Baby

"Baby, baby, baby oooh
Like baby, baby, baby nooo
Like baby, baby, baby oooh
I thought you'd always be mine (mine)" Baby by Justin Bieber

Sunday was my last day with Bianca before she went back to California. We spent the morning clothes shopping for the casino themed baby shower with Rocky and Amber. Bianca toned down Amber's and my original idea of matching blazers and green visors for a dealer inspired look. Amber found a black corset belt with a white t-shirt dress. I bought a high waisted skirt with a corset detail to pair with a white blouse. Rocky was searching for a dress, but she wasn't having any luck finding something she liked.

"I'm not even coming out in this dress. It's awful." Rocky said through the door of the fitting room as she tried on the umpteen outfit.

"When does your mom get in town? Maybe she can help you pick something out." I suggested as I checked the time on my phone. I wanted to take Bianca out to eat before her flight, but Rocky's pickiness was cutting into our time.

"I don't want to go shopping with her. Besides, we won't have time. They're coming Friday evening and Forrest is taking us out on Saturday."

I frowned up while Amber shot me a look that said "nice try."

"That's nice of Forrest. And smart." I said, trying to change the subject and stay positive.

"What is?" Rocky questioned.

"Meeting your family before the baby shower." I clarified.

"He already met them and he's not coming to the shower." Rocky enlightened us.

"He hasn't met them as your boyfriend. Why isn't he coming to the shower?" I asked as she stepped out of the fitting room.

"Too plain." Amber dismissed the oversized blue blouse.

"He doesn't want to." Rocky said. I continued to stare, waiting for her to explain. When her lips stayed shut in a grim line as she examined herself in the mirror, I probed further.

"I'll ask him why he's not coming. I know there's more to the story." I threatened.

"He said the shower is for me, Brandon, and our baby. He doesn't want to step on Brandon's toes." She admitted, turning back to the fitting room.

"Well, how did Brandon feel about him coming?"

"I don't know." She mumbled.

"You didn't ask him first?" Amber followed up.

"No...it's my baby shower. I can invite whomever I want." she said, tersely.

"She meant run it by him. I'm sure if you told Forrest Brandon was ok with it, he would have came. That's probably why he felt like he might be stepping on Brandon's toes." I elaborated.

"I couldn't care less about Brandon or his toes." Rocky stated, swinging open the door to the fitting room. "He for damn sure didn't care about mine when he hooked up with Jackie."

Amber and I shared a concerned look, but I decided not to say anything. She was obviously still upset about the Jackie situation. I understood that, but I hoped she would put it behind them soon, for Ace's sake.  I took a deep breath and complimented the black fitted maxi dress she was wearing.

She went to the mirrors and scowled. "It's too tight. Why would they make it form fitting?!?"

"It highlights your bump-" Amber started.

"I don't want a dress that highlights all this." she declared, rubbing her stomach dramatically.

Bianca joined us in the fitting room with a frown. "I didn't see anything else out there. There's a place across the street that looks promising..."

I couldn't help the groan that escaped my lips.

"Forget it. I'll just wear this!" Rocky snapped, before storming into the room and slamming the door.

"Rocky, no. If you don't like it, let's go to another store." I said, apologetically. When she didn't respond, Amber gave me a reassuring smile.

"It's just hormones. Y'all go. I'll stay with Rocky." She told me softly.

I looked at Bianca and she shrugged, indicating she didn't care either way. I decided to stick it through and check out the next store.

Rocky's sour demeanor didn't change, but this time instead of her browsing through the store, Amber, Bianca and I picked out choices and took them to her in the fitting room. After about 4 different options, Rocky came out in a dress Bianca picked out. It was a stunning red lace dress. We all stood up and applauded.

"You don't think it's too much?" Rocky pondered, examining herself from every angle in the mirror and playing with the bow that rested over her bump. When that was her only complaint, I knew it was the dress.

"It's your baby shower! No such thing mommy!" I encouraged her.

