Not You It's Me (Boston Love #1) - Julie Johnson Page 0,124
— jaw ticking, eyes dark, brow creased.
“No more running,” he says finally, his voice soft. “We have a problem, we talk about it. That’s the only way this is going to work.”
“Okay.”
“Now, will you please come home?”
“Yeah, about that. Home.” My eyes narrow. “We have to talk about my apartment. Specifically, about the fact that you moved me out of it without talking to me, and now all of my earthly belongings are sitting in boxes in your living room. More specifically, about your utter insanity if you think I’m going to live with you.”
Shelby squeals, when she hears this — in all the drama, I completely forgot to tell her about Chase’s executive moving decisions.
“I figured that might come up, at some point,” he says wryly.
“Chase!”
“Sunshine.” His voice is warm — I can hear him grinning.
“Don’t sunshine me, mister!”
“You freaking out?”
“Yes, I am most definitely freaking out!”
“You gonna run again?”
I pause for a beat, then sigh in resignation. “No.”
“See you at home,” he says, clicking off seconds later.
I listen to dead air buzzing at my ear, and lift my eyes to Shelby.
“He moved me in, without even asking!”
She nods. “Sounds like it.”
“He is the most annoying, bossy, incorrigible, pushy, arrogant man I’ve ever met.”
Her eyebrows lift. “Anything else?”
I sigh. “And I’m totally in love with him.”
***
I’m driving back to Croft Industries when my cellphone starts to ring. Cursing, I press a button to toggle the speakerphone and slide my finger to answer the call.
“Hello?”
“Gemma!”
“Chrissy, I can’t really talk right now, but I promise to give you updates on the gala later tonight.”
“I need you to come over.”
“It’s not really a good time, Chrissy. I have to sort some things out with Chase and my father and my apartment—”
“Gemma!”
I blink, startled by the shrillness of her tone. “Yeah?”
“I need you to come over.”
“Is everything okay?”
“Mark’s out of town on a business trip, my parents are on a cruise in the Mediterranean, and Winston refuses to eat his Cheerios. Oh, and my water just broke all over my Pottery Barn sofa. But, other than that, everything’s just peachy!”
“Your water broke?” I shriek.
“Yep.”
“Are you sure?”
“Gemma, there’s a puddle of amniotic fluid on my living room floor. I’m sure.”
“But you’re not due for another two weeks!”
“Tell that to the fetus.”
“Okay, um, crap,” I mutter, my mind racing. “It’s going to be okay. We’re just, um… crap.”
“Gemma, I’m the one in labor. Calm yourself.”
“Sorry, sorry!” I wince. “Have you called an ambulance?”
“No, I called you.”
“But… shouldn’t you call an ambulance? I mean, I can drive you, but what if you go into heavy labor while we’re caught in traffic in the tunnel or there’s some kind of natural disaster on the way to the hospital, and I have to deliver the baby in the backseat, on the side of the highway? What then, Chrissy?”
Silence blasts over the line. “Let me get this straight. You want your pregnant best friend to ride alone in an grimy ambulance to the hospital, holding a squirming one year old, when she hasn’t even started having full contractions, yet?” she asks finally. “You’re kidding, right? You better be kidding.”
“Totally kidding,” I agree, grimacing at my own stupidity. “I’m on my way.”
“Great.”
I blare my horn as I swerve into the exit lane, toward Chrissy’s neighborhood. “I’ll be there in five minutes. Shelby isn’t far, either — we were just at Crumble, so—”
“You bitches got cupcakes without me?” Chrissy’s voice is outraged. “And you weren’t even going to bring me a one? I’m pregnant! Not just pregnant, either. I’m in labor!”
“Technically, we didn’t know you were in labor—”
“But you do know their Red Velvet is my favorite!”
“Chrissy, there’s a baby currently coming out of your womb. Please focus.”
“Whatever,” she grumbles. “Just call Shelby. One of you will have to keep an eye on Winston, while I do this thing.”
Only Chrissy would refer to giving birth as this thing.
“How far out is Mark?”
“He’s in San Diego, for a conference. He’s hopping on the first flight back, but he won’t land for at least six hours.”
“Damn.” I swallow. “Just breathe, Chrissy. I’ll be there before you know it.”
“I’m breathing just fine.”
“Good, well… keep doing that.”
She snorts. “You know what would’ve made this day a helluva lot better?”
“What?”
“A red velvet cupcake.”
I roll my eyes and hang up, immediately hitting a button to dial Shelby. It rings once, twice, and then her voice is snapping over the line.