I told him so as we were waiting at the bar for our drinks. "Matt's cool," he said, shrugging.

"It just seems like you're getting along better with Josh," I pressed him.

"Josh is cool too," he replied, shrugging again. I rolled my eyes. Guys never thought about these things in the same way that girls did.

"He told me you guys didn't always see eye to eye," Nate said, taking his wine from the waiter and raising a questioning eyebrow at me.

"That's an understatement," I said, taking my own gla.s.s.

"Why?" Nate asked.

"It's kind of a long story," I told him.

"I've got time. And I love some good gossip."

I smiled at him. "Josh and Ginny dated for years," I said in a low voice. He leaned down to hear me better and I shivered a little at his new proximity. "They lived together during college and ended up breaking up right before they graduated."

"Ooh," Nate said. "Scandal."

"You haven't heard the half of it!" I told him. "So Ginny, Jen, and I moved in together in Ferndale. We thought she was trying to get over him, but little did we know they hooked up."

"Uh-oh," Nate said. "I think I see where this is going."

I nodded. "Danny. That's how Ginny got pregnant. But after their hook-up they didn't leave things in a very positive way. So Ginny didn't want to tell him about the baby. By the time she got up the courage, he had changed his number and moved."

"Wow," Nate said. "That's kind of cold."

"Right?" I asked, relieved that he thought so. "Anyhow, things got even crazier. Ginny finally got in touch with Josh's parents and they convinced her that he didn't want anything to do with the baby. They said he knew about it but he didn't want to see her. They even offered her money to stay away."

"This is better than a soap opera!" Nate said, and I laughed.

"Well, the truth finally all came out and Josh found out about the baby. Ginny forgave him and they ended up getting married...but I guess I still held a grudge for a while."

"But if he didn't know about the baby..."

"He still slept with her and then disappeared for almost a year," I pointed out. "I don't like guys who pull s.h.i.t like that with my friends."

"They mean a lot to you," he said. It was a statement, not a question.

I nodded. "They're my family."

"Sounds like a lot for a guy to compete with," he said, looking over at Josh and Matt, who were both chatting with Mr. Barker.

"Silly Nate," I told him, taking his hand. "There is no compet.i.tion. There isn't a guy that has a chance."

"We can only hope for second place, huh?" he asked, smiling.

"Third," I said. He looked confused. "Danny. He's the top guy in our lives."

Nate laughed and put his arm around me. "Third isn't so bad," he murmured. "Come on, let's go see your friends."

The night was a smashing success. Marilyn complimented me in front of Grayson and thanked me for my hard work. Kiki's father had spent twenty minutes talking with her about opportunities for patronage. He wanted to fund an entire camp. Marilyn was thrilled.

"That was fun," Nate said as we headed toward his car.

"Thank you for coming," I told him. I shivered slightly in the cold and he put his arm around me.

"It's really turning to fall now," he said, looking up at the clear sky.

"I miss Vegas," I sighed.

"Me too," he said, looking down at me. I wondered if he meant the weather or the time that we had spent together there.

We reached the car and he stopped to open the door for me. Ever the gentleman.

"So what's next?" he asked once we were both inside.

"What do you feel like?" I asked him. "I'm a little hungry..."

"Food it is," he agreed, putting the car into drive. "Want to go somewhere?"

At that precise moment, I yawned. He smiled over at me. "Or not. We could always get pizza and head back to my place."

"That sounds perfect," I said.

"Why don't you call and we can pick it up on the way?" he said, pulling his phone from his coat pocket and handing it to me.

"You have a pizza place on your speed dial?" I asked incredulously.

He shrugged. "Sure. I'm a single guy, what do you expect?"

"Says Mr. Foodie," I muttered. I dialed the number and placed an order for a large with everything as Nate drove.

Twenty minutes later he was opening the door to his apartment while I held the piping hot pizza in my hands. "Hurry," I moaned. "I'm starving."

He laughed as he pushed open the door. "Calm down."

"I told you when we first met, I'm a girl with an appet.i.te."

"So you did," he said, taking the pizza from me and setting it on the counter. He pulled down two plates and I got to work dishing out the food. "Beer or soda?" he asked, opening the fridge.

"Hang on," I told him, stopping what I was doing to hold up my hand. "You're in Michigan now, Mister. We don't say soda."

He rolled his eyes. "Excuse me. Would you like a beer or a pop?"

I grinned. "Beer, please."

We spread out on the floor of the living room and Nate put some music on his iPod speakers. I listened closely for a minute until I could make out the artist. The Smiths. I was quite impressed with his taste. I would have pegged him as a frat-rock type of guy.

While we ate, he told me all about the project he was working on. I normally found cars to be about the most boring subject on the face of the earth, but Nate was good at telling stories. The way he got so excited about his work was adorable-his eyes got brighter and he blinked a lot. I wondered if I looked that happy when I was talking about theater.

Once we were done with the food, we moved over to the couch. I had an urge to snuggle up to Nate, but I wasn't sure how he would feel about that. He had held my hand a few times at the benefit but he had made no move to kiss me. I wondered if he was still a little mad at me.

"I was surprised to hear from you," he said, and I felt my stomach drop a little. I should have known that he would want to talk about what happened.