We laughed and Rocky finally broke out in a smile. "You're too much." She quipped at me.

Once Rocky bought her dress and we left, I only had time to take Bianca to get her things so I could drop her off at the airport. On the way, I made her promise to keep me updated with what was going on with her- and not though social media. She made me make the same promise, telling me that she wanted to hear all about the guys I was casually dating. It wasn't lost on me that she stressed guys, but I agreed anyway.

I didn't have time to meet or talk to any guys with my longer hours at work and getting everything ready for the baby shower. Between Amber, Deborah, and me, we split the hosting duties for the shower. The only thing I was responsible for were the games and prizes. I had most of it done already, I only had to coordinate everything with Amber and Deborah. With Christian's late hours and city hopping, his schedule was more hectic than mine. Majority of our communications consisted of texting and liking each other social media posts.

On Thursday, we were finally able to video chat. He asked me what I was doing when he saw me hot gluing cards to baby food. I reminded him about the baby shower.

"Right. I completely forgot about that." He said, propping himself up with pillows as he stretched out in bed. He gave me a view of his bare built chest, muscular arms and the tattoos adorning his skin.

I smiled and focused back on his face. "That's cool. I don't even know where you are right now."

"Boston. I have an appearance at some club tonight."

"Fun. I still can't believe you get paid to party."

"Hey, it's not partying. It's hard work." He grinned.

"Sure it is." I responded, sarcastically.

"Come visit me and I'll show you."

"I wish." I sighed, wistfully.

"You're wish is my command. When can you take time off?"

"I can't. We're short staffed at my job. I spend more time at the clinic then I do at my house."

"You still have the weekends off right? I'll fly you out on a Friday and you can be back home Sunday night." He offered.

"I don't know... I can't just go."

 "Why not?"

"It's hard for me to leave." I responded.

"No it's not. You just do it."

"I really can't." I shook my head, focusing back on the baby food.

"Ok..." He sighed. "I didn't want to wait until Austin to see you again, but that's not too far."

"Austin?" I questioned, looking back at him on the phone.

"Yes. South by Southwest."

I bit my lip. "I'm not going to that"

"You can't get away to Austin for a weekend?" He asked, skeptically.

I know I could have lied to make things easier for myself, but I promised to be truthful to him. And myself. "I could.. But South by Southwest is Trevor's thing. It's in Austin where he lives now. I don't want to go-"

A frustrated look crossed his face that made me stop. He ran his fingers through his hair before speaking. "I really want to see you. I'm not going to be in Dallas anytime soon so let me know if you can get away to visit me."

"I will." I nodded, dying for a subject change. When we disconnected, I hated the feeling that I made things awkward between us, but I couldn't help how I felt. I couldn't suppress my feelings to spare his. Hopefully, he understood that.

Friday Morning, Justine finally let me brush her teeth with toothpaste. While I was on lunch at work, I found the animal hospital's Facebook and Instagram pages. I left glowing comments on both thanking Dr. Chapman and letting him know his suggestion worked.

After work on Friday, I headed to Rocky's house. When I got over there I greeted Mama Smith, Ramon, and Riley's sons Adrian and Ricky with hugs.

"Lily! You're looking good! You losing more weight?" Mama Smith asked me.

"No. It's just the scrubs." I motioned over the all black scrubs I wore for work.

"No it ain't. I can tell by your waistline. What are you doing?" She accosted me.

"Nothing... Besides the I have a mortgage and can't afford to go out and drink or eat anymore diet." I joked sitting beside her and Rocky on the couch.

"Another lie. I saw you out last weekend on Instagram." Mama Smith declared.

"At a party. I didn't pay for anything and the only reason I went was because my cousin was in town."

"Was she also the reason you were dancing on couches and flirting with that man?" Mama Smith grilled me.

Bianca posted pictures and videos of her time in Dallas on her Instagram. They included a picture of me chatting with Uriel- she captioned it with the designer of the articles of clothing I was wearing, but I knew it was her not so subtle way of encouraging me to date him.

