“Absolutely. If it’s okay with you – as long as it’s not a problem?”
“Not at all.”
“Good,” he says.
“Good,” I say again.
“Good!” exclaims Mila.
All three of us laugh.
“So… See you later.” Eric’s voice becomes so warm and welcoming that I find myself shivering the way I did when he took my hand just a few hours ago.
“I’ll be there in forty-five minutes, max.”
“Okay.”
I can’t tell him I’ll be counting the seconds.
“Bye, Mr. Quinn.”
Eric hangs up, and I can finally breathe.
“Remind me again why you’re pretending not to like each other when it’s clear as day that you can’t wait to get your hands on each other?”
I turn to face my sister. I told her about me and Eric’s deal: a deal I regret more and more each second.
“This thing that you’re doing… I can tell it’s anything but pretend.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“And you know nothing about men.”
I’m about to respond when someone rings the buzzer to my building.
“Who’s that?” I ask, glancing at my watch.
“Surely it won’t be Ethan again?” Mila asks, straightening up on the sofa, preoccupied.
“Don’t worry, okay? I’ve got this.” I head over to the buzzer and answer.
“Who is it?”
“Jake.”
I heave a sigh of relief. I wouldn’t have known how to deal with Ethan alone.
“Come on up,” I say, opening the downstairs door for him.
I turn back to Mila, who’s standing up now. She doesn’t seem to be reassured by the fact it’s not Ethan.
“Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, of course. I was just… Anxious. I was scared it was Ethan, so…”
Jake knocks at the door to my apartment and I open it, nodding at Mila to wait for a moment. He shoves a bottle of wine at me.
“To apologise for last night.”
