Page 85 of Play Dirty

Is it weird that my new best friend is a married woman?

“What the fuck?” Smith says when he opens their front door. “Dude, why are you always dropping by?”

Obviously her husband thinks it is.

“Because she’s on maternity leave and I can’t just pop over to her tea room.”

“Is that Jordan?” Chella calls from somewhere inside the house. “Yay! Company!”

I give Smith a smug smile and push past him and make my way into the living room at the back of the house.

“Hey!” Chella says.

“Hey,” I say back, leaning down to kiss her cheek. “Wow, look at this guy! He’s adorable.”

She sighs as she holds her sleeping newborn son in her arms. “I know. He’s so perfect. Such a good sleeper already.”

Smith grunts and takes a seat in the chair across from the couch.

“What?” Chella says. “Four hours at a time—that’s like a miracle, Smith. And he’s not bothered at all by the dogs when they bark. He’s already an animal lover. He’s so… easy-going.”

“So you say,” Smith says. Clearly new fatherhood is taking its toll on him because his eyes are bloodshot and he’s got the beginnings of dark circles underneath.

“Hmm. He must take after you, Chella.”

Smith shoots me a look. “So what is it now, Wells? What problem do you have that only my wife can solve?”

“If it’s a bad time—”

“It’s not,” Chella insists, standing up and walking over to a bassinet and laying the baby down. He fusses and coos for a moment and Chella shushes him as she pats his back. “No one is coming by to visit me. I feel like a shut-in.”

I glance at Smith and he looks appropriately guilty. He’s been keeping people away.

“No one but this guy.”

“I never got the memo,” I say, kinda glad I dropped by. And not just because it drives Smith crazy, either. But because they’re so normal now. It gives me hope. Like… maybe I have a future. Maybe I’m not hopeless.

I mean, they were me when they met. Maybe even worse than me. They were some pretty fucked-up people a couple years ago. Smith and his weird quirks. Chella desperate to get over her past.

Separate they were lost, but together… together they are a spectacular team.

“You ever worry…” But I stop. Because I shouldn’t bring my bullshit in here. They’re so happy. And it was a tough road for them. It wasn’t easy but they pulled it off.

“Do we ever worry what?” Chella asks.

“Never mind.”

“No, say it,” Smith says. “Do we ever worry about what?”

I run my fingers through my hair. “Do ya ever worry you’ll fuck him up?” They both just stare at me. “Forget it,” I say hurriedly. “Never mind. Of course not, you guys are—”

“A fuckin’ mess?” Chella says. She smiles at me. “Because we are? Because we’re human and we make mistakes. And we all have this baggage we carry around. And then yeah, you get pregnant and all those fuck-ups your parents made suddenly come rushing back.”

“And you ask yourself,” Smith says, picking it up. “‘Will I do the same? Will I fail him?’”

I nod. “Yeah. All that.”

“I think if we didn’t have that fear,” Smith says, “I’d be more worried about us.”