Brad's housekeeper and my new nanny, Shanaya, offered to babysit Max while I was out getting early dinner with the girls. I was looking forward to seeing Kelly and hearing more about her honeymoon and how things have been between her and Scott. The two looked so perfect together, like they were two pieces of the same puzzle. It was the same with Danielle and Zander, and I hoped that Rachel and Neil would also have a similar fate in love. Well, I would wish any kind of fate upon her that wasn't similar to mine.

As happy I was for the reunion that rarely happened now because of how busy our lives had become, I knew that it was going to spark questions. They were going to want to know about Brad and whether I had slept with him yet.

I sighed as I checked the time on my phone when my cab dropped me to the Chinese restaurant close to Dani's penthouse in Upper Manhattan.

Strangely, all four of us were now living pretty close to one another. Dani and Kelly had been in the neighborhood since they got married and now Rachel had moved to the Upper West Side with Neil.

Neil Rowdell was rich, all right. Probably not as wealthy as Brad, but after a certain net worth, all amounts sounded similar to me.

I was hoping that Neil would be the topic of discussion during dinner and that we wouldn't even get to discussing my living situation with Brad, which was likely to come to a halt soon, now that Rachel had vacated the apartment.

But you never knew with these girls because since the last few of my meetings with them, I was starting to feel like they like to have me as their target.

I smiled wide when I saw them all seated together all the way at the back of the restaurant. Rachel was flashing her ring in their faces when Dani and Kelly waved at me. Rachel twisted in her seat and smiled back, and the happiness beaming in her eyes made my heart full.

I gave her a hug and let my peculiar over-excited sound escape me.

"So, so happy for you," I said, and she kept squealing and stomping her feet before she sat back down.

Dani, too, had left her son with the nanny, which meant that we could really let loose that evening without having to worry about one of our babies yelling and embarrassing us at a posh restaurant. Don't get me wrong. I loved my son more than words could explain, but sometimes, that little guy's yelling and screaming made me want to announce to the world that he didn’t belong to me.

"So?" I said, placing my elbow at the table and glancing over at Rachel, who still had her arm extended and her gaze fixed at her big rock.

"So." She smiled. "Pretty, right?"

I nodded.

"You won't believe how Neil proposed to her." Dani laughed.

Kelly snapped her fingers in front of Rachel's face to bring her out of her ring trance. "Hello? Are you going to tell her or should I?"

Rachel giggled. The girl was clearly on cloud nine.

"Yeah. Yeah. So, basically, we were having sex on the carpet of his living room and then he masterfully slid his hand under the edge of the carpet and revealed this."

Her smile widened even more as she said ‘this’ and flashed the diamond in our faces again.

"Having sex on the carpet," I mumbled, surprised because that sounded awfully similar to my sex session with Brad last night.

“Sex on the carpet? Seriously? That is the detail that you take away from my story?" Rachel laughed.

"Maybe sex is all that she's thinking about now." Kelly winked, then took a sip of her bubble tea. "You know, now that she's living with that Greek god."

I rolled my eyes and looked away.

"Oh, don't get all weird, Heather." Dani waved her arm. "We don't have any kids around for once, and you know what that means."

"That means we can finally talk about sex all we fucking want," Kelly said. "Oh, and use the word fuck as much as we want. Fuck, fuck, fuckity-fuck."

I burst out laughing. "We'll get to that, but first, can I hear about your honeymoon?"

Kelly's face brightened and she sighed.

"Ah, the beach, the sun, the sex. It was a dream, and now it's over. Now, moving on to you."

I raised my shoulders. "Really? That's all I get?"

"Once you're married," Dani said, "it's all the same. It's blissful but it's all the same. So we'd much rather hear about wild sex that you're having with Brad than discuss our mundane sex while watching Dancing with the Stars from the corner of our eyes."

I ran a hand across my face.

"Oh, ha-ha," Rachel said. "That's not going to happen with my fiancé and me. Roleplaying is your answer to the mundane sex."

She, then, looked over to me.

"Now, can you stop looking for excuses and catch us up on your hot roommate situation?"

"You guys don't get it," Dani said, shutting the menu closed. "The fact that she's dodging proves that something substantial is happening on that front.”

The blood rushed to my cheeks, making them rosy.

"Well," I said, then paused so we could place our orders.

"Well?" Rachel pressed.

"Okay, okay!" I snapped. "We had sex last night."

No reaction. Their faces looked the same as they did five seconds ago.

"And?" Dani said.

I spread my arms.

"And what? Isn't that big news? We had sex."

"Have you realized that you have feelings for him yet?" Kelly asked, raising her eyebrows, and all three of them leaned in closer and impatiently waited for my response.

"No," I squealed, placing my hands on the edge of the table and pushing my seat back a little. "What the fuck?"

Rachel said, "I told you."

Dani sighed and dug through her handbag to reveal a five-dollar bill.

"You guys placed a fucking bet?"

Dani shrugged. "Yes, and I shouldn't have."

I could tell that she wasn't irritated, just concerned. But I felt like snapping anyway.

"What is the matter with you all? You're always on my ass about something or the other."

Rachel pressed her lips together and tapped my shoulder.

