Page 106 of Exposed Ink

“What’s going on?” I ask.

“Nothing,” Taylor says in a tone that tells me she’s full of shit.

“I got you a new book.” Kinsley reaches into her bag and pulls out the one she got her at the bookshop. “And they’re signed.”

“Oh my God, thank you!” Taylor jumps up and grabs the book, giving Kinsley a hug. “I wanted to get one before they sold out, and I completely forgot to ask Jillian to get it for me. We’re going to buddy-read it, right?”

“Of course.” Kinsley pulls out her copy of the book and waves it around before setting it down. “After we finish our current read.”

“Cool. I’m going to put it in my room.”

“Okay, and then afterward, can you come back down?” I ask her. “Kinsley and I want to talk to you.”

Taylor looks between us suspiciously, nods, and then heads upstairs.

“You know,” I say, pulling Kinsley into my arms, “we never discussed you moving in here. With a baby on the way …”

“A baby that won’t be here for several months,” she notes. “I need to go pee, and then I’m going to freshen up.”

I follow her into my room, and the second we enter, something feels different. The first thing I notice is a candle on the dresser. One I haven’t seen before.

“Did you buy this?” I ask, picking it up. It’s white, and it reads,We love sex in the first chapter.

“No.” She laughs. “My cousin Natalia gave that to me a few years ago for my birthday.”

She takes it from me and sets it down, then heads to the bathroom, but I stay where I am, looking around. There’s a picture frame on the dresser that wasn’t there before. It’s of Kinsley and her parents in a whitewash wooden frame. I’ve only been to her place a few times since we usually come here, but I remember it being on her end table in her living room.

I glance around and notice several more items that weren’t here before—Kinsley’s pink silk pillow, a HomePod that I saw on her nightstand, another picture of her and her cousin Natalia.

I walk toward the bathroom to ask when she brought this stuff over—I mean, I don’t care because I want all her shit here, but I’m confused as to when she brought it all over since she hasn’t been here—when my eye catches on the clothes in the walk-in closet.

I step inside and find that my clothes have been moved to one side while the other side contains hundreds of pieces of women’s clothing. I look down and find several pairs of women’s shoes next to my sneakers.

“Sour Patch,” I call out.

“Yeah?” she says, popping her head out.

When I meet her eyes, I can see the humor in them, and it clicks—why she and my daughter were smiling at each other.

“Tell me this isn’t some kind of joke,” I warn. “Did you move all your stuff in?”

“I didn’t,” she replies in a serious tone, making my heart sink.

Did I somehow misunderstand?

“But Taylor did while I kept you busy all day,” she adds, a smile spreading across her face.

“You moved in?” I ask, just to make sure.

“I did. Taylor apparently knows a lot of guys with big trucks, and they helped her move all my stuff in.”

“Taylor,” I call out.

“Yeah?”

“I owe you big time!”

“I know,” she shouts back, making Kinsley giggle.

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