“Mary’s babysitting,” Seb explained. “And things always get a little out of hand when Mary babysits.”

“He looks like he’ll be a perfect angel when it’s time to put him to bed,” Via joked and Seb snorted again. “Where are they, though? You guys have a playroom I don’t know about?”

She thought of the second floor she’d never seen.

Seb leaned over her shoulder to look at the picture, he must have zoomed in before he handed it over because his arm snaked around her and he zoomed out now. She realized the green mat wasn’t a mat at all; it was a comforter on a huge, wooden bed frame. “Nah, they’re in my room.”

So, that was his room. She was staring at Sebastian Dorner’s huge, handsome bed. Cool cool cool. No big. No big at all. Her hand started sweating.

She took one last look at the picture and was just handing it back when a banner slid down from the top of the screen. He was getting a text. She didn’t see what it said, but she didn’t miss the name. Marisa Simmons. “You got a text.”

Her hands empty, Via filled them with the beer she suddenly didn’t want. She rolled the glass between her palms and scanned the bar, hoping she looked casual. It really looked like Greg was making time with Rachel up at the bar. She was sitting on a stool, tilted toward him, and he had one hand on the bar top, boxing her in. Via sighed a little as she looked at them. Rachel was pretty and sweet. Her top was, in her usual way, a little too tight for school, but whatever. They were definitely in the same age range. Via imagined they’d go home together and see what happened.

She was so jealous she was suddenly exhausted. She felt like she could sleep for a week. She wanted to find a cave and a double-wide sleeping bag. She’d stuff the other half of the sleeping bag with queen-size pillows and pull the blankets over her head. When she woke up, she’d still be single but maybe she wouldn’t be pining over the sweet giant sitting next to her.

“Another one bites the dust.”

“They look like they’re hitting it off.”

Seb and Via spoke at the same time. And then again, when they both identically said, “What?”

“Oh,” Seb said, shaking his phone a little. “I was just saying that I’ve had another strikeout from a woman.”

“She rejected you, you mean?” Via was very confused. She felt like she was on one of those wobbly chain bridges they had on playgrounds. He was talking to her about the woman he was texting? Was that a buddy-buddy type of thing to do or something else altogether?

Seb laughed. “Thanks for the vote of confidence. No, well, I guess she sort of did. She kept wanting to meet up at times that I was busy with Matty. She got frustrated. Bid me good night and good luck.”