I sighed. “Dinner tonight? Yeah, I think I can manage that. Just need to get home and do a little planning for the rest of the week.”
“Wonderful. God, I can’t wait to see the look on your father’s face when he hears the news. Anyway, I’ll let you get back to it, Val.” Mom opened her arms and pulled me into a tight hug. As miffed as I was that Mom had come by the office like that and almost blabbed the news, I knew there was no way I could stay upset with her. At the end of the day, she was a grandmother who was thrilled to meet her adorable little granddaughter.
“Love you, Mom.”
“Love you, too. Oh, I can’twaitto meet Maddie. And Piper!”
She planted a kiss on my cheek before heading off, waving at me one last time over her shoulder before melting into the crowd of pedestrians making their way down the sidewalk.
“Hey, Valentino!”
I didn’t get a chance to collect myself before I heard someone calling my name.
I turned to see a short, slender woman in her early thirties, with shoulder-length brown hair parted down the middle that framed a long, pretty face of plump red lips, big green eyes, and a tiny nose with a small curve to it. She was strikingly pretty, but I wasn’t concerned about any of that—her vague familiarity was of greater interest.
I watched as she walked toward me, pushing a baby stroller.
“Hey!” she waved once more, an extremely eager wave accompanied by an excited expression. “Val! It’s me!” As she raised her hand, I spotted something along her wrist—an intricate tattoo of a flower, the petals a dark purple.
It suddenly hit me who it was. Her name was Ashley, a woman who I'd gone on a few dates with a year or so ago. My stomach tensed as the memories came rushing back. We’d only seen each other a few times, eventually sleeping together.
I’d been fine with the sex at first. Ashley had seemed nice, after all, and we’d hit it off in a way that I hadn’t with a woman since Piper. Something changed after we’d slept together, however, like a switch had been flipped. She'd become strange, possessive and insistent. It wasn’t long after she’d shown her true colors that I'd broken it off with her, which was news she hadn’t taken well at all.
“Oh, hey!” I said, trying to muster up some enthusiasm despite already feeling on edge. “Ashley!”
Her eyes lit up at the sound of her name. “Oh my God! I’m surprised you remember me.”
“How could I not?”
She leaned in and grinned. “Well, we did have something, didn’t we?”
I forced a chuckle. My mind was so preoccupied with thoughts of Piper and Maddie that I had zero space left to think about anything else. Truth be told, I already wanted the conversation to be over.
“So, what’s up?” I asked. I craned my neck to get a glance at the kid. As awkward as the situation might’ve been, it was impossible not to notice that the little baby, looking around six months old, was as adorable as they came. He clearly took after his mom when it came to his green eyes. His hair was much darker than Ashley’s, however.
“You’re looking at him!” she said. “Valentino, meet Gage.”
I chuckled. “Gage, cute name. Pretty adorable kid.”
Gage cooed, reaching out to me with tiny hands.
“How old?” I asked.
“Just turned five months,” she said.
I took my eyes away from Gage and brought them back to Ashley. “Well, congrats.” I nearly said something about how we’d both recently become parents, but I kept that to myself. Something told me that it was a good idea to keep personal details like that hidden from her. “He’s a gorgeous kid.”
She beamed. “Thanks. My life’s been kind of crazy, but all it takes is one look in his eyes to know that not all my decisions were bad ones.”
I nodded politely.
“You’re looking good, Valentino,” she said with a smile. “Haven’t aged a day.”
“Yeah, same to you.”
The comment was intended to be perfunctory and polite, but you wouldn’t know that by the way she smiled.
“Thanks! Trying to work off that post-baby weight, doing Pilates and stuff, you know?”
