Alice sighed. “I fell down the stairs.”

“You fell down the stairs,” I repeated. “Were you drunk?”

My friend paused on the other end of the line. “Yes.”

I sighed. “Alice, I really need you right now.”

“I know,” she said apologetically. “But I can’t go anywhere. My leg is in a full cast.”

“Okay,” I said. There was nothing I could do about it. “You gonna be okay? Want me to come by later?”

“Maybe,” she said. “I might be drunk again.”

I laughed. “You’re crazy.”

“What else is there to do when you have a broken leg?”

“Good point.”

“Call me after your commercial,” Alice said. “I want to hear about it.”

“It’s a plumbing commercial,” I said dully. “I just have to pretend to hire a plumber.”

“You’re looking at this the wrong way. It’s a part. You need it for your resume.”

“I know,” I said. “I’m just—”

“You want something bigger. I get it,” said Alice. “And you’ll get there. In the meantime, I’m proud of you for getting this job.”

“Thanks, Al,” I said, grateful as ever for my friend’s words. Alice was my best friend and closest confidant, and she was always supportive of me and my career. “I’ll call you later.”

“Good luck with Luna,” she said. “I’m sorry again.”

“It’s okay,” I told her, then said goodbye and hung up. I looked over at Luna, who was playing quietly on the couch with her favorite Barbie.

“What am I going to do with you today, baby?”

“You can leave me and Cindy here,” she said brightly, holding her Barbie up to me. “She will make me lunch.”

I laughed. “I’m sure Cindy’s a great babysitter, but I’d be more comfortable if you had a real adult.”

“Cindy’s a real adult,” Luna protested.

I walked over to her and kissed her on the forehead. “I’ll be back in a minute,” I told her, going into my room to search through my computer.

I had a list of phone numbers there and I was trying to think of who I could call to come watch Luna. I scrolled through the list of names and found no one who wasn’t going to be at work or busy. I thought of the neighbor across the hall from me—Ellie Waters. I’d looked her up the day I’d met her, curious, and found out that she was a romance novelist. She would probably be home right now if I went over. I thought about it for a moment, how odd it might be to ask a complete stranger to look after my daughter. But I was desperate and there was something about Ellie that made me trust her, a softness in her eyes that told me she was kind and sweet.

“I’m going across the hall, Luna,” I said, making the decision. “Stay on the couch. I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.”

“Okay, Daddy.”

I went outside, feeling slightly nervous as I knocked on Ellie’s door. Even from our brief meeting, I’d found her fascinating. She was lovely in a simple way, her hair the color of honey and cut around her face, her eyes green, hidden behind a pair of glasses. The glasses didn’t obscure her beauty at all, and I could still see her heart-shaped face and high cheekbones.

When she answered the door, I froze, momentarily forgetting what I was going to ask her. She was wrapped tight in a robe, not wearing her glasses, her eyes sleepy and half-lidded. When she saw me, they widened.

“Hi, um—”

“I’m sorry to wake you,” I said, though I didn’t feel sorry at all. In fact, I couldn’t keep the smile from my face just looking at her. She looked innocent and sweet, her lips slightly parted as she stared at me. There was definite interest on her face, though she tried to hide it by looking away.

“I needed to get up anyway,” she said, her arms crossed over her chest. “What’s up?”

“Well,” I began, looking at her bashfully. “I need your help.”

“With what?”

“I have a commercial to film in about half an hour and my babysitter cancelled—I have no one to watch Luna and I—I really need this job.”

She stared at me and for a moment I felt filled with embarrassment for even asking.

“I really haven’t watched a kid since high school,” she said. “I really don’t know how.”

“She’s so easy. She’s such a good kid,” I told her. I held her eye, knowing how desperate I sounded. “Please. I wouldn’t ask if I had another choice.”

After a moment, she nodded, and I felt relief fill me. I took her hand without thinking, holding it between my own. It was small and warm and fit in mine perfectly.

“Thank you so much, Ellie,” I told her. “I’ll bring her over in a minute.”

