Page 87 of One Moment Please
Kate points at the front of the bus just as Dean steps on, wearing one of his signature anchor button-downs with the sleeves cuffed around his biceps. His mountain man beard is trimmed short, and his dark eyeglasses are firmly in place as he walks in, saying hello to everyone.
Josh hands me a bottle of water while cracking a beer for himself. I eye it enviously. “Tell me what it tastes like. Describe it in vivid detail.”
“It’s IPA,” he grumbles, wincing slightly at his first sip, “which means it tastes like piss.”
I sigh dopily. “Sounds magical.”
Josh smirks and drapes his arm around my shoulders. I like him smirking. It’s maybe not a full smile, but it’s getting there, slowly but surely, and that’s a good sign for us.
Kate elbows my arm. “You two look shockingly happy.”
“Shockingly?” I ask, furrowing my brows at her.
She shrugs. “I’m just saying…for a sex-only arrangement, you two sure appear to actually like each other.”
“We do like each other,” I reply with an eye roll. “Which is very convenient on the account of me bearing his one and only heir.”
“Oh!” Kate squeals with delight. “I didn’t know you were having a royal baby. Have we dreamed up a name for this little golden-diapered peanut yet?”
“No,” Josh interjects, leaning over to eye Kate. “And please convince her to give up on the name Spector. I don’t care how many times she’s watchedSuits, I’m not naming my kid something that sounds like Inspector.”
“But his middle name could be Gadget!” Kate retorts, and Josh’s face falls.
“I’m so fucked,” he grumbles before taking a sip of his beer.
Miles leans across Kate to get Josh’s attention. “It’s better to just let them have their little rants. They’re impossible to go up against when they’re together.”
Kate giggles and nuzzles into me before shouting, “Let’s get this show on the road, Dean! Your old man balls are starting to show!”
Dean glances at his smart watch. “Max says he’s almost here. Said he’s bringing me a special gift.”
“A gift?” I ask, watching Dean curiously.
He shrugs, and then, all of our attention is diverted to the front of the bus again when Ken doll Max climbs aboard with a pint-sized Barbie in tow.
“Everyone, this is Norah!” Max calls out.
“The Rise and Shine Bakery owner!” Kate exclaims, standing with her jaw dropped. “Your croinuts have changed my life. Seriously, I worshiped the devil before I found your pastry goodness, and now my soul has been saved by Donut Jesus.”
“Thank you?” Norah replies with a polite smile.
“No, thank you…did you happen to bring any with—”
Miles pulls Kate down onto his lap, and she giggles as he pinches her sides.
“Ow! What did I just sit on?” Kate yelps, reaching back to hold her butt cheek. “Is that some sort of tool in your pocket or did your dick morph into a cube shape?”
Miles gets an awkward expression and turns to Sam.
Sam says, “Kate, will you grab me another beer?”
Kate slips off Miles’s lap to head to the cooler. Miles and Sam exchange quiet words, but then the bus moves, so I face forward, enjoying the madness of everyone around me getting drunk. Norah and Max are seated across from Dean who looks decidedly more tense than he did a moment ago. I wonder if something’s happening there?
The bus takes off, and the music is so loud we all have to shout to talk to each other. I smile and enjoy the view of Josh and Kate connecting overGame of Thronesand discussing the finale in vivid detail. And Josh laughs harder than I’ve ever heard him laugh when I tell him the story about how Kate bought a burnt tire candle when she and Miles were in a fight and she couldn’t bring herself to go into Tire Depot to write. Even Dean chimes in on that story, telling Josh that he caught Kate and me wrestling over the candle, and while I thought Josh might get jealous, he actually just shook his head and took it all in stride. Hopefully, my urgings for Josh to give Dean a chance are not falling on deaf ears.
The bus pulls into a parking lot, and I look out the window to see that we’re at Tire Depot.
“What are we doing at my office?” Kate asks with an amused frown.
