Page 73 of Freefall

Her eyebrows furrow. “So…more than forever?”

I smile. “Yeah. More than forever.”

Her lips turn up into a sleepy smile. “I love Mommy infinite.”

Her eyes finally drift closed, her little chest rising and falling with slow breaths. I swallow around the knot in my throat.

“Yeah,” I whisper into the darkness. “I love your mommy infinite too.”

18

HARPER

“I swear the man doesn’t have a refractory period.”

Skylar’s cheeks flush the color of her auburn hair as she says the words. “He’s ready to go the second he pulls out.”

“Ugh, I’m jealous,” Allie says, dropping back against her chair. “Ash needs five-minute breaks in between rounds. Luckily, his tongue still works.”

Emory pauses with a beer bottle halfway to her lips, glancing in my direction. “Jesus, Allie. We have company.”

“What?” The dark-haired woman looks genuinely affronted. “We’re all girls here. And we all know Luke definitely doesn’t need breaks. It’s how you always end up falling pregnant.”

Emory slams the beer bottle down on the table. “For the hundredth time, Allie, I am not pregnant! That happened one time. Would I be drinking a beer if I were pregnant?”

I stifle a laugh at the word, as if we’re in Victorian-era England. Allie raises one perfectly arched brow. “You would if you were faking. Has anyone actually seen that liquid enter your mouth tonight? You don’t even like beer.”

“She has a point,” Skylar says from behind her whiskey glass.

“Can we talk about literally anything else?” Emory asks.

“You mean besides the fact that Skylar’s man was celibate for years because he couldn’t stand the thought of fucking anyone else and now apparently has the stamina of a teenager?” Allie asks casually.

Her words are meant to be light. These women clearly have the friend banter down to an art form. But they hit home for me, loosening something raw in my chest. Nate’s history with women—a lot of them, apparently—isn’t what bothers me so much. It’s that he did the same things with them. The things we did. The things I taught him.

Which is completely unfair. I left. We weren’t together, and I wasn’t exactly celibate for nine years—although I came pretty close.

I slept with exactly one man three years after Daisy was born. Aunt Tessa had begged me to let her babysit so I could go out on some dates. Most of them were awful, but I finally found a guy who didn’t give me the ick within ten minutes of meeting him. His name was Ryan, and he was a software engineer. We went out on two dates, and on the third, he invited me up to his apartment. We had missionary sex on his Tempur-Pedic mattress while I stared at the ceiling fan and wondered if I remembered to put the wash in the dryer. When he rolled off of me five minutes later and asked if I had come, I gave him a polite nod.

Apparently, I really am a masochist because I went out with him again after that. Another dinner at the same restaurant he’d taken me to last time. Another five minutes of jackhammering me into his memory foam mattress. He didn’t bother asking if I came that time.

“I’m so sorry about them.” Emory’s apology breaks through my thoughts. “Clearly they don’t leave their mating lairs much.”

“It’s okay,” I say. “I’m happy to be talking about anything other than Super Kitties.”

The joke falls flat, and all three women stare at me. Then Emory laughs, breaking the awkward silence. “I haven’t gotten there yet. Rowan is only one and a half, but I’m sure I’ll know every theme song by heart soon enough.”

I smile. “Anyway, thank you for inviting me to your girls’ night. It’s been…a while.”

“I’m so glad you could make it, and we could finally meet! Seriously, thank you again for agreeing to work us into your schedule.” She turns to Allie and Skylar. “I had to send Nate to meet her the first time because Row was sick, and he almost scared her away.”

“He didn’t⁠—”

“Oh?” Allie interjects, her initially bored expression giving way to curiosity. “What did he do?”

“Nothing,” I say quickly, turning back to Emory. “He was honestly fine. I double-booked myself, but I sorted it all out.”

Allie doesn’t seem convinced, and it’s at that exact moment that my phone buzzes.