my stomach as she murmurs three little words. “Oh, I remember.”
Holy shit.
While the impulse to take a walk down Memory Lane is strong, I know now isn’t the time for me to relive all of my favorite fantasies that revolve around Maria.
Definitely not a good time for that, bro.
I clear my throat once, and when that doesn’t work, I clear it again. “Well. What should we do with our time?”