"Yes." I lied, nodding my head. "She made me. She's childish like that."

"Mmhmm." she said, disbelief all in her tone.

"When are you going to come see my house?" I asked.

"We can drop by tomorrow before we meet Forrest for dinner." Rocky said

"When is Riley coming?" I asked them.

"He's not. He's on the rig so I'm babysitting." Ramon told me.

"I can watch them too. Like tomorrow night when y'all go out with Forrest."

"No, it's just dinner. In fact, you should come too." Mama Smith invited me.

Rocky looked annoyed and I responded before she could.

"No way. You already know me. Get to know Forrest." I declined.

Mama Smith smacked her lips but didn't say anything else about it. "Baby, your feet are swelling up. Put them up." She lectured Rocky.

Rocky reluctantly did. I hung out a little while longer before I left to go home.


Saturday I double checked with Amber and Deborah to make sure everything was all set for the baby shower. I spent the day catching up on errands and cleaning my house. In the afternoon, my doorbell rang. I went to open it and picked up the UPS box off the ground. I carried it in, opening it up immediately when I saw it was from Christian. When I saw the baby ducks wrapping paper on the box in the package, I knew it was for Rocky's baby shower. I smiled and tried to call him. When he didn't answered, I sent a text instead.

Me: Got your gift for Rocky. If it's nicer than mine, I'm claiming it!

That evening when Rocky, Mama Smith, Ramon, Riley and the boys arrived, I took them on a tour and let the boys take turns playing on my hooverboard.

"This is beautiful child. Way too much house for just you though." Mama Smith complimented me after the tour.

"It's Justine too." I reminded her with a slight smile.

After they left, I curled up on my couch and caught up on the shows I missed during the week.  I constantly checked my phone, but I didn't get a response from Christian. I went on his social media and discovered he was still in Chicago. His Instagram and Snapchat had a bunch of new pictures and videos of him at some club. His last tweet was from a couple hours earlier about going to a studio.

After I finished social stalking Christian, I saw I had a new friend requests on Instagram. One of them was Neil Chapman, the guy who operated on Justine. I accepted his request and went through his pictures, liking the pictures featuring different animals he treated. I was debating another pet before I decided to get off his Instagram. I took a hot bath and watched beauty YouTubers that Jennifer, Christian's friend, worked with to get an idea of what to do with my hair and make-up for the shower.

Sunday morning, I woke up with a text from Christian.

Christian: You can. It doesn't matter who claims it as long as she likes it

I responded with a lame thumbs up emoji. I also sent a text to Rocky to give me a call. I was finishing my hair and makeup when she called.

"How was the family dinner?" I asked right away.

"Good, I guess." she replied

"You guess?"

"Mama was nice to Forrest."

"Ok..." I said, confused with her somber tone.

"She didn't try to interrogate him or grill him. She paid more attention to Trevor than Forrest." She complained.

"Trevor?" I exclaimed, shocked that he was even there.

"Yeah. He crashed our dinner. I should have known that boy was up to  something when he was asking me what I was doing all week. He told me he wouldn't be able to come to the shower." Rocky informed me.

"That's nice that he made it." I said, truly not knowing what else to say. After getting over the surprise that he actually came, I didn't know how to feel. "And like you said, your mom already met Forrest. No interrogation needed. It's a good thing if she's nice to your boyfriend."

"You know how my mom is. She wasn't nice, she was dismissive."

"I think you're over thinking it. Everything is going to be great." I reassured her.

"Yeah yeah." she brushed me off.

"Now go get glamorous for all the pictures we're going to take today. I already have our prom-like poses planned out."

She sighed heavily before getting off the phone with me.

I hung up, giving my hair and makeup a harsh evaluation. My "perfectly" messy bun  just looked messy. My contoured and highlighted face was too heavy. Before I scrubbed my face and took down my bun, I tried to understand were my feelings of inadequacy were coming from. I immediately knew it was the thought of Trevor being there. I took a deep breath and reminded myself of all the things I was and wanted to be. It instantly calmed me and left my bathroom in high spirits.

