I reached over and patted her stomach. "Is this the baby showing already?"

14.

*"No, that's fat," Kalen said with a sob. "I'm gaining weight so fast, but I can't stop eating." She grabbed me by the shoulders with tears on her cheeks. "Let's eat pizza. Todd has been following me around with fruits and vegetables. If I'm going to puff up, I want to at least enjoy what I'm eating."

"I'll order it right after I find you something to wear."

Kalen hugged me tightly and went back to tugging off her wet clothes.

After I found something for her to put on and ordered the pizza, I warmed some milk for hot chocolate. Kalen looked better when she came out of the bathroom. We took a seat on the sofa, and she told me about vacillating between wanting to throttle Todd one minute and cuddle the next. "It's like I have multiple personalities. I think he's afraid of me."

I would've agreed with her if she didn't look so serious.

Kalen rubbed her stomach. "Do you think I'll be like this through the whole pregnancy?"

"You'll have to ask Mom about that. I have no clue."

Kalen smiled at me. "I think you'd be so cute pregnant."

"I do not." I jumped up when my cell phone rang. "Pizza's at the gate, I'll be right back." I answered and told the delivery guy that I'd be right down. I took the stairs instead of the elevator, kidding myself that the exercise would combat the calories I was about to inhale. I trotted through the courtyard and opened the gate. A teenage boy balanced the pizza in one hand while he petted Fuzzy. I looked up to see Hailey making her way slowly toward us.

As I paid for the pizza, Fuzzy b.u.mped my leg with her ball. "I missed you," I said in a whisper as I scratched her behind the ears.

Hailey held the gate open for me. "How are you?" she asked when I moved past her.

I wanted to say empty and depressed, but I mustered a smile and lied. "Fine and you?"

I watched with sadness as Hailey's lips twitched. "I'm okay."

Neither of us seemed to know what to say as we walked toward the building. Fuzzy circled us as we went, sniffing the air around the pizza box. "Does she like pizza, too?"

144.

*Hailey shooed her away when she got too close. "She thinks she does, though she's never had it." Hailey opened the door and held it for me and Fuzzy. "Enjoy your dinner," she said as she and Fuzzy took the stairs.

When I entered my apartment, Kalen was standing in the window with her arms folded across her chest. "She's pretty." She walked over to the coffee table where I set the pizza and dove in without waiting for a plate. "I met her in the courtyard earlier."

"Yeah, she is," I said quietly as I poured a couple of gla.s.ses of tea.

Kalen had already polished off one piece and was going after another when I slid a plate onto her lap. "You're seeing her, aren't you?"

"No, she broke it off with me." I met Kalen's glance. "She was upfront and said she didn't want anything serious."

Kalen bit into her pizza, watching me. "This is why you've been hiding yourself away lately," she said after she chewed.

"I've had a lot of work to catch up on. Atlanta put me behind."

After one slice, I was full. I put my plate on the coffee table and sipped my tea. Kalen dipped into the box for another piece.

"You can't give up, Shannon, just because this didn't work out. There are still a lot of nice women out there."

"I know, but right now, I'm not interested." I toyed with the string on my sweatpants, aware that Kalen had stopped eating and turned her full attention on me. "I can't go out with someone else while I'm thinking about her."

"She watched you the whole time you were paying the pizza guy.""That's not helping." I tossed my napkin onto the table. "I think she wants to be with me, but she's as scared of me as I am of her."

"You know the saying, 'once a cheater always a cheater.' You have to let her go."

I wanted to argue the point. Dad would've been the example, but that would've devastated Kalen even after all these years.

"You don't think there are people that realize the terrible mistake they've made and resolve never to do it again?"

"Not from what I've seen. Remember Meredith's husband?

14.

*She's caught him so many times that she's just given up. The only reason she stays is because of the kids. There's not a day that I don't go to work and hear that someone's husband was caught running around."

"I think Hailey's case is different. She didn't cheat because she couldn't keep it in her pants. She was coming to terms with the fact that she's gay."

