Summer in Manhattan. Katherine Garbera

stages of the Candied Apple & Cafe they’d spent a lot of time here drinking espresso and eating cornetti, a fancy word for Italian croissants. These days, Cici was cutting back on her caffeine intake but she had found she loved the smell of it and her friends were indulging.

      “Hey, girl. I guess that week in Jamaica didn’t kill you,” Cici said with a laugh.

      “Not in the least. And you and Io didn’t have any problems at the Candied Apple & Cafe,” Hayley replied, pulling her close for a hug. Her friend looked tanned and completely relaxed. As much as she hated to admit it, it seemed like finding a guy and falling in love had been good for Hayley.

      Hayley had cut her hair on her last birthday and decided it was time to be someone new. To stop trying to please everyone and just do what felt right to her. And it had worked. Cici wondered if she could do that too. Cut her hair and change her life?

      “Where’s Io?”

      “Running late,” Cici said. “I think she’s still trying to get a decent rent for the new place she wants to open near Town Hall.”

      “She’s such a property diva. She should have her own show,” Hayley said as they went inside and were seated.

      “Cappuccino,” Hayley said.

      “Green tea,” Cici asked for as she eyed the espresso machine in the back longingly.

      Their waiter, Alfonso, put his hand on Cici’s shoulder. “Stay strong bella.”

      “Ha,” Cici said, sitting back in her chair. She put her hand on her stomach. She was ten weeks pregnant. Not a big deal. But she’d been hiding it from her friends and family since she’d…well, she’d done something dumb.

      Well, it was only dumb when you factored in that she’d slept with one man to get back at another. A man she liked, in fact. A man who was very much in her life all the time, since he was the best friend of Hayley’s fiancé. Yeah, it was as awkward as you might have guessed.

      “Before Io gets here…”

      “What? Is something wrong?”

      “No not at all. I was hoping you’d come and stay at my place while you’re pregnant. I know your folks are travelling this summer and I wanted you to have someone close. Plus, Garrett wants me to move into his place. And Dad will rent mine out.”

      “I don’t know,” Cici replied. She was already in the process of moving closer to the city. She’d sublet her place in Queens and had her eye on a very ritzy Upper East Side apartment.

      “The rent would be really low. It’s price-fixed since Dad owns the place and he paid it off before my mom died.”

      If she moved into Hayley’s brownstone, she’d have a greater chance of running into Hoop and she’d done a good job of avoiding him for the last few weeks. Did she really want to ruin that?

      “I’ll think about it. I already signed a contract to move into an apartment not too far from here. I bet Io would love to take your place. Her mom is always trying to set her up with a nice Greek guy.”

      “My mom is unstoppable,” Iona remarked as she sat down at their table. “Sorry I’m late. What were you talking about? Besides my nightmare.”

      “You have a Mom who loves you and only wants what is best for you,” Hayley said with a cheeky grin. “That’s not a nightmare.”

      She’d have liked the close relationship that Iona had with her mom, Cici thought.

      “Yeah, well, you’re not the one who’s supposed to go to the Hamptons in two weeks to meet some family friends. Uh, I know all of our family friends and so who could she possible have dragged into the mix?” Iona asked. “I’ll tell you who…some single guy from a good Greek family. I know she’s been to see the matchmaker.”

      The waiter came back with their drinks and Iona ordered a double espresso before he left.

      “Maybe the matchmaker will be the right thing for you,” Cici said. “I mean, if I learned anything watching reality TV…”

      “It’s that your best-friend is going to torture you with the smell of coffee all day if you don’t stop trying to convince her that being set up by a matchmaker is a good idea?” Iona quipped.

      Cici laughed and shook her head, holding her hands up at her shoulders. “Fine. I’ll stop.”

      “That’s better. So, what were you talking about?” Iona asked as she lined up her sugar substitute packets for her espresso.

      “Hayley wants me to move into her place but I just signed a lease on an apartment so I can’t,” Cici said. Thank heavens she’d signed that lease yesterday. It was the only way she was getting out of this. She knew her friends cared about her. But they were different than she was. They seemed to waltz through life making the right choices…heck, even their bad choices turned out okay.

      “Wow, dodged that bullet,” Iona said.

      Cici kicked her friend under the table.

      “What are you talking about?” Hayley asked after taking a sip of her cappuccino.

      “She’s trying to avoid Garrett’s friend Hoop.”

      “You are?” Hayley asked, blushing as she did so.

      “Yes.”

      “Why?” Hayley leaned in, her blonde hair swinging forward against the side of her face.

      Cici looked down at her lap, her own bangs falling over her glasses and she tried to find a way to say this next part without sounding like a woman who’d done something she regretted. She decided when she’d discovered her pregnancy that she’d try to embrace it. Even though she had always assumed she’d never have a kid of her own. Cici relished the idea of herself as the cool Auntie.

      “I just don’t think it’s wise to get involved with someone who’s friends with Garrett,” she said. Actually, Hoop had said it first all three months ago when they’d been at Olympus and had shared one hot kiss.

      Not hot enough for him? Too hot for him? She didn’t know. All she knew was that he’d seen her to a cab and sent her home alone.

      “Is this because of…” Hayley gestured to Cici’s stomach.

      “My pregnancy? Yes, that’s part of it,” Cici said. “Let’s talk about something else. Something fun for the summer at the Candied Apple & Cafe.”

      Cici turned the conversation to business and was happy enough when they finished breakfast and she waved her friends goodbye. She was on a week’s vacation from the Candied Apple & Cafe so didn’t have to be in the office. It was a forced vacation of sorts, since Hayley had been on one and Iona was going to be spending a week in the Hamptons. Her friends had insisted she take a break as well.

      She’d decided to move into her new apartment and try adjusting to being pregnant. Cici knew her life was about to change forever.

      Jason Hooper, known to everyone as Hoop, had screwed up. It wasn’t the first time. After all, he was thirty-three and had been a cop for five years before giving it up to become an attorney. Growing up in the foster system had honed his natural instincts of being a loner. He let people in but it took him a while to decide if he should let them stay. He wanted to say that was where he’d made his mistake with Cici. He’d needed time to think. To plug the facts into a pro/con list and then decide if the heat between the two of them was worth exploring.

      Stupid.

      Now, he was drinking club soda but it tasted like regret as he watched her talking with her friends and mingling in a way that kept her far away from him as she worked the room at the summer kickoff party at the Candied Apple & Cafe.

      Manhattan’s trendiest new chocolate shop was on a roll and if the crowd at tonight’s event was anything to go by, they were going to continue that momentum