AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Hmm.” Nellie shoveled in more mac and cheese, then rested her chin on her palm. “Dillon’s a yummy name. Is he yummy?”
“He’s attractive.”
“Attractive tells me nothing. Less than nothing.” Nellie did her typical pouty mouth thing that turned Jake into a salivating mess. Luckily Alexa wasn’t similarly afflicted. “You won’t give up the goods to the fat, married, pregnant lady?”
“Who you calling fat?” Grinning, Jake came up behind Nellie and bent to kiss her forehead. “Not my gorgeous wife, I hope.”
Nellie laughed and thrust herself at Jake with enough force to bowl him over had his feet not been securely planted. “You must’ve gotten my message.”
“I did, and I rushed home from my business trip just to eat dinner with my two favorite people.” He came around the table to Alexa and gave her a teasing smile. “No hug for your big brother?”
“It’s only been a week since I’ve seen you.” But Alexa grinned just the same as she half-stood to give him a quick squeeze.
“A very long week,” Nellie added, her face softening as it always did around Jake. “And it’s your three favorite people. Not two.”
Though it shamed her to snort, Alexa couldn’t help it. She adored them, but lately even finding a decent guy to have a very indecent night with felt like climbing Mount Everest in spike heels. At this rate, she had no hope of finding what those two had.
Or even a reasonable facsimile.
“Very true.” Jake smiled and thanked the waitress who bustled over to add another chair to their table. He took a seat and grabbed the menu she offered, his attention clearly on his stomach as usual. “So what’re we talking about?”
“Your sister wanting to lip-lock her new plumber.”
“Seriously, Nellie, if you weren’t pregnant I’d—”
“Do go on,” Jake said smoothly, cocking a brow. “I’m curious. Also curious about this plumber. Who is he? Do I know him?”
“She doesn’t even know him.” Nellie twirled her hair then let out a long sigh at Alexa’s sharp glance. “Look, it’s not that exciting in my corner of the world. I take my thrills where I can get them. Your love life thrills me.”
“What love life? It’s been positively stagnant lately.”
“Good,” Jake put in, his brows knitted. “The last thing I want is to get another call at 2:00 a.m. because your car died at some guy’s house that you barely know.”
“That was in college,” Alexa said under her breath, her face going hot. “And I did so know him. He was my chemistry partner.”
“And he just loved to study after hours,” Nellie teased. “Didn’t you ace that course?”
“Doing extra credit always helps,” Jake added with a grin.
Shaking her head, Alexa motioned for the waitress. Dessert time. Maybe bourbon time too. “God, you’re so…married.”
They both laughed, and luckily soon forgot all about her nonexistent love life in the stream of baby chatter and gossip. But Alexa’s sour mood remained.
Two hours later, she let herself into her stuffy apartment. Nellie and Jake had gone back to their place to likely engage in some conjugal married bliss—ick—and now the night stretched in front of her, full of possibilities.
Full of nothing. As blah as her new home.
With a sigh, she tested the bathroom sink and nothing untoward happened. Had her mysterious plumber snuck in here and fixed it for real when she’d been out? Picked the lock maybe? Shimmied in through the window from the fire escape?
She looked down to see Trixie staring at her, wild-eyed. Either she was on the verge of a kitty meltdown or she was hungry, which made more sense since Alexa had yet to set out bowls of dry food and water.
After handling that, she grabbed the lone item in her refrigerator—an unopened bottle of Moscato. Snagging a paper cup, she poured herself some wine. Maybe she’d do some reading on her phone before going to sleep. Assuming she could.
At least she’d put on the sheets earlier, so all she had to do was turn out the lights and crawl under her favorite soft throw. She’d go shopping for a daybed soon enough, but until then, her air mattress would do just fine.
She was not a princess. She was a survivor, and she—and Divine—would make it.
Smiling at her new sense of resolve, she turned on her phone and saw she had two new voice mails. Great. Probably her mom with a fresh guilt trip. She’d been bugging Alexa to go shopping with her, and Alexa knew she’d only be able to put her off for so long. As if she had spare money to shop. But she could make the time and she would.