I loaded my bags in my car and headed to the country club. When I arrived, Deborah, Ethan, Jake and Albert were already setting up. It already look fantastic with tables set with red table clothes, chairs with white covers and black bows. Casino and ace paraphernalia were everywhere.

Deborah pointed out the tables with green felted covers for the games. I got to work getting them ready. I was struggling with opening a plastic baby food container when Jake came to help me.

"Do they really think babies are trying  to open them? I have no idea why they baby proof these." I complained as he smoothly opened a container of orange baby food, marked with the 3 of diamonds.

"They're not baby proof. It's you." Jake taunted me as he moved on to the next.

"No, it's my nails." I said, holding up my recently gel manicured nails.

"And whose decision was it to get your nails done like that?" He asked, opening another container.

"Society. Men will never understand what women have to endure for beauty." I complained, half-heartedly.

"No, but we appreciate the effort." He said, handing over the last container and giving my face an admiring glance.

"Thank you." I said, shaking my head and giving him a friendly grin. He returned my smile before leaving to help Ethan and Will as they came in the room, arms filled with boxes.

Amber and I work to finish the kid's table and the photo area before we went to the dressing room. We both changed into our outfits before touching up our hair and make-up. Staci called me and I gave her instructions to find us in the dressing room.

"You look hot." I complimented her as she joined us. She wore a black bodycon dress and killer stilettos heels that made her as tall as me in my black booties. "Who'd you get all dressed up for?"

"Chicka, this isn't dressed up." She flipped her hair dramatically.

"Mmhmm, nothing to do with Daniel being on the guest list?" I asked, placing the green visor on my head that Amber, Brandon's mom Deborah, and I were all wearing. Bianca tried to talk me out of them, but I thought they were cute.

"Daniel? You like Daniel?" Amber asked Staci.

"Staci likes Daniel. Staci is talking to Daniel." I revealed to Amber, while pulling some of my baby hairs out to frame my face underneath the visor.

"He's alright. We've had a few conversations." Staci tried to downplay.

I shook my head as I put on my lily earrings and gold studs.

"I have to look dateable at all times. I don't have a man trying to woo me. Speaking of wooing, how's Christian doing?" Staci switched it back to me.

"He's good." I replied simply

"Any more tickets, jewelry or pop up visits?" Staci pressed further.

"What is she talking about?" Amber demanded. While Staci filled her in, Amber looked over at me hurt. "Why didn't you tell me? And do I get a ticket to Rihanna?"

"Of course you do! We've been so busy with the shower and there's really not much to tell. Um...he invited me to come see him when I can." I admitted nonchalantly, wanting their reactions to the idea.

"When are you leaving?" Staci squealed.

"Where are you going?" Amber exclaimed.

"Girl, is he sending a jet?" Staci and Amber both giggled.

"No. I told him I couldn't just...up and leave whenever." I relayed.

"Why can't you?" Staci asked, confused.

"Yeah, you don't have any kids." Amber added, matter-of-factly.

"I have a kid, and I would be on a private jet in a second!" Staci disagreed with her.

"I have my life: my job, my dog, my house." I listed.

"Your house?" They both gave me the side eye.

"Yes. " I confirmed, knowing how lame it sounded. "Let's get back out there. Everyone should be arriving soon." I said, standing up.

We led Staci to the photo area we set up. There was a Las Vegas, Nevada sign that read "Welcome Fabulous Ace!" on top of a curtian of red, black and white poker chips. Huge card cutouts of Aces bordered the curtain. Two oversized dice set on the floor as props. Will was working on a phone tripod so we could take pictures together. Once he had it set up, we tested it on my phone. Mama Smith, Rocky, Ramon, Adrian and Ricky found us posing on the dice when they arrived. They all wore buttons with the same Ace of Hearts featured on them. Each one featured a different title: Ace's Grandma, Ace's Uncle and Ace's Cousin

 I smiled and complimented them. "Y'all look great! I love the buttons." I said, standing up.

