Page 9 of Line Change

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

She peeks at me from over her shoulder, and I say a silent prayer that she doesn’t have a mom sixth sense that’s telling her I’m pregnant or, worse yet, a doctor sixth sense.

“Just making sure,” she says.

I blow out a breath as the elevator dings and the doors glide open, grateful she didn’t somehow pick up on me being pregnant. I’m not sure I’m ready to tell anyone else the news yet. Especially since I’m only eight weeks along.

She leans against the wall next to me, tucking her hands into her pockets. “You know you can talk to me, right? If there was something you needed to talk about.”

“I know. And there is, but I’ll tell you all at lunch. It’s about my apartment.” I pause. “Thank you.”

She wraps an arm around me, and we stay like that the rest of the short ride down the elevator.

“Come again,” Hadley says twenty minutes later when we’re sitting in a corner booth at the deli around the corner from the arena, our lunches in front of us.

I poke at a cherry tomato in my salad with my plastic fork. “My condo flooded, and I stayed with Sebastian last night.” I glance up in time to see the three of them share a look I can’t decipher. “What?”

“You should have called me,” Becca says, and I note the hurt in her voice.

“Or me,” Hadley says, pointing at herself. “We have a guest bedroom.”

“You could have called me too,” Ansley says.

“You have a studio apartment in a building that doesn’t allow pets.”

“True,” she says, stabbing her salad. “I could have helped you find a place.”

“I appreciate it,” I tell Ansley. “I thought about it, but I didn’t want to put any of you out. And Sebastian …” I shrug because what am I going to say? He was the one who showed up at my office door? I mean it’s the truth, but it’d be weird to say it.

“So, are you going to keep staying with him?” This from Becca.

“For now. Unfortunately, it wasn’t good news from my landlord when I talked to him earlier. It’s going to be months before everything is fixed. And he wasn’t able to find me a place that allows pets and is in the part of town I want to be in, so he’s refunding my January rent, my deposit, and voiding my lease. He apologized profusely. It’s not his fault. He doesn’t own the condo upstairs, and even if he did, it’s not as if he could have known what was going to happen. It’s lucky my upstairs neighbor wasn’t in the shower and I wasn’t in the tub or the bathroom when it happened. Someone could have gotten seriously hurt.”

“What are you going to do?” Hadley asks.

“Rent a storage unit and move all my stuff out, at least until I can find a permanent place. Thankfully all the water flooded into the tub, so none of my stuff got ruined. I’ll probably have to hire movers, though.” I frown. I don’t want to spend the money, but there’s no way I can do it myself. At least I don’t have to pay rent for January.

“Let us know if you need help,” Ansley says.

“I’m sure the guys would be more than willing to help too,” Becca adds. “They’re gone Friday and Saturday, but maybe Sunday they can come move the big stuff. I’m free Saturday if you want help packing.”

“The weekend works for me too,” Hadley says. “Tell me when and where.”

“Thank you.”

“So, you and Sebastian, eh?” Hadley asks before taking a drink of her water.

“There’s no me and Sebastian. He’s temporarily helping me out. Being a good friend.” Because that’s all he can be, all I’ll ever let him be to me.

Ansley scoffs. “Sure.”

I narrow my eyes. “How are things going with you and Elias?” Elias is one of the forwards on the team, and I’ve seen the way they look at each other when they think no one is watching, like there’s something going on between them, or they want there to be but neither of them has made a move.

Becca coughs. “I’m sorry. What did I miss?”

Ansley waves her away. “Nothing. There’s nothing going on between us. We’re just friends, if that.”

“Right. Sure,” Hadley says. “If you say so.”