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Boring Ice Cream
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Asking for a Friend More Money
LAYTONSunday morning arrived hours before I was ready for it to. I woke up to my phone ringing and groaned, hoping it wasn’t Clayton Reeve with another annoying surprise. Rolling over on my bed to grab my phone on the nightstand, I frowned when I saw it was Craig.“This better be urgent if you’re calling at seven-thirty on a Sunday.” I greeted, falling back onto the bed. “What’s up?”“You have to get down to the site,” Craig said, his voice strained and tense. “I’m sorry to be bothering you this early, but we need to talk and we need to do it now.”I sat up, immediately getting moving. Craig wasn’t the kind of guy to make a call like this lightly. If he was calling this early to tell me we had to talk, there had to be a problem. “What’s wrong?”He exhaled a deep breath. “It’s not good, but we’ll talk when you get here.”We ended the call on that note and I hurried to get showered and ready, arriving at the site less than thirty minutes after he called. It was a cool morning, crisp an
Asking for a Friend Who is This Guy?
LAYTON“I said it with such a straight face because it’s true.”His laughter ended abruptly and his brows pushed together. “You’re not fucking with me? You actually spent the day with Marissa and her kid and enjoyed it?”“Yeah, they’re both great. I took them fishing. I even taught Annie how to bait a hook and everything.” I said proudly, and I was damn proud of it. Having Annie look at me like I was a superhero because I knew how to fish had been strangely satisfying. Knowing that I had taught her something she was likely to remember, and maybe even brag about being able to do so gave me a sense of achievement.Craig’s jaw dropped as he watched these thoughts play out. “You took them fishing and actually spent time talking to the kid?”“Are you going to repeat everything I say today?” I teased, smirking.He nodded. “If you keep saying shit I have to repeat to know I understood it correctly, then yes. I didn’t even know you fished, and it never occurred to me that you would even know
Asking for a Friend Shopping Around
MARISSASunday was a girls shopping day for Annie, Denise and I. My little girl was fast becoming not so little anymore and was growing like a weed. In the past few weeks, she’d gotten so much taller that she had outgrown some of her clothes and most of what was left wasn’t going to last her much longer either.Denise wanted to pick up something new for herself as well, so she decided to join us. The mall was quieter than usual since it was a Sunday morning. Most people who were there had gone for brunch and just hung around the food court. The shop assistants smiled lazily and had none of their usual bustling energy as they flitted between customers.Annie held my hand as we made our way to her favorite shop, a department store for kids, with toys everywhere and even a huge doll house. Chatting to Denise while we walked, she looked up at her with wide eyes. “Guess what! We went fishing yesterday with Mommy’s boss.”Denise smiled, shooting me a wink over the top of Annie’s head. “Yeah
Asking for a Friend Shadows of the Past
MARISSA“Honestly?” I started, then took a deep breath as I paused to consider my answer. “He’s so much more than I was ever expecting him to be. You should have seen him with her.”“I would have loved to.” Denise said. “Maybe next time, if you think there will be a next time.”“I think there will be,” I answered, hoping I was right. I would only get to talk to Layton about what his thoughts of the day had been once I got to the office on Monday, but I was feeling optimistic. Unless I had been completely wrong, he had enjoyed the day as much as we had. “I wasn’t sure he was going to enjoy having a child around, but he did.”“Gushy much?” Denise teased.I felt my cheeks heating, but I nodded. “I am gushy, because he made me this way. I really never imagined he could be as perfect with her as he was. I’m so surprised, but I guess I shouldn’t have been. He’s just—I don’t know, there’s so much more to him than meets the eye.”“And you say you’re not in love with him?” She said it with a w
Asking for a Friend Happy Monday
LAYTONAt the office early on Monday morning, I pulled out the project folder for the site I visited the day before with Craig. I knew Marissa had built in that buffer in case of unforeseen expenses and this morning I wanted to make sure we would be able to afford to offer the workers the increases they had asked for.I was interrupted by a soft knock and knew before looking up that it was Marissa. I got a whiff of her perfume as soon as she opened the door and I smiled as I looked up. “Good morning.”“Happy Monday,” she said, striding into my office. It didn’t bother me anymore that she just came in without waiting for me to invite her. It was a sign of familiarity appreciated now.She smiled at me, looking fucking gorgeous in a plain pair of blue jeans with a white blouse and a black suit jacket. She looked relaxed, professional and sophisticated all at the same time. I didn’t know how she did it, but she always looked damn good to me.Knee high black boots with a low heel made her
Asking for a Friend Always Amazing
LAYTONAnnie leaped off the stool she was sitting on when she saw me walking into the kitchen. “Layton! I’m so glad you’re here.”“So am I, kiddo.” I bent down to hug her, noticing both Denise and Marissa watching me do it. “What?”Marissa shook her head, her ever present smile relieved. “Nothing. How was your day? Thanks for coming.”It clearly wasn’t nothing, but I wasn’t going to push her. I assumed it was weird for her to see me in her house with her daughter and friend. Lord knew it would be strange for me to have her in my apartment with Craig around. If Annie was there too, I would think I was dreaming.I would probably have to childproof my apartment before Annie ever got there, though. If you needed to child proof when a kid was six. I was going to have to look into that. I was drawn out of my thoughts when I realized Marissa and Denise were both looking at me expectantly.And then I realized I hadn’t answered her yet. “My day was you know, day-ish. Nothing exciting to report
Asking for a Friend Like a Family
MARISSASeeing Layton sitting down to dinner with all of us was a little surreal. When I first met him, I never would have been able to picture this scene. I wouldn’t even have been able to picture him in my home.He seemed too big for it. Both in physical stature and in presence.And yet—it felt right that he was here. I’d been thinking that way a lot lately, but somehow everything about him just felt right to me. I took it as a sign that we were both exactly where we needed to be and tuned back to the conversation happening around me.Denise had been drilling Layton since—oh, pretty much the moment he set foot in the house, but it didn’t look like he minded it. He kept up with her and worked through it all, question by question, and seemed to be enjoying himself in spite of the inquisition she was putting him through.Before he arrived, Denise and I had talked about all the questions she had for him. I asked her to take it easy on the poor guy, but evidently she had decided against
Asking for a Friend Cryptic Clues
MARISSADenise pushed out her chair, standing and giving Annie a hug goodbye. “I should get going, too. I’ll see you first thing in the morning.”Layton followed her out after saying goodbye to both Annie and Denise, but he paused when we got to the porch. Denise drove away and he took my hand, holding it gently. “Thanks for supper. That was really fun.”“Despite the world’s most comprehensive game of twenty questions?” I asked jokingly.He nodded. “It felt a little like giving an interview for an autobiography I didn’t know was being written, but that’s fine. I like that she’s so protective over the two of you.”“She’s been an angel in our lives.” I agreed, seeing an opening to ask him my burning question, even if I was unsure about whether I should pile on any more tonight. “Can I ask you one question of my own?”“Sure,” he said wearily. I held onto his hand tighter, rubbing my thumb over his knuckles. “What’s one more question?”My lips quirked up into a smile. “You’ve answered so
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