Page 100 of Heartache & Playdates
“Nick, who’s here?” I tried to get him back on track. I swear, sometimes he had the attention span of a golden retriever. Actually, that’s sort of what he reminded me of.
“Oh, right. Peyton.”
My veins ran cold. “Peyton’s here? What’s wrong? Where is she? Is she okay?”
Why would Peyton be in the maternity ward?
Was she pregnant again?
Was it mine?
“She’s fine.” Nick was smiling from ear to ear. “Nonna had a heart attack.”
“Nonna had aheart attack?! When?”
“This morning. But she’s okay now. They are just keeping her a few days for observation.”
I let out a breath and moved my hand to my chest. This asshole was going to givemea heart attack.
“Bro, she looksgooooooodnow!” He drew out the word then his eyes shot to Lina. “Sorry, I don’t know if that’s weird cause she’s your mom?”
“Are you kidding me?” Lina smiled. “That’s not weird. She is very attractive. I come from very good genes.”
“She always looked good,” I pointed out.
“Yeah, but she was a kid when you were with her before.”
Right. Nick was four years older than me so when I dated Peyton, he was already twenty. That would have been gross if he would have looked at her like that. Not that I was thrilled that he was looking at her like that now.
I pulled out my phone to check and see if she had responded to any of her messages from me.
“If you’re trying to call Peyton, her phone’s dead,” Nick informed me.
That must have been why she hadn’t responded.
“How do you know?”
“I tried to give her my number, but her phone was dead.”
Hearing that my friend, who had just said that Peyton lookedgooooodhad also tried to give her his number had me seeing red. Logically, I knew it was ridiculous, but it was like a patellar reflex when the doctor hits below your knee and your leg jumps. It was completely involuntary.
“Whoa.” Nick grabbed Lina and pretended to hide behind her. “As a friend. I was going to give her my number as friend.” Nick leaned down to Lina and whispered out of the side of his mouth. “Did you see him about to Hulk out?” Then he walked in a circle doing what I could only describe as a horrible impression of either me or the Hulk, I wasn’t sure.
Lina’s head fell back as she cracked up.
It wasn’t that funny.
“Is Sadie okay? Have there been any updates?”
Nick straightened and his tone grew serious. “She’s good. Alex texted a while ago that her water broke, so she’s definitely having the baby, but everything looks good.”
“Okay, I’m going to go check on Peyton and Nonna.”
“She’s going to come up here. I told her I’d give her a ride home.”
Now, I might Hulk out. “You told her you’d give her a ride?”
“Yeah, her phone is dead and she doesn’t have a car here.” He looked at Lina and smiled. “Don’t believe what you hear, chivalry is not dead.”
