Page 113 of Hello Single Dad

I smiled. “A bird named Ralphie.”

“Great. There are no rules against caged animals like birds or even spiders. We don’t allow cats, but we do allow small dogs.”

My eyes lit up. Everything about this place was perfect. “Can I fill out an application?”

She grinned. “Of course. The best unit comes open in a week. Come with me.”

65

BIRDIE

Confession: Everything I know about childbirth comes from a college textbook andGray’s Anatomy.

“I leave for one day and you get an apartment?” Mara asked as we sat at her table, eating the spaghetti supper I made for us to celebrate.

I twirled spaghetti around my fork. “It would have been better if I’d gotten a job, but I’ll take it.”

She frowned. “You know I’m going to miss living with you. This was just like old times.”

“Me too,” I said with a small smile. “But you’ll be thankful when you bring a guy over and you won’t have to coordinate with me.” I drew my eyebrows together. “Mara, it’s been a while since you brought anyone over.”

She finished chewing and swallowing her bite. “I just haven’t met anyone worth messing with.”

“What do you mean?”

With a shrug, she said, “I don’t want to bring a guy over for the sake of bringing a guy over. I want it to actually be a good time, for both of us.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Who are you, and what have you done with my best friend?”

She held up a meatball on a fork. “Don’t worry, I still like meat.”

“Good,” I teased. “How else would you write romance?”

“I don’t know. Sometimes I feel like a fraud, writing all these love stories when I’ve never experienced happily ever after.”

“You can dream, right? How are you supposed to know what you want if you can’t imagine it?”

“Oh my gosh,” she said with a smile. “You and your grandpa have superpowers.”

“Did you get to talk to him today?”

“Yes.” She grinned. “We had two cups of coffee, and he told me all about how he and your grandma met. They’re seriously the sweetest couple ever.”

“I know,” I said. “Whoever I end up with has big shoes to fill.”

“Exactly. Don’t ever settle for someone like Dax again. Or the ‘suit,’ as your grandpa calls him.”

I chuckled and held out my pinkie. “And promise you’ll do the same?”

She hooked her finger through mine. “Promise.”

We shook on it like we were young again, but my phone rang loudly from my purse, interrupting us.

“I better go get that,” I said. “It might be a job.”

“Go, go,” she replied. “All this talking is distracting me from eating.”

I chuckled, rising from the table and going to the living room, where my purse hung on a hook by the door.

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