"Here's yours." Rocky said, gifting me a pin just like theirs. Tears welled up in my eyes when I read: Ace's Godmother.

I looked at Rocky in disbelief. "This is mine?"

"Of course. You've been looking out for Ace before I even-" she choked up, causing me to lose the little restraint I had to hold back my tears. "I can't think of anyone better to watch over him than you Lily." She finished, broken up.

Tears leaked out my eyes as I pulled her in for a hug. "I promise, I'll be the best godmother ever."

"I know you will." Rocky said, tears escaping too.

"Save your tears for when Ace gets here. Trust me." Mama Smith told us. We all laughed and I carefully wiped my eyes.

Brandon gifted out his pins and Deborah gathered up everyone together to take pictures. There were so many pictures: the entire family, the grandparents, the godparents, the parents, the uncles and aunts, all the cousins- every combination imaginable until Deborah released us.

Deborah gave a little speech, welcoming and thanking everyone for coming to celebrate Baby Ace. She invited everyone to eat and play the games set up on the green tables for prizes.

I went around to each game table, making sure the game instructions were clear. Each table had a green box with instructions on the outside and a slot to submit your answer sheet in. There was a guess the baby food, name the song with baby in the title, baby item pricing and guess how many game. Once I was sure each game table was running smoothly, I hosted baby bingo and baby bottle chugging with the kids. Once I awarded prizes to the winner, I instructed them to sculpt babies out of playdoh. Brandon and Rocky had to judge and pick 3 winners but I gave them a list of kids that hadn't won anything to pick from. Krista, who won a round of bingo, caught on as she did not think the best playdoh babies won.

"But Robbie's didn't even look like a baby." She protested as Robbie ran off with his first place bag of gold chocolate coins to show his mom.

"It did..." Rocky said, looking over at me for support. I nodded.

"It looked like a cat with those big old ears." EJ joked.

Aiden, Jake's nephew Issac, Cherish, and Krista cracked up laughing. Brandon barely contained his laugh, which almost made me laugh too, until I saw the withering glare Rocky fixed at him. His smile faded and I quickly spoke up. "Right. A baby lion like Simba."

"He went deeper than just a baby. It was symbolic for the cycle of life. That's why he won." Brandon said, convincingly.

"Simba?" EJ said, confused.

"The Lion King." April nodded enthusiastically.

"I never seen it." He told her.

"Yes you have! We watched it together!" I told EJ.

"When?" He demanded.

"When you were like 4." I reminded him. When he looked at me with a blank expression, I continued. "You really don't remember The Lion King? Aladdin? Finding Nemo? Toy Store?"

"I know Toy Story." EJ said.

"You have to spend the night so we can rewatch all those movies." I told him

"Can't I just play on the hooverboard instead?" EJ asked.

"Not until you see all the Disney classics." I told him.

Once the kids games were done, I quickly grabbed a bite to eat. Afterward, I headed to the table where Jake, his family, Dino, Kelly, Omar, and baby Olivia where sitting. After I said hello to everyone, I homed in on Baby Olivia and Kelly let me hold her.

"She's so beautiful. Look at how big she's gotten." I cooed at her, smiling as she nestled in my arms.

"Jake calls her chunky." Dino smiled at him.

"You said she looks funny." Jake busted her.

"I said all newborns look funny!" Dino denied. When Olivia started to fuss, I handed her back to her mom. I also spoke briefly with Jake's step dad about landscaping my backyard. Apparently Jake mentioned it to him so he made sure I had the nursery's number.

I was on my way to start checking the answer boxes for the games when Sammy called and waved me over. I was honestly so distracted with everything going on, I didn't notice Trevor until she called me over to their table. It seemed like every time I saw Trevor, he looked better and better. His hair fell over his face now, but he pushed it back so it didn't cover his eyes. He looked causal, but cute in his signature button down and jeans. He held my eyes for a second before looking away.

