Page 42 of A Man for Mia

"Where have you been?" his sister snapped, sounding annoyed.

His shoulders slumped in disappointment.

"Your cell phone’s turned off; I’ve been trying to reach you for the past two hours."

"I was out," he answered evasively, well aware she’d freak if he told her he’d been with Mia and not gleaning any information about her roommate.

"Well, I finally talked to him."

He froze. She’d talked to Jeff? Already?

It was too soon. Though he’d been wishing she’d hurry and confront him already, after the evening he’d spent with Mia, he wasn’t so anxious anymore. He had a bad feeling there’d be a line drawn and he and Mia would end up on opposite sides. He wasn’t ready yet.

"About time," he said. "What’d he say?"

"He got really upset about the whole idea that his own wife didn’t trust him. We had a huge fight. And he told me his boss had asked him to take a business trip to Denver next weekend. He’d declined before, but now he thinks he wants to go … I think he meant it to punish me because I asked him if he was having an affair. But he’s going to be gone for the girls’ end of the year music program, Drew. They’ve been excited about this for weeks. And he won’t be there."

Drew had forgotten all about that program. He’d already promised Natalie and Lucy he’d go to it. Bluck.

"What’d he say about the flower delivery?"

His sister paused before answering and he had a sinking feeling he wasn’t going to like her answer.

"He said the flower shop must’ve delivered them to the wrong address."

Closing his eyes, he cursed under his breath. "Mandy, that’s not a very good excuse."

"Gee, you think?"

"Who’d he say he was trying to send them to?"

She groaned. "He said they were for his mom. I don’t believe that though. Why would a man send his mother red roses?"

Drew didn’t buy the excuse either. He ran his fingers through his hair, hating this. Jeff was cheating on Amanda. It was starting to feel more and more real. Fingers tingling, he switched hands on the phone and flexed his arm, wishing he could do something to stop the hopelessness surging through him.

"Have you found anything out from the roommate?" Amanda asked.

Drew ground his teeth. "I … No, not yet."

He couldn’t tell her

there was no way he’d use Mia like that. She wouldn’t betray her best friend for some guy she hardly knew, anyway. It had been wrong to ask that of her.

"But I’ll find out something on my end," he said. "I promise."

There had to be some other way to investigate.

•

He’d better get the brother of the year award for this, Drew thought bitterly as he pushed into Styles R Us Hair Salon a week later. Two women glanced up from the magazines they were thumbing through as they sat with crossed legs in the waiting area. Behind them, in the tiled section, one hairdresser had her customer’s head tipped back over a sink as she rinsed soapy red locks and another hairdresser clipped away a little girl’s bangs. He didn’t see Mia’s roommate anywhere.

The female-dominated place didn’t ease his nerves, and he wondered how Jeff could stand getting his hair cut here.

Since he didn’t spot Piper right away, he decided not to stick around and was already reaching for the door handle when he heard her voice.

"Drew?"

Reluctantly, he paused and turned. Coming through a doorway covered with a pink curtain, Piper grinned and approached. "I thought that was you. How are you?"

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