Only With Me (With Me 2)

“Oh God.”

I closed my eyes and sank down onto the roof. Pulling my knees to my chest, I dragged in a deep breath. This was my karma. Coming back to me for the way I snapped last week at the bakery when Katerina put the Greek desserts in. I quickly typed my response back.

Me: OMG! Charity. I’m on the roof. I’m on the damn roof.

Charity: Okay. I thought you had already made that clear but . . .

Me: No! I’m ON THE ROOF. I’m afraid of heights.

My phone rang.

“H-hello?”

“You didn’t go all the way up alone, did you?”

“Well of course I did! I had to see what the view looked like.”

“I said, put the ladder up and climb up as far as you can and look! I didn’t tell you to go on the roof.”

I gulped as I looked around.

“I’m so high! Oh, my gosh. I’m going to die!”

She laughed. My jaw dropped open as I pulled my phone out to stare at it. Putting it back to my ear, I huffed. “You’re laughing?”

“Yes. You’re barely one story up. Just climb back down.”

Standing, I walked over to the edge of the roof. My knees instantly hurt when I peeked over.

“I can’t do it. I can’t!”

“Lord almighty. Do I need to come over and help you?”

“No! You’re five months pregnant. You can’t be climbing a ladder.”

“I climb onto Cole every night.”

Gagging, I shook my head to erase the image. “Throw up. In. My. Mouth.”

Charity giggled. “Oh stop. I’m only trying to make light of your freak out moment. Just hold onto the ladder, swing your leg over it, and step down.”

“It is not that simple, Char.”

“Really? I’m pretty sure it is. Christ, I’m on my way over.”

She hung up before I could argue with her.

I pushed my phone back into my pocket and slowly backed away from the edge.

“Hi, Gabi!” Mrs. Hawk yelled from her front porch across the street.

Waving, I called back, “Hey, Mrs. Hawk.”

“What are you doing on the roof dear?”

How do I explain I came up here to see if it would make a good picnic spot for me to surprise Nic with the news that I didn’t have to testify in Dante’s case? He had confessed to killing his father in exchange for some deal the FBI made with him. Antonio was pissed, I was pissed, but relieved at the same time.

“Checking something, that’s all.”

She smiled and waved again before going back into the house.

Sighing, I sat down and pulled my knees up to my chest again.

Okay, you’ve got this, Gabi. You are a strong, independent woman who owns her own business. You can do anything you set your mind to. All you have to do is take one step down. That’s it.

I stared at the ladder peeking up over the roof.

“I am so fucked.”

Charity popped her head up, making me scream. “What in the hell are you doing? You’re pregnant! Cole will kill you if he sees you on a ladder.”

She stepped up and flashed me an evil little smile. “I had to come show you what a baby you’re being. If I can get up here and get back down with a belly, then so can you.”

“You’re not even that big,” I said, my eyes wandering down to her little tummy sticking out.

Rolling her eyes, she reached for my hand. “Shut up. Come on, we’ll be late for knitting club and Nancy is showing me the yarn she got for the baby.”

I tried to hide my smile as I followed her back over to the ladder. “Why do you go? You don’t even knit and the bet has long since been over.”

Charity shrugged. “I like it. Sue me.”

When she stopped at the ladder, I patiently waited for her to show me how to get off. But she didn’t move.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Um. Nothing. I just need a second.”

I nodded. “Okay. Is anything wrong though?”

Glancing back at me, she gave me a nervous smile. “No.”

With a lift of my brows, I asked, “Are you sure?”

She nodded. “Uh-huh. Yep. I need a moment.”

My shoulders dropped. “Please don’t tell me you’re afraid to get down.”

Charity turned to face me. “Oh, you have no right to judge me! You were sitting up here in a fetal position!”

I huffed. “It was not a fetal position.”

She quirked her brow. “Really?”

I waved my hands around like a crazy person. “It doesn’t matter. How are we going to get down?”

“Girls, are you okay up there?”

We both turned to see Mrs. Hawk standing out from the house looking up.

“Yes.”

“No!” Charity cried out.

Hitting her, I smiled. “We’ve just hit a bump in the road. That’s all.”

“What bump is that, sweetheart?” Mrs. Hawk asked.

“We’re too afraid to get back down!” Charity cried out.

Reaching for her phone, Charity said, “I’m calling Cole!”

I grabbed it. “Are you insane? If he finds out you crawled up on the roof, he is going to be pissed. Then he’ll be pissed at me because I’m the reason you’re up here.”