Page 140 of Denim & Diamonds

I patted Patrick’s back to burp him. “No guarantees on that. What’s up?”

He crossed his arms as he leaned his back against my kitchen counter. “So…I follow your girl February on social media.”

Alarms went off in my brain. “Okay…”

“Some guy tagged her in a post.”

My fist tightened.Some guy?“What kind of post?”

“It was a location check-in. Some fancy restaurant. Might not have meant anything, but I just thought I should tell you. I stalked the guy’s page. Looks suspicious.”

“Suspicious in what way?”

“Like good-looking, rich suspicious.”

Great.“Well, she and I aren’t officially dating at present. We decided a week ago to just be friends. Sowhile I appreciate the information, who she dines with isn’t my business anymore.”

Axe frowned. “Oh crap. I didn’t realize that.”

I nodded. I was pretty sure I’d remained calm on the surface, but damn. On the inside? This news was killing me. I warned myself not to overreact. Having dinner with someone didn’t mean anything. And if it did, I didn’t have a right to be upset anyway.

After Axe left, I had the worst time concentrating for the rest of the day. I kept messing things up around the house. Instead of warming Patrick’s formula in a pot of water like I normally did, I dunked it into the tomato soup I was making for myself. Then later that afternoon, I accidentally threw my phone into the dryer while doing laundry. Thankfully, I caught my mistake before it was too late.

As dinnertime approached, I enjoyed a rare moment of rest with Patrick asleep in the playpen. I turned to Oak, who’d been staring at me.

“This is crazy, right? Why am I so worked up that she had dinner with some dude? If she and I are gonna be friends, I can’t be reacting like this.”

Oak rested his chin on my leg.

I rubbed between his ears. “I know you think I’m pathetic. Why sit here and theorize about what it meant when I can justcall herand ask, right?”

He yawned.

“You know what?” I scratched his head again. “You’re right.”

Taking out my phone, I stood up and went to the bathroom so as not to wake my son.

February looked alarmed when she answered. “Everything okay?”

I normally didn’t call before her workday was over.

“Sure, yeah.” I cleared my throat, and an awkwardly long pause ensued.

She narrowed her eyes. “What’s wrong, Brock?”

“Are you dating someone?” I blurted.

Her eyes widened. “No. What makes you think that?”

I shook my head. “Never mind.”

“No, wait. Why did you ask me that?”

I sighed, surrendering to my humiliation. “My brother Axe follows you online and saw you tagged in a post, out with some guy. He got a vibe that it might’ve been more than a business meeting. It’s none of my fucking business, though.”

She shook her head. “There’s absolutely nothing going on there. It was a business dinner. His name is Matthew. He’s a friend of Oliver’s. He might have been interested in more with me, but I know for sure that isn’t what I want.”

Even as relief washed over me, I pulled on my hair in frustration. “I can’t be reacting like this, Red.”

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