Page 147 of The Off-Limits Play

“But… I’m not done.”

“You are for now.” She whistles. “I can see why you like him so much.”

“I love him.”

“Yeah, I can hear that in your voice, too, and I’m really sorry he don’t want to be with you right now. But it’s just for now, sugar. He’d be crazy not to come back to you. You’re a catch.”

I harrumph and shake my head.

“You are, but you can’t just loiter around waiting for him. You need to get out there and find yourself, prove how strong you can be on your own. This is your time, Nylah baby. It’s your time.”

My eyes burn as I listen to her.

“Now, don’t you make me come over there.”

I snicker but end up blubbering. “I miss you.”

“Well, I’ll be there soon enough. I’ve got a Christmas hug with your name on it, and I’m gonna wrap you up nice and tight. But I want you to have something exciting to tell me when I get there. If I find out you’ve spent a week in bed wallowing your ass to the bone, I ain’t gonna give you your presents, you hear? You’ll have to watch everyone else unwrapping while you sit there like some sad, pathetic?—”

“I get it!” I laugh. “I get it. I do. I promise I will have something to tell you when you get here for Christmas.”

“That’s my girl. Now, you get yourself up. You standin’?”

“No,” I mumble.

“Get your ass up right now!”

“Okay, okay.” Flicking the covers off, I force myself out of bed. “I’m standing. You happy?”

“Very. Now, you listen, girl. I want a genuine smile by the end of the day. Send me a selfie. You go find your sunshine, you hear me?” And with that, she tells me she loves me and hangs up.

Staring down at my phone, I shake my head and nearly drop the thing when the door pops open and Jolie rushes in.

“Oh, hey.” She grins at me. “Yay. You’re up.”

“Uh… yeah.” I tug on Carson’s hoodie, wondering how bad I look… how bad I smell.

I’m pretty sure I ate my way through half the junk food in Colorado yesterday and clocked up around five movies. No wonder I feel like shit.

“I’m gonna go down to the gym. You want to come?”

“Um.” I tip to the edges of my feet and shake my head, but she acts like I just said yes.

“Awesome! I’m meeting up with my man and some of his basketball buddies. Charli wants to meet you, so?—”

“Why does he want to meet me?”

“Shewants to know who I’m living with.”

“Wait, who’s Charli?”

Jolie laughs. “Her brother and best friend are on the basketball team. She plays basketball, too, actually. She’s really good. Anyway, I’ve gotten to know her over the past few weeks, and she’s amazing. You should come hang with us.”

My nose wrinkles. “I don’t know. I can’t really play.” I point to my leg, using it as an excuse—something I swore I’d never do.

Stop being so pathetic!

“Don’t worry about it.” Jolie brushes her hand through the air. “I’m totally uncoordinated, so I don’t play. I just enjoy the view.” She wiggles her eyebrows. “There are some really hot guys on the team. Ben’s obviously the hottest, but I can still enjoy watching every guy on the court.” She waves her hand in front of her face.

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