Kalen looked at me squarely. "That doesn't give anyone the license to cheat."

I was growing weary of the conversation. "It doesn't excuse anything, but her reason sounds a h.e.l.l of a lot better than just some h.o.r.n.y man or woman doing it for the thrill."

Kalen pivoted and stretched her legs out on the sofa, making it clear she didn't have any plans to leave soon. "You only have her word to go on. We don't know anyone she knows, so we can't get another perspective."

"Candace knew her cousin, but she left out the part that Jackie had a temper that one day will land her in jail if it hasn't already."

I threw my legs out alongside hers. "There's no need to discuss this any further, anyway. She dumped me, remember?"

Kalen put her hands behind her head and grinned. "Okay, next topic. What was it like kissing Angela?"

I know she saw my shocked expression before I could hide it.

"She told you."

"Oh, yeah," Kalen said with a note of satisfaction. "Are you insane? She's straight."

"Well, that might be debatable because for a second, she kissed me back."

"Angela doesn't strike me as the experimental type. You must've been mistaken." Kalen pinched at my arm with her toes.

"I didn't mistake her tongue in my mouth," I said, slapping her away.

Kalen's eyes went wide. "She didn't!"

"Oh, yes, honey, she did." Sometimes, Kalen was so easy.

"When she was telling you about the kiss, did she also mention that she had my a.s.s in both hands? Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s are so firm." I held up my hands. "They fit perfectly in these-"

14.

*"You are such a liar," Kalen shouted and dissolved into laughter.

"Okay, yes, we didn't grope each other, but she did slip me the tongue."

Kalen pinched the s.h.i.t out of me with her toes. "Did you get all tingly from that kiss?"

"Not in the least. It was all for show. Zoe didn't bother me again after that," I said with a triumphant air.

Kalen looked at me with a serious expression. "Have you kissed Hailey?"

I felt my smile slide from my face. "Yes."

Kalen's eyebrows rose. "Spark?"

"Fireworks."

Kalen grabbed my leg and squeezed. "Is that all you did?"

"What can I say? Pa.s.sion took control and we were rolling around in the courtyard... No, I haven't slept with her," I said when Kalen's mouth dropped open. "Well, I did sleep with her, but we didn't have s.e.x. The night you called me about Dad, I was at her place."

Kalen made a face like she didn't believe me. "You slept in the same bed but didn't do anything, hmm. She didn't try anything?"

I rolled my eyes, earning myself another pinch. "I was worried about Dad and she held me. That's all that happened."

Kalen rolled her eyes then. "Sweet."

"She is sweet, jacka.s.s." I pinched her on the wrist with my toes until Kalen squealed.

"You could hurt the baby," she said as she slapped me away.

"Rub my feet now, I need a nap."

"Call Todd, I'm not touching those nasty things."

"I just washed them with your loofah, they're clean." Kalen threw her foot up on my chest. "Rub for five minutes, and I'll shut up."

The five-minute rub was actually ten, five minutes each nasty foot. Kalen was snoring when I pushed her foot off me. We dozed for about an hour when I heard Kalen fooling with the pizza box.

I opened one eye and watched her inhale two slices before she

14.

*caught me watching her and informed me that I would be driving her home.

When I pulled back into the garage, my headlights swept over the back of Hailey's SUV. A new Louisiana license plate had taken the place of the Georgia tag. Apparently, she had plans to stay in New Orleans. Part of me was pleased. The other part sort of wished I didn't have to run into her. The saying "absence makes the heart grow fonder" was very true in my case.

14.

Chapter 23.

Duty cal s.

On Monday morning, my phone rang at five thirty. No one called at that hour unless it was an emergency. "h.e.l.lo, h.e.l.lo?"

I said into the alarm clock before I realized the phone was still ringing. I managed to grab it just before the answering machine picked up.

"Hey, what're you doing?" Kalen said groggily.

"Are Mom and Dad okay? What's wrong?" I scrambled out of bed and fumbled around until I found the light switch.