Page 104 of Triplet Babies for my Ex's Best Friend

“I do,” she says. “Several, actually.”

“List them.”

She stares at me. “You’re serious?”

“Yes.”

I think she might argue. Instead, she sets the glass down slowly, like she needs both hands free to build a case against me. “Okay. Reason one, I work for you.”

“Not relevant to your ability to assess character.”

“Highly relevant to everything else.”

“Continue.”

She narrows her eyes slightly, but there’s no real irritation. “Reason two, we already made one questionable decision.”

“That’s one way to describe it.”

Her mouth twitches. “I’m being polite.”

“Unnecessarily.”

“Wow,” she mutters. “Bold.”

“True.”

She shakes her head, but there’s a small smile there now. “Reason three, this is complicated.”

“Yes.”

“And reason four,” she adds, almost as an afterthought, “I don’t trust myself not to make things worse.”

I lean forward slightly. “Why?”

She looks at me, really looks, and all the humor drops away completely. “Because I wanted that.”

The kitchen from the other night snaps back into focus with unnecessary clarity. The tension, the distance that wasn’t distance, the moment that nearly crossed into something else.

“I know,” I say.

Her breath catches again. “You do?”

“Yes.”

She swallows. “That doesn’t concern you?”

“It does.”

“And?”

“And I’m still here.”

Her eyes flick down briefly, then back up to mine. “That’s not helping.”

“It’s not meant to.”

She lets out a shaky breath. “Ethan…”