Page 52 of Now or Never

“You said you and Jae made short films, too. Can I watch them?”

Chelsea’s brows shot up. “Right now?”

Adam nodded.

She looked at her watch. Still twenty minutes before the bus would get there, and she had one film that was only ten minutes long she thought he’d like. “Okay, just one.”

They sat together in silence, watching the first film Chelsea and Jae had made. It was a ridiculous comedy about a bird thatfell in love with a rat, so she lived her life as a rat. They’d created the entire thing alone, and she could still remember spending hours each night after Ben went to sleep sewing the costumes and searching Google for woods and streets in Toronto to film it.

When the credits started rolling, Adam slipped the headphones off and passed them back to her.

He sat silent for a moment, as if in thought. “Are you the bird?” he asked, then looked over and held her stare.

Chelsea shook her head. “It’s just a movie,” she said, wondering whether it was only obvious to him because he knew her history with Jasper or whether she had just been so depressed when they created it that her emotions bled through the screen.

Adam shook his head. “Jasper’s the rat.”

Chelsea’s eyebrows rose, and she cleared her throat. “Okay, that’s enough of the psychoanalysis of my film.”

She closed her laptop and tried to change the subject. “Should we finish talking about the wedding?”

Adam’s eyes narrowed in at her. “Why aren’t you dating anyone?”

Chelsea’s mouth gaped open. “What?”

He shifted in his seat to face her. “When I asked you out, you said no, no matter how much I tried to convince you.”

Chelsea rolled her eyes. “Adam, you asked me out, then ran off when you saw Ben. I’d never date anyone that didn’t like my son.”

Adam winced. “I mean, before that. And just for the record, I do like your son.”

Chelsea shook her head. “I just don’t . . .”

“Just don’t what?” he asked after a few beats. “You must get hit on all the time,” he said, dropping his gaze down and back up. “You’re gorgeous. And funny. And kind. And you have this quirky fun . . . ness about you.”

“Fun . . . ness?”

Adam nodded.

Chelsea tried desperately not to be flattered but was failing. So she went for a deflection. “Why don’t you have a girlfriend, Adam? Why do you have this weird fear of children when you keep insisting that you like them?”

Adam sat back in his seat and crossed his arms. “You first.”

Chelsea was about to open her mouth and tell him to go away. The only problem was that she was so curious about why he’d run away from her at the baseball diamonds that she was willing to be open with him in exchange for his story. Plus, he’d already figured her out from the bird rat film, so she didn’t have all that much to lose.

“Fine,” she said. “I don’t date because it’s too risky. I’m trying to build my career, and I can’t afford another setback like last time. If I got pregnant again, it would be a disaster.”

“But most men don’t walk away from their girlfriends and babies, Chelsea.”

Chelsea shrugged. “Too risky.”

She could see the gears turning, knew exactly what he was going to ask before he probably even knew.

“So casual sex is off the table for you, then?”

“Yes.”

A look of absolute horror came over his face. “Does that mean that Jasper was the last time you—”

---