"I should have called earlier," I told him. "I was just so busy-"

He held up his hand to stop me. "Listen, Annie. You made it perfectly clear that you weren't looking for anything serious," he said. "I think I probably pressured you a little bit when we first got back, pushing you to see me every day. That was a mistake."

It was strange. Him referring to our time together as a mistake bothered me. A lot.

"I do like you," he said softly, reaching out to take my hand. "And I want to spend time with you. I promise that we'll chill out though, okay?"

I nodded, not really sure how I felt about this. Wasn't he basically telling me exactly what I had wanted to hear?

"But, Annie," he said, holding my gaze seriously. "I'm not interested in games, either. I don't need to be strung along. We can keep things casual but if it's going to be all hot and cold with you, then I'm sorry, I'm not interested."

"I understand," I said, squeezing his hand. "I'm...I'm sorry if it felt that way to you. I just...I think I got scared." I sighed and ran my free hand through my hair. "G.o.d, listen to me. I'm really not good at this kind of thing." I had a sudden urge to tell him that I avoided these types of conversations like the plague. That I'd never really had a real boyfriend before. Is that what he was going to become?

"You're doing fine," Nate said. "We'll just take it slow, okay? No pressure."

"No pressure," I repeated.

"So, having said all that..." Nate grinned at me mischievously. "Wanna spend the night?"

I smiled back, and leaned forward for a kiss.

"Thought you'd never ask."

Chapter Nineteen.

"I swear to G.o.d, Jen, I'm just gonna quit," I fumed, throwing open the cabinet door so hard that it slammed into the wall. "I just don't think I can take it anymore!"

"You're stressed," Jen soothed. "There's a lot going on. Let's go sit down and relax."

It was three weeks after the benefit and only a week before the show was set to open. I was definitely starting to feel the strain, and to top it off, I'd had a horrible fight with Grayson at the end of the day. He had insinuated that I was devoting to much of myself to the play, and not enough to my job. Which was completely ridiculous. I worked my a.s.s off for those kids and he took all the credit. I felt my anger rise all over again at the memory of it.

"How the h.e.l.l am I supposed to relax?" I asked Jen. I immediately felt bad for snapping at her, but she didn't mention it. "The show opens in a week," I said, more calmly. "I'm scared out of my mind. And now all of this from that little jerk..."

Suddenly I felt tears spring to my eyes. Jen raised her eyebrows in surprise. "That's it," she said. "Couch, now. I'll get the wine, you just go sit down."

I listened to her orders without complaint, feeling a little surprised by my own reaction. I usually dealt with stress much better than this. It was not like me to burst into tears over a little confrontation with Grayson.

Jen met me on the couch a few minutes later with two full gla.s.ses of merlot. She handed me one and pulled my feet up into her lap. "Just relax," she said, patting my legs gently.

I leaned back into the cushions and closed my eyes, breathing deeply for a few minutes. When I was sure that the weepiness had pa.s.sed, I opened my eyes and took a drink of my wine.

"Little better?" Jen asked.

"Yeah, thanks," I told her. "Sorry. I don't know what got into me."

"You're under a lot of stress," Jen told me. "This show is a huge deal for you. It's normal to freak a little. Believe me, I've been there."

She had a point. It was only a year ago that Jen had practically had a breakdown overworking herself for Kiki's wedding. If anyone understood about work stress, it was her.

"I just don't think I can handle working at Springwells anymore," I told her. "Seriously, Jen. It makes me crazy every day. I like the kids, I like planning activities for them and working with them. I think the theater is great for the neighborhood. ButI'm so tired of doing paperwork all day. And Grayson...why does he have to make everything so hard?"

"Some people are just like that," Jen said. "You can't change them and you can't tear yourself up trying to please them."

"I know," I said, taking another sip of wine. "It's just really hard when you have to work with them."

"You're so close, Annie," she told me. "You know that, don't you? This show is going to do well, I can just feel it. And think of how it will look on your resume. You're going to start getting more work. Maybe it's time to ditch the day job."

I shook my head. "Even with what we're making for this show there's no way I could afford rent if I quit my job."

"I actually wanted to talk to you about that," Jen said. "Tina's sublease is up in two weeks. I've talked to her and she said she doesn't plan on renewing."

"s.h.i.t," I said. I wouldn't miss her at all, but in the mad rush of prepping the show I had completely forgotten that we needed to look for another roommate. "We need to get an ad in the paper!"

Jen held up her hand. "Hear me out first. And please know that you can say no, okay? There's no pressure here."

I looked at her, feeling confused.

"I want Matt to move in."

I felt my stomach lurch and I had to set down my wine gla.s.s. I was so not expecting that.

"It's just...I feel like we're ready to move on to the next step, you know?" I appreciated that Jen kept her eyes locked on mine, not lowering her gaze or acting like she was embarra.s.sed...like she pitied me.

"But I'm also not ready to move out. And I'm certainly not ready to stop living with you." She reached out and took my hand. "I mean that, Annie. I still miss having Gin around every day. There's no way I'm ready for us to be split up too."

I felt my heart rate slow down a little bit. So she wasn't asking me to move out...

"You know how Matt is all into real estate," she went on. "He would never, ever be okay with renting."

Matt owned his own construction firm. In the past few months he had been expanding more into development, buying some of the properties his crew fixed up instead of just working for developers.

"He says with the market the way it is right now, it would be a great time for him to buy a house."

"He wants to buy this place?" I asked.