She’d prepared herself, knowing things would now feel different between them. You didn’t spend several minutes with a guy’s tongue down your throat without expecting a shift in how you interacted with each other. But that complete one-eighty? No, she hadn’t expected that.

His brush-off had bruised her already tender ego, but it had also been the wake-up call she’d needed. After ending her relationship with Craig, the last thing she should have done was walk into this thing with Daniel.

She had yet to define exactly what it was that had blossomed between them over these last couple of weeks. A few lunches and a single weekend of hiking—something she’d wanted to do anyway, but could never find someone to do it with—did not a relationship make. That kiss, however, had placed them well past the friendly coworker mark.

That kiss.

When she looked back on this period years from now, she would be able to pinpoint the moment they’d taken a wrong turn. If it weren’t for that kiss, this thing with Daniel wouldn’t be anything more than a really nice friendship with a dose of lighthearted flirting thrown in.

In a perfect world, they could forget about that kiss and go back to being friends. But the world wasn’t perfect. Although that kiss had been close.

She closed her eyes and sucked in a slow, calming breath, seeking the peace she’d found when she’d first happened upon this bench.

Maybe if she gave it some time, gave herself a little space, she could approach Daniel with an offer of friendship and nothing more. It was something to consider.

But not yet. She was still too deep in her feelings to entertain thoughts of being his friend.

Her phone vibrated with a text. She slipped her phone from her jacket pocket and her heart jumped into her throat at the sight of Denise’s number. Samiah immediately calmed herself down. If there was an emergency with the baby, her sister or Bradley would call instead of texting. Goodness, she was going to give herself a heart attack if she didn’t stop jumping into worst-case scenario mode every time she heard from her sister.

You free to talk? Denise’s text read.

Instead of texting back, Samiah called. “Hey, what’s up?”

“Hey,” came her sister’s surprised greeting. “I didn’t call because I didn’t want to disturb you if you were in a meeting.”

“Nope, we’re good. I’m taking an extended lunch break. What’s up?” she asked again.

“I need a favor.”

“It’s too early to ask me to babysit.”

“Har har,” Denise said with a snort. “Although, now that I think about it, this is another form of babysitting.”

“What is it?”