Page 41 of The Quit List

“What are you working on?” he asks.

I glance at him quickly. “I’m helping out a friend who’s getting a website made.”

“What’s her site for?”

“It’s for his new business,” I correct.

“Oh.”

I could swear there’s a note of curiosity in Dylan’s response, but he doesn’t ask any further questions and I’m too distracted to elaborate. I send the email and then type a quick text to Jax.

Sent you an email with all my thoughts. It’s going to be great with some tweaking.

His reply is almost immediate.

Anyone ever tell you you’re a lifesaver?

All the time, actually. But I wouldn’t mind hearing it again.

Don’t fish or I’ll send you a really terrible voice note of me singing “Simply the Best.”

Terrible for you, or for me?

Both, most likely.

I laugh. Out of the corner of my eye, I noice Dylan looking at me again.

You working today?

Just finished my shift. You?

Nope. I spent the morning at the cabin to receive a furniture delivery, but I’m back in town now to do some shopping. I’m actually right near the Pinnacle at the moment.

What are you buying?

A baby gift.

Happen to know anything about what kids might want?

You are such a typical man. Who had a baby?

Nobody. Yet.

Don’t tell me this is a gift for someone you knocked up?

Are you going to be a father?!

My phone immediately rings and I answer it with a grin.

“Well?” I demand playfully. Next to me, Dylan is typing on his phone, but I don’t miss the tilt of his head in my direction.

“You sound so appalled at the thought of my doing any sort of fathering duty,” Jax replies, his tone equally teasing. “And in answer to your question, no. I’m not about to embark on a journey into fatherhood. My sister’s pregnant.”

“The one who’s married to the hockey player?”

“You remember.” I hear the warmth in his voice. “Yes. They asked me to be the baby’s godfather.”

“That’s a big honor,” I tell him. My sister and her husband chose his brother and his wife to be godparents to their twins. I am—was—only slightly bitter.