I finish my glass of ice water and pour another from the pitcher the bartender left on the table. That move tells me he’s seen enough hangovers to know how dehydrated I am. I have to remember to tell Mason to give him a raise.
“Okay, let’s see what’s next, shall we?” Eric pulls the packet of papers from Phoebe and spreads them on the table. “Which lab do you want to use?”
A thought occurs to me, and I pull out my phone. After a quick search, I find what I’m looking for. “CellSearch is on the list, right? Remember Mark Orosz? That’s the lab he’s running now.” Mark went to the same college Eric and I went to. We didn’t have any classes in common, considering he was a science major and we were business majors, but we all liked to play pickup basketball to blow off steam when the course load became too much. He’s a little odd, but he’s a solid guy.
Eric scans the papers, settling on the third in the pile. “Here it is. You going to call him?”
I nod, already pressing the call button on my phone. “Maybe he can help speed it up? I’m not above owing him a favor for this.”
“Good idea. You do that and I’ll call the guys. They can meet us at the court and we can blow off some steam. This day has been hella stressful.”
I roll my eyes as I listen to the phone ring. He thinks he’s had a stressful day? I’m pretty sure my issues are a little more stressful than his at the moment.
“Fuck basketball,” I groan with my head in a trashcan. “And fuck you, too. Why did you make me do this?”
Eric laughs and passes me a sports drink. “Here. Drink this. It’ll help.”
I sit up and take the cap off, chugging the cold blue liquid. I’ve spent more time puking today than I have playing basketball, but it’s helped take my mind off the baby situation. Plus, as an added bonus, I’m finally feeling a little better. I guess throwing up all the remaining alcohol helped.
“Hey. Are we playing or what?” Mason yells from the court. “We didn’t come here to watch Archer puke his guts out.”
“Shut up, asshole,” I say. “You’re supposed to be distracting me, not shitting all over me.”
“From what Eric says about the message you left this poor woman, you deserve to be shit all over.” Lucas picks up the ball and comes over to where I’m hunched over on the bench. “You know how much I hate to say that Eric was right, but…Eric was right. You shouldn’t have called her when you did.”
“Yeah. Waiting until you were sober would have been so much better.”
“Damn it, Eric. You’ve told me that eight hundred times today. I know I should have waited. You made your point.”
He holds up his hands in surrender. “As long as you know.” He laughs.
My phone rings as the guys start packing up, since it’s apparent we won’t be playing much basketball today. I can’t seem to keep my head out of the trash can long enough to get down the court.
“Hello?”
“Archer? This is Mark Orosz from CellSearch.”
“Mark. Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.”
“My assistant mentioned this was a time-sensitive matter. I have to say, it surprised me to hear from you after all this time.”
Shit.
“Yeah, sorry about that, Mark. I’ve been busy with the takeover at Fade Toys. It’s been a long year.” It’s true, mostly. Honestly, the only time I’ve gone out in the last year were the times when Eric showed up and dragged me downstairs to play basketball in my building’s gym. “And before that? Well, I don’t have a reason, other than I’ve been a shitty friend. Why don’t you join us next week to shoot some hoops? I’ll text you my address.”
He laughs.“I’ll take you up on that, even though I know you’re only offering because you feel guilty for not keeping in touch. But about the paternity test.”He’s all business now.“I can get you in tomorrow at ten. We close for the holidays, so if you can’t make it tomorrow, you’ll have to wait until the new year.”
“No, thank you. That’s perfect. I’ll call the mother and we will be there.”
“You and the mother of the child are coming in together? That’s a little unorthodox.”
I chuckle dryly. “It’s an unorthodox situation. But I know she wants to get this sorted as much as I do. I’m sure she’ll be okay with ten tomorrow. I’ll see you then.”
“Whatever you say, Archer.” I can hear the disbelief in his voice. If Phoebe hadn’t told me herself she wanted to get this over with, I’d be right there with him. “See you tomorrow.”
I end the call and look at the guys. “Mark got us in tomorrow.”
Eric grabs my shoulder and squeezes. “That’s great. Now you have another chance to call Phoebe. How about you try not being an asshole this time?”
