Page 90 of Bad Situation

Paige tips her head. “A building?”

“Yes,” Ellie confirms and looks to me. “I only sort of took your advice—I bought in midtown. I didn’t feel like driving downtown every day.” She leans into me and her eyes are lit with excitement and passion—a look I haven’t seen on her in almost a decade. “I accessed my trust and I’m opening a studio. I looked at leasing but, hell, the prices are ridiculous. If this doesn’t work out, I’ll lease it out and gouge someone else like they were trying to gouge me.” She shrugs. “Then I’ll be in the real estate business which, either way, will work out. But, Jen. I did it. I’m doing something for me. Something that’s only mine. Robert doesn’t even know yet.”

I set my glass down and lean in to hug her. “I’m so happy for you. Congratulations! I can’t wait to see it.”

Paige is right behind me and I pick up Griffin before he eats the entire rug. He squeals and gurgles, drooling all over his sweet chubby face.

Ellie sighs. “I can’t believe it. I have no clue how to run a business and I have no customers and the whole thing needs to be built out.” She sits on the coffee table while Paige and I settle back into our spots on the sofa. “I’ve thought of nothing else since you mentioned it. Then I realized it’s always been in the back of my mind as something I might be good at. The next thing you know, I have a commercial realtor and was making an offer. I paid cash—it was a quick close.” She takes another breath and her badass falls just a bit. “What if I can’t pull this off?”

“You will,” Paige insists and sits up, nabbing my bottle back and thrusting it into Ellie’s hands. “You can do it if you push yourself. This is going to be great. I can’t wait to see it when it’s done.”

Paige speaks like she knows it’s the truth. She’s a small business owner herself and, from what I hear, a damn good one. She did it starting with nothing. Sure, I’ve helped grow MI over the last eight years, but I had a base to start with.

I grab Ellie’s hand and suddenly feel better about sharing my wine. “She’s right. You’ll figure out what you don’t know and focus on what you do—teaching. You’ll shine, just like you always have.”

Ellie’s eyes jump to mine and she bites her lip. Griff reaches for his mama and her face settles into a small smile again as she sets down the wine and pulls Griff into her. “We can do it. Right, baby?”

Griff pulls her hair and tries to eat her earring as his show of support.

“Why are you drinking before Mom’s acceptable hour and why do you look like you just lost the deal of the century?”

I fall back into the sofa and claim my wine. Eli only went to Chicago. It’s not like he said he wouldn’t be back, but for some reason I feel defeated. Like I lost something that was never officially promised to me in the first place.

“Her new man was supposed to come today to meet everyone. He never showed and, by the time he texted, he was already a million hours late. Then he announced he was in Chicago, where he’s had to rush off to once before, but he won’t tell Jen boo about why.”

I look at the pregnant lady and this time I do glare. “Thanks.”

She shrugs and puts her feet back up. “It took me an hour to get that much out of you. I leave first thing in the morning. I’m utilizing our time wisely.”

Ellie looks back at me. “Seriously? What’s in Chicago?”

I take another drink. “No idea. I mean, I do. His family is there. He grew up there. Played a lot of basketball.”

“That’s all you know about him?” Ellie asks.

“I’m sorry. It’s not like we haven’t been busy. If you haven’t noticed, a lot of shit has gone down lately.”

“So you haven’t…” Ellie’s pitch goes high as her eyes widen into saucers. I look over at Paige and she sits up a bit, waiting for the details.

I close my eyes. “Oh, we have. It seems I should’ve kept my legs together a little longer and grilled him about his life, but every time he looks at me or touches me or strips my clothes off me, I tend to lose my mind and not care about anything.”

“That’s a good thing.” Paige sits back and looks smug.

“Yeah.” Ellie throws Paige a sarcastic warning before rolling her eyes. “Good on you. Robert told me the cat is out of the bag. He also said something about your man being in trouble at work for consorting with the bad guy.”

I kick her with my leopard print bootie. “I’m not the bad guy, Ells.”

She shifts Griffin in her arms. “You know what I mean.”

“Go to Chicago.”

Ellie and I both look at Paige.

“I’m not going to Chicago.”

“Why not?” Paige asks. “You want to know what’s going on. He said he had an emergency, who knows? Maybe he could use your help. If anything, it sounds like he could use your support, that is if you two are as intense as you say.”

I tip my head. “Intense?”

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