The Daddy Box Set

“So,” she began. I knew something was coming and that I probably didn’t want to hear it. “Have you talked to mom recently?”

“Not for a few days, why?” I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer.

“Because they are coming to town to visit.” She cringed, as if waiting for me to freak out.

I groaned. Great. Just want I needed. I already knew what to expect from them. They were going to sit there and bug me about why I didn’t have a serious boyfriend yet. I could already hear my mother’s voice. “Anna, I was already married and had you by the time I was your age. You aren’t getting any younger,” and, “Before you know it, you’re going to be in your thirties and it’s going to be very hard to find a man to settle down with and have a baby.”

I hated when she said things like this to me. It wasn’t fair. I was my own person. I didn’t know why she wanted me to follow in her footsteps. She expected me to live my life the same way she lived hers. It was ridiculous. I loved her and my father more than anything, and they were great parents, but it irked me when she treated me like I was still a child living under her roof.

“I really don’t want to deal with this right now,” I said to Ally as I cleaned the trash out in the waiting room. It wasn’t much, just a couple of papers and a tissue, but I made sure to clean it every day. I wanted to present myself and my business as very clean and orderly. Who wanted to get a massage in a dirty place?

“I know!” Ally said suddenly. “Why can’t you just pretend to be settled down with Justin?”

I was shocked she would even suggest that. “I don’t know. Won’t they wonder why I never told them about him?”

“You could just say that you didn’t want to mention him until they met him in person.”

I nodded, slowly. “Yeah, but he made it pretty clear he didn’t want to see me anymore.”

“Stop. You don’t know that. He just said he couldn’t pay for massages anymore. Did he actu

ally say he didn’t want anything to do with you?”

She was right. “No, I guess he didn’t. I’ll talk to him. I hope it works. As crazy as it sounds, I miss him so much already.”

“It’ll work. Trust me, I sense these things, and I’m never wrong.”

She was right about that.

I finished cleaning up the studio. “Do you want to grab some pizza?” I asked Ally. For once, I was excited by what she said instead of feeling irritated.

“Sure,” she said.

I grabbed my purse and made sure to lock the front door. I closed at six, and it was seven now. I was glad we were missing the dinner rush as we made our way to my car. I drove the six blocks south to the pizzeria.

It was a pay by the slice place, so we went right up to the counter. Ally and I both ordered two slices of pepperoni and a medium drink. I paid for our meal when they rang us up, and Ally grabbed the table number. We stopped by the soda fountain and filled up our cups. I led her to a table by the entrance.

It was quiet, as most people had probably already eaten dinner at that point. It was a Thursday night, and they seemed to be a little slow on Thursdays, which is why it was my favorite time of the week to eat there.

We sat and played on our phones while we waited for them to bring out our pizza. I was starving. Between work and worrying about everything with Justin, I hadn’t eaten much the last week.

I looked through my emails. Sometimes I had questions from potential clients, but most of the time, I received emails telling me when someone booked or canceled a session through my website.

Today I had two requests for new clients and one email indicating a regular had canceled her morning session the following day.

“You should call him now,” Ally said as we ate our pizza a few minutes later.

“While I’m eating? Yeah, that’s going to be so attractive. Every guy wants to hear a girl chew pizza in their ear.”

“You don’t have to talk to him for an hour. You can call him really quick and then get off the phone and eat your pizza,” she explained.

She was right. I knew she just wanted to hear what he would say and how he would react. Ally loved playing matchmaker, especially for me. I didn’t know whether to be thankful or disgusted.

“Fine,” I said. I put down the slice of pizza I was eating. I was only three bites in, and it was so good, but this was Justin we were talking about. I had to scroll through my contacts to find his number. I was so nervous when I pushed dial. I felt like a high school girl calling her boyfriend for the first time.

It only rang twice before he picked up. “Hello, Anna,” he said. He sounded like he was happy to hear from me, which helped me relax a little bit.

“Hi, Justin. I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”