“It’s okay,” Ellie said, looking down at our hands. She pulled hers away but there was a reluctant look on her face. “I’m going to get dressed. I’ll see you in a minute.”

“Okay,” I said, and then went back into my apartment.

“Get dressed, Luna,” I told her. “I found you a babysitter.”

She got up and went into her room. I followed her in, sitting on the small bed.

“Who?” she asked.

“Do you remember Ellie? The woman who lives across the hall?”

“She said I had pretty eyes,” Luna gushed. “That lady?”

“Yes,” I said, smiling at the memory. The way to Luna’s heart was treating her like she was the prettiest girl in the world, and Ellie had done that within ten seconds of meeting her. “Would you like to go see her?”

“Yeah!” said Luna, picking out the same dress that she always wore. It was frilly and purple, though she liked to wear it with the light-up dinosaur tennis shoes that Alice had gotten her for Christmas. It didn’t exactly match, but it suited Luna to a tee, and I found that we were both happiest when she wore whatever she wanted.

I left Luna’s room and got ready for my commercial. I’d felt more nervous about seeing Ellie than I did about going to the shoot. Acting—being in front of a camera—was something that came naturally to me. I was good at it and I enjoyed it. I knew if I’d been given the opportunity, I would have been more successful by now, but my chances had been dashed the moment Maria had decided that she didn’t really want to be a mother to our beautiful daughter. My life became all about Luna, and I was okay with that, but I couldn’t help but sometimes imagine what might have been if my life had taken a different path.

I knocked on Ellie’s door again, Luna’s hand laced in my own. When Ellie answered, she was wearing a pale blue dress, one that flattered her pretty skin, narrow waist and curvy hips. I looked her over, unable to control my eyes as they wandered over her body. When I met her eye again, she was blushing, but there was a pleased look on her face. She looked down at Luna.

“Hi, Luna,” Ellie said with a bright smile.

“Hi,” said Luna, letting go of my hand and wrapping her arms around Ellie. Ellie looked at me in surprise and I smiled—when Luna took to someone, she really took to them. Ellie hugged my daughter back and invited her inside. Luna was about to skip past her and into the apartment when I put my hand on her small shoulder.

“Where are you going, Miss Luna? You haven’t even given me a hug.”

Luna turned around and without hesitation leaped into my arms, snuggling me with her arms around my neck. I kissed her and put her down, ruffling her hair.

“Have fun today, baby,” I said to her as she went inside. Ellie was still standing in the doorway, her eyes on me.

“Good luck today,” she said.

“You too,” I told her, and she laughed, then shut the door.

I left the building then and headed toward the bus stop. It wasn’t as convenient to take the bus as it was to take my car, but it was an easy way to get around that I was adjusting more to every day. I climbed on and sat in the backseat, looking out the window as the bus started down the street again.

My mind wandered to Ellie, beautiful Ellie. There was something about her that I couldn’t put my finger on, something so sexy it ached to look at her. Every time we touched I’d felt an electricity in my body that I hadn’t felt even with Maria. I couldn’t help but imagine what it would be like to see and touch more of Ellie.

I tried to suppress my thoughts on the bus ride but they seemed to grow the closer we got to the place I was going to be shooting the commercial. I imagined Ellie all spread out and naked in bed, that innocent look in her eyes as I sucked on those small, perky breasts, my mouth moving lower and lower. I wondered how a girl like Ellie would react to my mouth on her pussy, wondering if she’d squirm and moan, if the sounds of her pleasure were as sweet as her voice.

We pulled up at my stop and I shook the thoughts from my head, knowing that I needed to be clear-headed in order to effectively pull off the commercial. I couldn’t be thinking about sex during a job, though I had a feeling now that Ellie was in my head, it was going to be hard to get her out. I wondered if she was single or if she was a lesbian like Alice, and hoped that the latter wasn’t true. Even though I knew I couldn’t have a relationship with Ellie, it would be nice to know that she wasn’t completely off-limits.