Page 134 of Now to Forever

She snorts a laugh but says nothing, petting Molly on the head.

“Your dad put you up to this?”

“No.” She scoffs. “Why?”

“I broke up with him twice and he’s not listening.”

She scuffs the toe of her tennis shoe on the rug. “You break up because of me?”

I take my heels off with anahh!and rub my toes. “I broke up with him,” I explain, “because I think he’s been sleeping around with the sparrows.”

“Rigghtt,” she drawls with a roll of her eyes.

“He tell you I had a baby?”

“Yep.”

“And what do you think about that?”

She drags her fingers across the back of the purple velvet chair in the living room.

“I think you would have been a great mom but maybe not then.”

Another loaded silence follows. That is such a Ford thing to say, and I hate it as much as the rash this whole conversation is giving me.

I fold my arms over my chest. “I guess your shitty poetry makes us friends again?”

She shrugs one shoulder. “Depends.”

I lift my chin.

“You done using me for free child labor?”

“You barely did enough to earn your paycheck.”

Wealmostsmile before dropping onto the couch and propping our feet on the coffee table, Molly curling in between us.

“And Luke?” I ask, scrubbing the dog between the ears. “He okay with dating a convict’s kid with ties to Ledger’s Most Wanted?”

She grins, wide, Ford’s big blue eyes bright as the midday sun on her delicate face, hurting my heart. “He thinks it’s badass.”

I snort a laugh. “I knew keeping me around had its perks.”

Another silence.

She looks around the house.

“You still selling after Thanksgiving?”

“Why do you care?”

“I don’t.”

I squint at her. “I don’t know what I’m doing. But—” A noise outside pulls me from the couch; Ford backs down the driveway in his truck. It’s irritating and impacts the speed of my pulse. “My annoying neighbors are making the decision easy.” I swing the door open. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Ford’s nose is red from the cold; he’s wearing gym clothes and a misplaced grin. “Tending my flock.”

From the porch, I scowl. “Are you deaf? I told you we’re done.”

---