Shelly answered the door. Her hair and makeup were done, though she wore jeans and a tank top. She had an appointment after this.

“So. How was your date?” The lilt in her voice made everything sound ironic, though in this case, the word date certainly was.

I hummed in response as I followed her into the living room and flopped down beside her on the couch. I accepted the ice-cream pint and spoon she offered.

“Uh-oh,” she said. “What happened this time?”

“I didn’t say anything happened.” I took a bite. “This is chocolate. How can you eat chocolate this late? It’ll keep you up.”

“Don’t change the subject. Spill.”

I sighed and took another bite. “This guy. He wasn’t like the others.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means, he was…gentle.”

“Oh,” she said, knowing. “You should let me hook you up.”

I shot her a dark look over the spoon.

“I’m just saying. If you’re only in it for the sex, you might as well get paid. You can even charge extra to get roughed up.”

“Right, so I can get put in jail for solicitation. No, thank you.”

She rolled her eyes. “That doesn’t happen. Hardly ever.”

“We’re not having this conversation.” I didn’t judge Shelly for what she did. I admired her strength. But I had to draw the line somewhere. Right now I was just a regular single mom with her rare date nights. If things got a little heated, who was to know? But accepting payment would change the score. Right now I was in control.

Or I usually was.

I passed the carton of ice cream back to her. “Besides, it wasn’t exactly…”

It wasn’t exactly bad. It had been amazing. Real, my mind whispered. That was what real sex was supposed to be like. It had been anything but bad.

“Allie?”

I looked up and found her watching me.

I smiled briefly. “Sorry. I’m a little distracted.”

“I can see that. Curiouser and curiouser.” Shelly liked to quote Alice in Wonderland to me. It was our secret joke, one I never quite appreciated.

“Don’t be dramatic. It wasn’t completely lame. That’s all.”

“I see.” The teasing light extinguished from her eyes. “Allison, we have to talk.”

Nothing good ever came from hearing my full name. “Bailey?”

“No, she’s fine. But…it’s related.”

A knot formed in my stomach, threatening to expel the churning mixture of chocolate ice cream and alcohol.

“He called me,” Shelly said. She was watching me, probably wondering how I would react. I wondered the same thing. I had the expected feelings: fear, revulsion. But maybe relief too, that the paralyzing wait had come to an end. “He said he just wanted to catch up. And…he asked about you. I told him I didn’t know where you were.”

“How did he find you?”