Page 80 of Manhattan Kiss

“Hate to break it to you, but this isn’t breakfast.”

“It’s where I spend breakfast time.”

He shakes his head, grinning. “Admit it, you just want to do something else while you speak to me,” he says. “You can’t just relax and have a casual breakfast. It’s about Willow or your work. Anything else gets squeezed in on top of each other. Me and the gym being a perfect example.”

I roll my eyes exaggeratedly. “Are you going to complain this entire forty-five minutes? Let me know, because I have earphones I can use if you are.”

“Forty-five minutes? You couldn’t even spare an hour?”

I chuckle. “You get an hour including changing time.”

“You’re too good to me.”

“I agree,” I say.

He nudges me with his elbow and we head to the bikes. Part of the reason I suggested combining my catch-ups with Ben and the gym is because going to the gym is a regular thing. It’s easy to cancel ad hoc plans, but if you know you’re going to the gym four times a week, then slotting someone into that time means there’s more room. It’s less likely we’ll stop these catch-ups because we’re doing something else that’s important at the same time.

“What’s going on?” I ask him, as I set up the right program on the bike.

He presses start and he’s off. “Not much. I just got permissions through for the refurb on that apartment block in Brooklyn.”

“That’s taken a while.”

“Everything takes a while. But I have to focus on the positive. It’s going to make a lot of money when it’s finally complete. What about you? How’s Willow?”

“Good. Aurora came over last night.” I’d told Ben a little about Aurora when we were last here.

His head whips sideways, and I can feel his gaze on me. “She met Willow?”

I know that on the face of it, Aurora meeting Willow is a big deal. But it felt really natural. It felt right.

“Yeah, at the townhouse.”

“Are you shitting me?” Ben asks. “You took a woman to the townhouse and had her meet your daughter? Was it the stepmom test? Have you picked out a ring?”

I keep my gaze focused on the screen in front of me. “We were all together for an hour and a half maximum before Willow went to bed. It’s not a big thing.” I can’t decide if it’s a big thing. I understand Ben’s shock. It’s not like I’ve ever introduced a woman to Willow before. But Aurora is heading back to the UK in a couple of months—the thought sends a sharp pain to my gut.

Ben scoffs, interrupting my introspection. “It’s a huge deal, unless you’ve turned into some super-chilled guy when it comes to Willow.”

“I told you, Aurora’s going back to the UK. There’s no ring.”

“So you invited her round because she’s leaving? I’m not following.”

“I’m saying, it’s never going to turn into anything big because she’s going to be an ocean away. I was due to have dinner with Aurora that evening, but Gabby had the stomach flu and needed me to stay with Willow. No big deal.”

“Sounds like it’s a very big deal,” he says.

I don’t respond, I keep pedaling, enjoying the burn in my thighs that’s come quicker than it normally does.

“What about work?” Ben says.

“It’s fine.”

“What about project alphabet?” he asks, referring to ABC Inc., but knowing he shouldn’t say the name out loud in a public place.

“I’m still talking to them. I’ve just…I’m just not prepared to fly out to the West Coast to shmooze them.”

“But you could fly out Sunday to Wednesday,” he says. “You wouldn’t miss any time with Willow then.”