Page 187 of A Matter of Time

“Jory, if⁠—”

“Don’t tell me what to do.”

“God,” he roared, and I was vaguely aware that the tables around us quieted. “Anything to fight with me! For crissakes, baby, just eat!” he yelled at me before he stalked away.

He was exasperated, but I didn’t care. I opened the menu and started looking at it, even though I was pretty sure I was going to kill him with my butter knife when he got back.

“Jory.”

There was no man on the planet more annoying than him!

“Jory.”

I tilted the menu forward and looked across the table at Maggie. I was startled by the expression on her face. “Are you all right?”

“No, I don’t think so.” Her voice was shaky. “Did he just call you baby?”

“What?” I said automatically, which usually gives people the second they need to take back anything they maybe wish they hadn’t said.

“Did he just call you baby?” Deeper tremor in her voice the second time she asked.

“No.”

“I think he did.”

“No,” I repeated, with more conviction.

“Yes…yes, he did.”

And my heart sank, because he had. I hadn’t even thought about it because, between us, the two of us, it was normal. I was never usually Jory. I was J, or baby. It had come out of him without thought, and now Maggie was sitting across from me appearing more than a bit stunned. “I’m sure it was an accident.”

She just stared at me.

“You know how sometimes you’re looking at one person but you say the name of somebody else because you were thinking about them or talking to them a second before and⁠—”

“He called you baby.”

“Only because he was looking at you but talking to me.”

“He wasn’t looking at me.”

“Yeah, but a minute ago he⁠—”

“That would be a nice theory, except that he doesn’t call me anything but Maggie. Not Mags like Dominic does, or Maggie May like Lily does, or even doll like his brother, Michael, does. He has no pet names for me, but you…you he calls baby.” Her eyes were riveted on mine. “Why is that, Jory?”

“It just came out. It means nothing.”

“I think it means everything and explains a hell of a lot.”

“I—”

“I’ve had sex with that man one time, Jory, just one time in four months and⁠—”

I put up my hand to stop her. “Please don’t tell me about⁠—”

“I want him so bad it’s eating me up.” She cut me off, ignoring my plea. “But he just wants to hold me and cuddle and⁠—”

“Most people like that stuff,” I assured her. “I’m a fan.”