Page 77 of Huge Games

Travis makes an understanding grunt. "I feel terrible being here when there is so much shit going down."

"Don't worry about it. Celine just wants you to come back. We all do."

Travis is silent for a few seconds, which feels much longer as the rasp of the international line fills the silence. The wind whips around me, tugging at the hood of my sweatshirt and rustling the trees so that they sway in heaving arcs.

"I'll try to find him," Travis says eventually. "It's theonly way I'm going to feel okay to leave." He clears his throat. "Well, I'll still be thinking about the kid. I mean, whether it's mine or not, Lina is so fucked up. That baby deserves better."

"It does," I agree, "but it isn't something you'll have any power to do anything about other than maybe suggesting the actual father takes his responsibilities seriously."

"Yeah. Good idea."

"Let me know how it goes."

"And you will let me know how Celine and Elias are?"

"I will."

We hang up just as Ellie appears through the doors to the building I'm passing. "Dornan." She sounds out of breath.

I hug her as I always do, feeling a deep sense of relief to be in her presence. We've been friends for so long, she's become part of me.

"How's Celine? She hasn't returned any of my calls."

"She's with Elias reporting what Eddie did. She's going to call when she's done."

Ellie swipes her hair back from her face. Her cheeks are pink from rushing, and she has something white on the shoulder of her jacket that she probably doesn't know about—toddler mess! "Thank goodness. I was worried she might refuse. I know she likes to handle her own shit."

"Yeah, well, there's no way of handling this that doesn't involve the law or violence. I wasn't about to let her do anything that would jeopardize her future."

"I've been hoping to run into that filthy jizz sock all day so I can give him a piece of my mind."

"Jesus," I laugh, "If you do, you should definitely call him that."

"I will." Ellie grins and rummages around in her purse, pulling out a water bottle. She downs what's left in threebig glugs.

"Hey…slow down."

She smiles as she stuffs the empty bottle back. "I still find it weird to be by myself and not have Noah needing me every second. I'm used to doing everything super-fast before he has a chance to demand my attention again."

"Time to slow down. I need to get around to see that little guy."

"Not so little anymore," she smiles, pulling out her phone to show me the latest cute toddler pic.

"So, I just spoke to Travis. I think there's a chance he might come back. I really hope he does."

"You do?" Her eyebrow quirks high and she peers at me with her dark eyes that always make me feel like I have to tell her everything. It's her superpower.

"I do."

"Does that mean there's something serious going on between you guys? I mean, when Celine came up with her revenge games idea, I thought it was doomed to end in disaster."

"Your relationship started with seven minutes in heaven. That's a game"

"It did. So is it heaven for you guys?"

I raise my eyes skyward, finding soft white clouds passing overhead. It's hard to know what to say when I haven't processed the idea myself. "It's good," I admit. "Better than I imagined, and not just because I have a thing for Celine."

"You've always had a thing for Celine," she corrects. We haven't discussed it, but her woman's intuition identified it anyway.