“No,” she whispered.
“Yeah.”
“So, he knows. Doesn’t he?”
“I couldn’t really keep it from him at that point.”
“What did he do?”
“Marched out the bakery without a word.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously. He came back, though. A few hours later. I let him into the apartment.”
“Oh, this is getting good.”
I mock-glared at her. “Nothing happened. Nothing physical, I mean. He says he wants to be involved. He wants to stick around. He said he wants to give us a try.”
“Wow. And you? What do you want?”
“Not sure,” I admitted. “I don’t know him. We’re tied now because of the baby, but—” I shrugged. “We’re going out to dinner tonight so I can present him with my rules and boundaries. His words, not mine.”
“Dinner? Like a date?”
“No.”
“Liar.”
“It’s not. It’s two adults sharing a meal and trying to figure out how to navigate this curveball.”
“Well, I think it’s great,” she said.
“You do?”
“Yeah. I mean, I know you weren’t going to tell him, but the fact that he knows and he didn’t freak the fuck out and bail? That’s pretty stellar.”
“Is that really how low we’re setting the bar here?” I snorted. “I told him I didn’t want anything from him. I told him he could roll out of town and forget about it, that he’s off the hook if he doesn’t want to be involved.”
“You’d really cut him loose like that?”
“Yeah, I would. If we’re sharing responsibilities raising this baby together, that means there will be financial entanglement at some point. That means strings.”
“You’re thinking way too far ahead.”
“But I’m thinking about it,” I pointed out. “Because I don’t really have a choice.”
“So, are you going to sleep with him again?”
“What? No!”
“It’s a valid question,” she said.
“It’s not a valid question.”
She peered at me. “Youwantto sleep with him again. You can’t hide those lyin’ eyes.”
“Of course, I do,” I said in amusement. “He was dynamite in bed. But I’d be an idiot to introduce sex to our already complicated…situation.”