I plastered a smile on my face before I went into hostess mode. I greeted everyone before I sat next to Sammy.

"Thanks for spending time with me!" Sammy said, snidely.

"I'm sorry, I barely had time to eat keeping all the games going." I apologized.

"The games were so much fun. How'd you come up with them?" Peyton smiled.

"Necessity... Rocky wasn't letting anyone guess how big her baby bump is." I admitted honestly and Peyton laughed.

"I'm pretty sure I won baby making music. I'm the expect." Corey joked, putting his arm around Sammy's waist.

"Expert huh? But you didn't recognize Justin Bieber?" Sammy teased him.

"I got it right after you told me." Corey replied.

"Thanks for letting me know- you both are disqualified for sharing answers." I smiled at them.

"I guess we are too. I told Chris he was wrong on the guessing game. He said 500 dirty diapers a year for a baby." Peyton revealed.

"Really Chris? That's less than 2 a day."

"I wasn't thinking; I just threw a number out." He confessed.

"I guess no one at this table is winning a game."

"Trevor thinks he got all the baby food." Sammy stated.

I turned to look at him. "Is that right Trevor?" I asked, civilly.

"Yep." Trevor responded, plainly. His glance at me was somewhere over my head.

"Well, I should go figure out who won then. Good luck." I said with a genuine smile before I left. If he didn't want to talk or look at me, oh well. That was his choice, just like I chose to remain unbothered by it.

After Amber and I figured out the winners and awarded prizes (Trevor got half of the baby food right and didn't win), it was time to open gifts. Amber and I brought Rocky the gifts as Deborah wrote down who gave what for thank you cards. On top of the numerous diapers, bottles and baby clothes, she also got gifts she didn't register for: A baby swing Megan swore EJ loved when he was a baby, a travel bassinet from Deborah, a beautiful handmade baby blanket from her mom and baby monitor from Trevor. Along with the baby bath tub Rocky and Brandon requested on the registry, I got Ace a customized bath set and bathrobe with his name monogrammed on everything.

"This is too cute." Rocky beamed at me. "Thank you Lily.

"Anything for my godson." I smiled, handing her the next gift to open. "This is from Christian." I told her.

She gave me a look before she opened it.

"Wow..." she breathed, pulling out a sleek diaper bag.

"Is that Marc Jacobs?" Iris, one of her coworkers, asked.

Rocky nodded, as she looked the bag over. She pulled out an envelope that was hanging out the side pocket.

"Spa day for Mom and professional photo session for baby." she read out loud. She then looked at me. "Did you tell him to do this?"

"No." I shook my head. Christian was super generous when it came to gifts so I wasn't surprised.

"Who is that from?" Deborah asked Rocky.

"Christian Wilson." Rocky told her.

"Address?" When Rocky looked at me, I shrugged.

"We have to get him a thank you card. If I send it to you, can you give it to him?" Deborah suggested to me.

"I'll make sure he gets it." I promised.

Once all the gifts were opened, Brandon, Will, Ethan and Jake started to load the gifts on carts to push to the cars.

"Forrest will be here in 10 minutes to pick me up. Let's wait and load everything in his car." Rocky told them.

Brandon noticeable flinched, but Rocky either didn't notice or pretended not to. When Brandon didn't say anything, I pulled Rocky to the side.

"I think between all of us, we can get everything to your house. You don't have to call Forrest." I told her.

"I wanted to. Besides, this way I can go home without entertaining anyone else." Rocky explained. I nodded as she walked away. Jake was watching me with a hopeful look. I shook my head no. He nodded in understanding before walking away with Brandon. When Forrest arrived, Ethan and Will pushed the carts out and got everything loaded up in his SUV. I waved goodbye to him and Rocky before heading back into the country club.

Everyone was saying goodbye and slowly dispersing. A few people were making plans to go to a bar. Amber and Staci were trying to convince me to come too. I told them I would meet them for a drink after I help clean up.