"Calm down. We just want to see you happy, and this is the happiest you've looked to me for a long time."

"Well, that's not fair. I was pretty happy when my son was born."

Kelly glared at me. "Of course. We mean apart from that.”

Our server placing the food on our table gave me a good pause to think.

"So is this your guys' solution to my chronic unhappiness? Jumping into a relationship?"

"You're the therapist," Dani said, spreading soy sauce over her dish. "I get that you don't think it's the solution. But from the surface, at least to me, it sounds like Brad makes you happy, so it won't be such a bad idea to give having a relationship another shot. Correct me if I'm wrong, girls."

There was no response from Kelly and Rachel, and then Dani continued.

"And trust me, what happened with you and—"

I held up my hand because I knew that she was about to bring up my sister, Jessica.

"Please. I don't want to talk about that."

"For a therapist, you're way too avoidant." Rachel grinned.

"That's because living with you has turned me into a mental patient."

I never meant for my joke to come across as rude, but it ended up being just that.

"Too soon?" I asked her, and she nodded.

"I'm sorry."

She shrugged and cleared her throat.

"That apartment is yours if you want it, by the way."

"I figured as much."

There was an awkward silence until Kelly mentioned the name that I'd been trying to avoid.

"So, how is Jessica doing, by the way?"

"She's fine," I replied quickly. I didn't mind talking about my sister, but I knew where it would lead the conversation.

Jessica had just gotten divorced shortly after having a baby because her now ex-husband cheated on her while she was pregnant.

"What a douchebag," I said under my breath when I thought about Tyler Higgins.

"I agree," Dani said, leaning forward to touch the back of my hand.

"Oh, fuck it. I'm in a bitchy mood. I need to vent about that son of a bitch."

Rachel clapped her hands and laughed.

"We're all ears."

I told them about how miserable Tyler had made my sister while she was pregnant with her daughter, Lily.

"Like he totally made her feel as though she was crazy for thinking that something was off with him."

Kelly shook her head and sucked in a whole bunch of noodles at once.

"And he was cheating on her the entire time. Guys can be such assholes."

Dani nudged her, making Kelly look at her with furrowed brows.

"And get this." I raised my arms. "Now that she's won full custody of Lily, he keeps showing up to my parents' house unannounced."

My sister was temporarily living with my parents until she found a new place for herself. The house that she previously lived in with Tyler was in her name but she absolutely didn't want to have anything to do with that irresponsible jerk of a father.

"Might just be a Clayton sister curse." I smirked. "We attract men who want to run in the opposite direction once we get pregnant."

That brought in a slew of statements about how wrong I was about this and how it wasn't typical for me to be so cynical. Then Rachel broke the conversation when she proposed something unexpected.

"See if Jessica is interested in moving into our old apartment."

I narrowed my eyes at her.

"That might not be such a bad idea," I said. "And besides, it'll save us a lot of rent that we're going to have to pay for the abandoned place until the lease is up.”

"So does that mean you're going to continue living with hot Brad?" Rachel gave me a half-smile and winked.

"I was always leaning toward it," I said. "At least, for now. Besides, the man is an amazing fucking cook."

"What else is he amazing at?" Dani cocked an eyebrow.

I grinned at her question and shook my head while I dug through my bag.

"It has to be the nanny," I said, pulling my phone out.

But it was an unknown number.

"Hello?" I said, getting death stares from Kelly because she always lectured us on how rude it was to answer phone calls during dinner time. Though, Dani and I were allowed to answer calls if they concerned the kids.

"Hello?" I repeated in my singing voice, and then I heard my name.

"Heather."

I knew that voice all too well. I swallowed the lump in my throat and hung up the call just as quickly.

"Who was that?" Dani asked, shaking her head.

I placed my elbows on the table and rubbed my temples, all the while letting out deep and exaggerated exhales.

"Heather?" Rachel patted my back. "Are you okay, honey? What's going on? Who was that?"

I looked at her and swallowed again, then moved my gaze to Dani and Kelly.

Fear overtook me, and Rachel held my hand, waiting for an answer.

Kelly leaned back and tossed the napkin next to her plate.

"It was Wayne, wasn't it?"

I nodded guiltily, as though it was somehow my fault that he'd called, that he'd even had the audacity to pick up the phone and dial my number after all this time.

"Well,” Dani said. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure he'll go away just as quickly once again."

I lifted my eyes and clenched my jaw. It was frustrating to know that my friends didn't have the faintest idea of what they were talking about a lot of the time.

"He's Max's father," I said, emphasizing each syllable.

Dani nodded. "Yes, but he's been anything but a father to that wonderful boy, Heather."

I shrugged. "That doesn't change the fact, does it?"

That's when I sensed that our sweet little dinner date would spiral out of control if I continued to encourage this discussion.

"I think I’d better get home," I said, pushing back my seat and throwing the scarf over my shoulder.

"Let my driver drop you home," Rachel said, watching me place some cash next to my plate.

My jaw dropped. "You have a driver now?" I held up my hand. "Never mind. Don't answer that. Of course, you do."

It was getting harder to contain my snappiness. I sprinted out of there as fast as I could before I directed any more of my anger toward Wayne at those I loved most.