Page 204 of This Woman Forever

I groan and drop my head back. “Great.”

John pulls the door open and bumps into Sam. “What the fuck are you doing here?” he grunts. “You’re barred until you produce valid, clean medicals.”

Sam slaps his shoulder and passes him. “I’m no longer a member, big man.” Dumping himself on the couch, he puts his feet up, all comfy. “I’ve been thinking.”

“Oh dear,” John quips, leaving us.

“What about?” I ask, laughing at the filthy look Sam chucks back at John.

“I think I may have been a bit hasty.”

I put myself on the other couch. “I already said you can play one more time—no medical necessary.” For old time’s sake.

“Yes, and Kate will be here soon. It’s not that.”

“Then what?”

“Well, the food’s great.”

“I know.”

“And the spa facilities the best in the area. Probably the whole of the south.”

“I know.”

“And I love hitting a ball over the net every now and then.”

“Cause what else will you do while your girlfriend works and you... don’t?”

He smirks, not offended. Kate won’t need to work either, but she will. And her cakes really are masterpieces. “Girlfriend,” Sam muses, rolling the word over his tongue, falling into a brief daydream as I study him, amused, grateful for the respite from my troubles. “Weird.” He shakes his head, sitting up on the couch. “And my mates are here,” he adds, smiling.

For now, yes. My thoughts jar me. “What are you saying?” I ask, frowning to myself.

“Can I have a reduced mate’s rate for use of the facilities, minus...” He points to the ceiling.

“Sure.” And that is that. Talking of mates. “Drew coming by later?” I ask.

“I don’t know.” Sam gets up and gets on his way. “He’s been weird since—” He stops halfway across my office, his body still.

“Weird since what?” I ask, slowly rising too, certain I don’t like his persona. “Is he okay?”

“Yeah, he’s fine.” Sam nearly knocks me out with the width of his smile. “He’s got a lot of pressure at work. I didn’t see him much this weekend.”

“He’ll put himself in an early grave.”

“Yeah, anyway, I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah,” I say, absentminded again, slowly lowering to the couch. I need some fucking answers.

40

I spend the rest of my day avoiding Sarah. Compulsory. And checking the verdict on rougher than average sex during pregnancy. Also, according to my wife, compulsory. And, damn it, no harm can be done to babies through sex. But no one fucks like Jesse Ward.

I’m on my way out to collect Ava from work when Sarah appears from nowhere, blocking my path to the Aston. My eyes move to the gravel as I take a wide berth around her. “You can hardly look at me,” she says, but I don’t stop, can’t stop. She’s right, I can’t look at her. She’s here, like she begged, and that’s all I can offer her. “See you tomorrow,” I say over my shoulder.

“Jesse, come on, can’t it be like old times?”

Old times.

---