Page 5 of Under the Dragon's Spell
"She's supposed to be sleeping, but I can't keep her down," Luca said, almost apologetic.
"I don't mind." I patted the soft brown hair on Mara's head. "Hey there."
She laughed at me. And then she pulled at my hair.
"Mara, don't." Luca took her daughter from me. "C'mon, nap time." She turned to me. "Wait in the living room, okay? I'll be back in a moment."
Since I knew my way around, I did as I was told and took seat on the large, plushy couch in the living room. Luca and her husband Greg lived in a nice house. I loved my friend, but I was a little jealous of her, too. All the things I'd wanted, a good partner and a child, had seemed to come so easy to her.
I pulled the questionnaire out of my pocket and spread it out on the low coffee table.
What if this was my last shot at the life I'd always dreamed of? As unlikely as that seemed.
"Is that it?" Luca asked, pointing at the piece of paper when she came back.
"Yeah."
Luca grabbed it and eyed it critically, looking at the few items I'd already filled in.
"You've only been with one guy?"
I looked at my hands. "I used to think one was enough."
"Oh, Adrian."
I knew when she used that tone of voice it meant she thought I needed to grow up a little.
"I'm not going to lie about it," I muttered. "I don't want to get the job because I cheated, I want…" Words failed me. Saying what was really on my mind was too embarrassing.
"What do you want?" Luca sat next to me and put one arm around me in her I'm-you-best-friend-and-you-can-talk-to-me gesture.
"If I'm going to have a baby with someone, I want them to know me and love me anyway." Was that too much to ask? I didn't want to think so, but it felt odd to say, considering the circumstances. "Maybe I shouldn't do this. Not with a stranger." After all, that was never what I'd wanted.
"Hey. Chin up." Luca squeezed my shoulder. "You could at least go meet this guy. Check him out. If he's horrible, get out. You're not signing away your soul here. You're only filling in an application. And you're right, we're not going to lie in it." She smiled at me. "If this dragon isn't a complete idiot, he'll love everything about you as soon as he meets you."
Her smile was contagious, even if I didn't have as much confidence as she did.
She looked at the paper again.
"Your favorite movie is Pitch Perfect?"
I felt my cheeks heat up. "I'm not changing it, remember? I like singing, so what?"
One of the things I wanted to do with my kids when I had them? Sing along to stupid Disney movies.
"You're cute, Adrian." She got up. "You know what we're going to do? We're going to answer all these stupid questions, and then we're going to take a killer picture of you to round it up." I thought her eyes gleamed, but it could have been a trick of the light. "I wanted to make my husband wear a sexy cop costume last Halloween, but it didn't fit him. I believe you're small enough, though."
I raised my eyebrows at her. "You want me to put on a sexy cop costume?"
"Please? You'd look so hot in that uniform."
She wasn't salivating, but she was close. "Luca!"
"Do you want a baby or not?"
Damn it, but I did. "How is that going to get me a baby?"
"You gotta show off what you got."
