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“Hi Scott, it’s Nicole.”
Using the back of bench for support, he stretched out his left calf. Since he had to stop anyway, he might as well work on the cramp in his leg. “What’s up?”
“Are you still traveling or are you home?” The same nervous hitch he’d detected in her voice during their last conversation came through the phone today.
“At the moment, I’m in Central Park.” He switched legs. His right leg wasn’t bothering him but when he stretched he liked to do both sides. “But I can cut my run short and head home.”
“I’d appreciate it. I’ll be over in thirty or forty minutes. You haven’t moved, have you?”
“Same place. I’ll tell security to let you up when you get there.”
“Thank you, Scott. See you soon.”
He put his earbuds in again and headed back the way he’d come. Other than right after her first call, he hadn’t wasted his time wondering what Nicole could possibly want. He had more important things to concentrate on. Now, though, his curiosity kicked in. Not to mention his gratitude. Friday afternoon Paige arrived for the weekend, and he’d prefer not to have his ex-girlfriend stopping over no matter what she needed.
Showered and dressed, he grabbed some leftover pizza and checked his e-mail while he waited. After dating Nicole for five months, he knew thirty to forty minutes to her was more like fifty minutes to everyone else. While he waited, he might as well get some work done and empty out his in-box, maybe saving himself some time tomorrow.
His phone chirped before he answered the first e-mail. Miss you, the message read, bringing a smile to his face.
Can’t wait to see you Friday. Paige’s second message read.
Call me when you get home. He typed the message while he ate.
Okay, love you.
Before he typed a response, the doorbell rang. In one motion he tossed the pizza onto his plate and stood, typing a reply as he walked.
Until four years ago Nicole Sutton had been a little-known actress who played small roles in movies and on television. After playing Mia Troy’s sister in a summer blockbuster, Hollywood really took notice, and her career skyrocketed. Since the movie with Mia Troy, she’d landed the leading role in three others. They’d met at a premiere party for one of them. He’d been talking with his friend Anderson Brady, Nicole’s costar, when he noticed her standing by the bar. She’d had on a skintight, bottom-skimming dress with mile-high heels. He’d watched her while she flirted with the guy next to her. Then she turned her ample cleavage, on display for all to see, toward him and smiled. He hadn’t hesitated to join her.
The woman standing at his door now resembled the one he remembered from that night a year ago. Except today, she wore shorts so short the bottom of the front pockets hung below the hem, and a tight yellow T-shirt with a deep V-neck. Not at all what he’d expected. He’d read somewhere the woman was pregnant. While she looked perhaps a little heavier than the last time he’d seen her, she didn’t look pregnant.
“Hi Scott,” she said. Today she didn’t give him the well-practiced smile she usually gave people. In fact, she appeared nervous.
He stepped back so she could enter and tucked his phone into his back pocket. “Come on in.” Scott watched her walk past him. Yep, everything about her remained the same except her voice. “Can I get you anything?” Playing a proper host was just another one of those things drilled into him by his parents.
“A glass of wine would be awesome.” She tossed her long hair over a shoulder before slipping her hands into her back pockets.
He’d been thinking more along the lines of coffee or water, but he had wine too.
“You haven’t changed anything,” she said, looking around the apartment.
“I don’t spend enough time here to change anything,” he said from the kitchen. After pouring a glass of Moscato and grabbing a beer for himself, he joined her again.
Accepting the drink, she took a sip of the white wine. “You remembered,” she said, smiling for the first time. She moved closer to him, and he caught the scent of her perfume. Something flowery he’d always found too sweet.
“I’ve got a good memory. You said something about needing to talk to me?” He moved away from her and sat in the leather chair across from the sofa.
She took in a deep breath and sat opposite him, pulling at the loose threads on her shorts rather than look at him. “I’m not sure how to even say this, but I might need your help with something.”
Nicole drank from her glass, the light reflecting off the emerald and diamond ring on her right index finger, the only jewelry she wore. It was something else he found odd. He knew he’d read she was engaged.
“You probably know I was engaged to Jordan Lee.” She finally looked up at him as she spoke.
He picked up on the “was” in her sentence. He hoped she wasn’t here hoping to get back together. Even if Paige and he hadn’t been involved, he wouldn’t have any interest in seeing Nicole again. They’d had some fun together, but she wasn’t the type he could ever be serious about. “I read it somewhere. And I thought I read you two were expecting a baby.”
“We were. I had Cooper four weeks ago.”
She didn’t look like a woman who’d just had a baby. “Congratulations.”
