Page 117 of Heartache & Playdates
“Leo is amazing!I love himsomuch!” Lina gushed as we sat at Nonna’s kitchen table eating ice cream.
Apparently, eating ice cream when it was cold outside was genetic, because it was in the thirties and when I mentioned ice cream sounding good, Lina had agreed. She said she’d always loved eating ice cream when it was cold outside. It made her feel cozy.
“He is,” I agreed wholeheartedly.
Leo and Nonna had both fallen asleep fifteen minutes intoBachelor in Paradise. We’d spent the day playing games, eating, and watching reality TV. It was perfect. Well, nearly perfect. It would have been perfect if Maddox had been here.
My phone rang and I saw that it was Trent calling. He’d called several times today, leaving messages insisting that we talk. I’d just been ignoring his calls.
“Do you need to take that?”
“No. It’s Trent.”
“Are you guys going to get married?”
“No,” I immediately shot back. “I broke up with him. He’s just choosing to ignore it.”
She nodded.
“What about you? Are you seeing anyone?”
Her cheeks flushed. “Um, well, there is sort of someone, but I don’t think he knows.”
“Really? Who?” I asked eagerly, then realized that I should respect her privacy. “If you don’t want to tell me, I totally understand.”
“You know Ryan? Lizzy’s husband.”
Oh no. Did she have a crush on Maddox’s baby mama’s husband? This would not end well. I tried to keep my face as neutral as possible. As an educator, I tried my best to listen to my students with no judgement, and my daughter definitely deserved the same judgement-free zone.
“Yeah,” I responded casually as I took another bite of ice cream.
“Do you know his brother, Robbie?”
Oh, thank god, I exhaled a sigh of relief.
“Yeah, he was actually one of the EMT’s that came when Nonna was unconscious. I didn’t know it at the time, but I recognized him last week when he was picking up Hannah with Ryan. He’s cute.”
“I know, right. I met him when I went shopping with Lizzy and Hannah for the Valentine’s Day dress.”
I’d heard that the three of them had a girl’s day, and as happy as I was that Hannah and Lina were spending time together, I had to admit, I’d been a little sad that I hadn’t been there. It just felt like there was so much I’d missed out on. I knew that I couldn’t make up for lost time, or anything like that. I just didn’t want to miss out on any new time.
Lina smiled as she tilted her head to the side. “I’ve never really been in a relationship. At school, I’ve always been so much younger than everyone else, so it’s not like I could date anyone. I graduated high school when I was thirteen and college when I was nineteen.”
“Yeah, I never thought about it like that. I was just so impressed that you did that, but I didn’t think about it from a social aspect.”
“I never really cared because I was obsessed with coding and busy with schoolwork, so I never really had time for a big social life. But I don’t know, now that I’m starting to go out more, I think I’m ready to date, but I’m not sure how.”
“I would love to give you advice.” I held up my phone as exhibit A. “But clearly I’m not the expert.”
Lina laughed.
“I’m always here, though. If you want to talk about anything, or pick out clothes, or run texts by me before you send them. And we have Leo, who is my go-to for all things men related.”
Lina’s face lit up at the mention of Leo’s name. “Do you think he would give me his number?”
“I’m surprised he hasn’t programmed it in your phone already. Actually, I saw he had your phone earlier, what was he doing?”
“He said he was adding me on Insta. Why?”