"I got the rest. You can go ahead and leave." Ethan approached as Amber left.

"No. You're mom did so much putting this together. The least I can do is clean up." I said, reaching to pull down a huge cardboard cutout of 4 Aces.

"She loved throwing this party; she's still holding on to hope that Racqelle will be her daughter in law." Ethan explained.

I was holding on to hope that Rocky could at least forgive Brandon, but I didn't mention that. "Well, she really likes Serena right? Your mom can look forward to her as a daughter in law." I said, lightly.

He froze and looked at me. "You know Serena and I broke up."

My jaw dropped open. "What? When?"

"Last month. You planned my birthday party when she backed out." He said, slowly. His normally stoic face was marred in confusion.

"I know. I thought you two got back together after that."

"No." He denied.

"But... She said you two were working on it."

"No." he repeated.

I hung my head. "Wow. I'm sorry; I really thought you two got back together."

"It's fine." Ethan said turning away and focused back on removing decorations.

It was so awkwardly silent I had to say something.

"I know it's hard, but at least you two don't have mutual friends." I blurted.

Ethan turned to me, expectantly.

"I mean, you could be force to see her at a mutual friend's baby shower. Even though you don't want to be in the same city, much less the same room as her. And every time you see her, it's a constant reminder of your shortcomings." I blabbed, trying to keep my emotions in check. I knew I should shut up, but it keep coming anyway. "Although I know we can't be friends, it's impossible to pretend he's nothing to me. Somehow it's easy for him to just move on, but he was my...someone to lava. I can't help thinking if I couldn't make it work with him, I can't make it work with anyone so what's the point of trying?" I confessed, finally stopping when I needed to take a breath.

After a moment, Ethan asked me."What's someone to lava?"

I waved my hands, feeling incredible stupid.

"Just ignore me. I'm dumping on you and you're going through your own stuff. I'm sorry." I forced a smiled.

"Don't be sorry." He said, dismissively. "What does it mean?"

"Soulmates." I answered, plainly. "I know you don't believe in that."

He shook his head. "No. The idea that you're fated to be with someone never made sense to me." He confirmed.

We worked in silence, both in our own thoughts until Ethan asked me. "Do you know the story of Adam and Eve?"

"About how they ate the fruit and fucked us over?" I joked weakly.

"Not that story, although I never heard it told like that. How Eve was created for Adam." he began.

"Yes." I nodded.

"My dad calls my mom his rib. He says she completes him. Finding someone who completes you makes more sense to me than soul mates."

I thought it over. "I actually kinda like that. I should be trying to find my missing rib."

"Technically, you would be the missing rib, but sure." He pointed out as we finished cleaning.

After the shower, I went home instead of the bar. I sent a text to Amber and Staci letting them know that Justine and my house needed me, so I would have to pass on the drink.

I called Christian planning on leaving a voicemail, but I was thrilled he was able to talk.

I gave him a quick rundown of the party, including that Trevor was there.

"How was it seeing him?"

I warmed at the concern, not jealousy or anger, in his tone.

"It was ok. We ignored each other for the most part, but I think it's for the best." I said, truthfully.

"Why do you say that?

"We spent a long time being together; and not just as a couple. Even before then when we were just friends, we were very co-dependent. It's better that we're separate now."

"That make sense."

"Rocky loved her gift from you by the way. She liked it so much she insisted I get you a thank you card." I changed the subject

"Unnecessary. I told you you could take the credit for it. I don't need a card."

"Yes, you do. You deserve a card, immediately. I'm thinking I should deliver it personally to you."

"Personally?"

"Right. I can bring it to you." I said, hintingly.

"No. Mail it to my manager."

My heart sunk. "Are you serious? You don't want me to come see you?"

"Of course I want to see you. I told you that already. I don't want you coming out to give me a thank you card. If you were coming out because you wanted to see me too, that's a different situation." He claimed.

I took a deep breath. "I wanna see you. I'm I still invited?"

"Always."