Mixed Emotions - Mia Heintzelman Page 0,11

words fall from his mouth. “Anything for my friend.”

Just friends.

Yes. This was just his body talking. He might not be able to undo the texts he’d sent last night, but he was only going to be thinking with one head from now on.

Mike made his way to the kitchen where he found the “three amigos” conspiring in hushed whispers. As soon as he walked in, they all scurried like roaches in the light. He had to laugh because he knew they were plotting something, but at the moment he didn’t have one fuck to give.

He wasn’t nuts, he was just horny.

The game started off just as Mike expected. Olivia’s truths, of course, were centered on photography and weddings, while her lie was predictably about how much she loathed guys with beards. Considering the last two guys she dated looked like lumberjacks, it was pretty easy to spot.

Mike had also easily spotted Everett’s lie about wanting to be a football coach back in high school and Zora’s about hating Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. At the moment, he was winning the game 3–0, when Sophia’s turn came up.

Sophia flashed him a tight smile as she scooted to the edge of the chair. “Okay, Mike. Let’s see if you can get this one.” She straightened the lines of her face and gave him a deadpan stare.

“Let me have it.”

“One. I’ve been put on light activity to avoid putting the baby at risk , so we’re going on a month-long vacation to Bali. Two. Patton Place has dry rot and termites, so we need to vacate the property for fumigation and repairs. Three. I only watch Game of Thrones for the nudity.

Mike slid his finger over his top lip as he pondered the options. They were oddly specific and some were kind of personal. It was classic Sophia to go for the jugular right off the bat.

“Let’s see. That’s pretty specific,” he said out loud.

“But you don’t even like Game of Thrones,” Zora added.

Zora and Olivia were both studying Sophia and Everett, waiting for the news hiding between the lines. They could all hear it in what Sophia wasn’t saying.

Mike felt his own body stiffen.

“Are you guys trying to tell us something?” he asked.

His heartbeat pounded in his ears. Everett had told him before he met Sophia, she gave birth to a stillborn, which was why he was so worried, particularly the first three months. He said Sophia was about nine weeks and that most miscarriages occurred in the first trimester, so that had to be true. They would never joke about something so serious. Otherwise, why would they have been so worried about going out to celebrate?

Why would they choose the middle of a game to disclose something so personal?

“So the house has termites and dry—” Mike was still working out her angle when Zora cut him off.

“Is the baby okay? What happened?”

There was a catch in Everett’s throat as he responded. He squeezed Sophia’s hand, pulling her in tight against him. Both of them were glassy-eyed, but they held it together. By the way his upper lip stiffened and hers trembled, Mike could tell that they’d been suffering in silence with this news. Having to say it aloud was only reopening the wound.

Immediately, Zo and Olivia stood and rushed to them, murmuring their sympathy and apologies. Mike was the only one who wasn’t crying. His tears were all dried up by now. He knew too well what the pain of losing a child…or sibling, did to a person.

In the back of his mind, Mike saw his younger brother Lucas. His face was always falling. Mike knew there was nothing he could have done to help. Still, deep down, he knew he would never allow himself to be responsible for another person’s life.

While he should have offered sympathy and shared Everett and Sophia’s burden now, friend or not, Mike couldn’t help but watch Zora.

“I’m so sorry. I know how much the baby means to you,” she cried. The way she so freely gave of herself and was both gentle and strong at the same time—she was everyone’s rock and reprieve wrapped in one. The sight of her tears always stirred something in Mike and left him unsettled.

“We’ve scheduled the fumigation,” Everett began. “In a week, we’re going to have to be out. My gorgeous fiancée and I are going to take a long overdue, stress-free vacation.” He gazed at her so endearingly, tenderly. “I’m thinking lots of time in the bed.”

“Ev,” Sophia playfully