I type out a response.
Jamie:That's amazing! Tell her I'm so proud. I’ll come to you at four.
Tiff:Great! See you then.
I unlock my door and step inside, closing it firmly behind me and engaging the deadbolt. If anyone thinks they’re getting in the way of Tiff and me, they’ve picked the wrong battle.
She and Ella are mine now, and I will fight with my life for them.
Chapter 22
“So let me get this straight,” Madison says, looking equal parts impressed and appalled. “You went from salsa dancing with Reese to the bedroom bachata with Jamie in the same night, and I didn’t even get a text?”
I wince, folding Ella’s clothes upstairs while she hangs out with Zach in the playroom. “It literally happened last night. What did you want me to do? FaceTime you mid-thrust?”
She screws up her face in disgust on my phone. “Oh my God, Tiff! No. I don’t want that, but youcould’vetexted me this morning. Maybe with something like: ‘Hey, just had the best sex of my life and itwasn’twith my date. Call you during laundry.’ That would’ve been enough.”
“I’m not texting you that.”
“Why not? I’ve texted worse.”
“I have boundaries, unlike you and your pizza-box-loving self.”
She doesn’t hide the grin on her face. “What can I say? Pizza boxes and danger are my things, but don’t try to change the subject. We aren’t talking about me right now. We’re talking about the fact that you had sex with your baby daddy, who’s currently going for an interview because he wants to stick around.”
“I know. I know,” I say more to myself than her. When she plays it back like that, it does sound insane. “It’s huge. I get it. That’s why I’m kind of freaking out about it.”
“Is it?” she asks with a cocked brow. “Huge?”
“I’m being serious Mads.”
“I am too. I know what huge feels like. I just want that for you.” When I glare at her with a frown, she stops smiling. “Okay. Okay, I’ll stop. I promise. I’m just teasing you because it’s nice to see you happy about something other than Ella for once.”
My smile falters a little.
I am happy, but the idea that it’s because of Jamie makes me feel a little nauseous.
“Earth to Tiff,” Madison says. “Please tell me you didn’t just zone out because you were picturing his abs.”
“What? No,” I say too quickly, heat creeping up my neck. “I was just—thinking about laundry.”
“Uh-huh,” Madison drawls. “Sure, ‘laundry.’ Is that what we’re calling it when someone leaves you with a full load?”
“You’re disgusting,” I say, tossing the pajamas over the phone so she can’t see me.
“Oh, come on. It was a lighthearted joke,” she says from underneath the fabric. I ignore her for a little bit. “Come on, Tiff. Let me out! I want to see you.”
I roll my eyes, take the top off, and put it in the laundry basket before picking up my phone and sitting on the end of the bed.
“What’s wrong, cuz?”
“I don’t know. It just feels like this could be too good to be true, you know? This morning, I woke up to Ella yelling. I ran to the door, already bracing myself for the mayhem—only to realize he was with her. They were downstairs makingIced Outpancakes together, and it was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.” My eyes water just thinking about it. “She was sitting on the counter telling him what he was doing wrong, and he just nodded along, taking on her feedback.”
“Good. Glad to see he knows his place in the family hierarchy.”
I laugh a little at her comment.
“But it’s not just that. There were so many other things that happened. He was writing notes on his phone, Mads. He’d noted down her favorite juice, the stories she likes, the fact that she hates sandwich crusts, but only sometimes. I don’t think he realized I saw, which made it even more endearing.”