Page 101 of Heartache & Playdates
Chivalry my ass.
“If Peyton needs a ride. I’ll give her one.” I started to turn.
“Where are you going?” Nick asked.
“To check on her.”
“Oh, can I come?” Lina asked.
“Of course.”
“Aww,” Nick smiled and put his hand over his chest. “Daddy-daughter time.”
Lina chuckled again.
I’d never understood why people found Nick amusing. I put up with him because I knew his heart. He was loyal. Honest. And would do anything for the people he loved. But I’d never thought he was particularly funny or charming.
Lina and I turned to head back to the elevator bay and Nick asked, “Did you hear the new pod episode?”
“Not yet.”
“Check it out. It’s good.”
I nodded.
“I’ll text you if anything changes,” he called out.
“Thanks.” I lifted my hand.
We stepped back on to the elevator, and I thought about going down to the nurses’ desk but realized I didn’t know Nonna’s first name. I only knew her as Nonna. I knew her last name was Russo, but had no clue what her first name was.
I pulled out my phone and began typing.
“Are you hacking the system to find out what room Nonna is in?”
Shit.
I glanced up at her. This was illegal. What sort of example would I be setting? One rule Lizzy and I had always had was we never lied to Hannah, about anything. Not Santa Claus. Not The Easter Bunny. Not how babies are made. Lina was my daughter and I wanted her to be able to trust what I said was true.
Instead of answering, I just looked back at my phone and continued typing. “I got it. It’s room fourteen oh six.”
She smiled from ear to ear. “Cool.”
It shouldn’t make me happy that she thought it was cool that I could get the room number in under sixty seconds, but it did. I pressed the button for the fourteenth floor.
“Nick is funny.”
“He’s not as funny as he thinks he is.”
“I like him.”
Most women did so that wasn’t a surprise. Nick was objectively good looking, but his charm and charisma were what I believed drew people to him. He oozed those things from the time I met him at the young age of thirteen. It was the currency in which he’d moved through life. Not that he wasn’t a hard worker. He was. I’d watched him build his media empire from nothing, he’d started as an intern and within ten short years acquired the entire corporation.
Nick was the embodiment of work hard, playharder.
“What podcast was he talking about?”
“He has a few, I’m not sure which one he meant. He’s starting a new one with Serena Grace.” Shit. I realized Nick had told me that in confidence. I was normally a steel trap when it came to things like that. “Don’t say anything. It hasn’t been announced yet.”
