chance to be heard when his heart is on the line.” Tony rubs the stubble on his chin. “Especially when it’s probably never been there before.”
Cue to the violins for music at my funeral because those words just killed me.
“You’re right,” I admit softly.
Arrogantly he agrees, “I know.”
Does he have to be smug?
“And I’m going to go home and admit I was wrong. Hopefully…fixing things that are still there to be fixed.”
“I’m sure it can be fixed, Maxx. After all, how could any guy who’s in love with you just walk away?”
I offer him a smile and then push a strand of hair behind my ear. “What about you? How was your date last night?”
“Warrants a second one. Speaking of, if for some reason things don’t go as planned with Kellar tonight and you need a place to escape, my apartment is open. There’s a key in the slit of the welcome mat on the side of the ‘w’.”
“And what if you wanna bring her home?”
“On the second date? Nah. I wait until at least the third date before inviting her over for a glass of wine,” he explains with a sly smirk. “What can I say? I’m a gentleman.”
Giggling I toss my trash at him. “Third date is a gentleman?”
He winks, and I laugh even more. “It’s good to see you smiling again, Maxx.”
Truth? It feels good to be smiling again. And I know this whole thing with Logan is gonna be a little complicated, and I have to actually tell him I was wrong for assuming and thinking the worst without hearing him out first, but I know we’re gonna make it through. We always do.
Chapter 6
Maxx
Opening the front door of our house, I slide off my flip flops, take a deep breath, and drop my purse.
I know my friends are waiting to chew me out. Hell, I would be waiting to chew me out, but do you think it would be too much to ask to let me shower first? I’ve had on the same outfit for two days now. Oh shit. Do I smell?
One step into the living room and Luke looks up at me from his knitting.
Bad start already.
“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t hold you down while I let my sister beat the shit out of you?” he asks, his hands slowing down from the frantic rate at which they were just moving.
He looks like the little old lady who lived in the shoe, glasses and all. He rarely wears them, but does every time he knits.
Erin looks up from her stretched out position on the couch where she is studying, clearly ready to pounce like a lion on a gazelle.
Anyone else starting to feel a little unwelcome here?
With a heavy sigh I shrug. “How about because my mother waltzed back into my life yesterday like she’d never left?”
In unison they croak out, “What!”
Sitting on the arm of the couch I nod. “Yeah.”
“Wait! What?” Erin shoots up, now sitting cross-legged like a child at story time. “How’d she find you?”
“What did she want?” Luke asks.
Can you tell he’s the big brother, father figure?
“Apparently, Aunt Caroline has been keeping her informed about me over the last several years.”
“Why?” The perplexed look on Erin’s face deepens.
“I’m not sure I understand it either, but my guess is Aunt Caroline hated the idea of a mother not being able to know anything about her child, even if it was the mother’s fault.”
Erin scoffs, “Yeah, because that mother is a low down dirty bi—”
“What did she want?” Luke repeats hushing the tantrum his sister was about to start.
Clearing my throat, I fold my hands in my lap. “To tell me she got married—”
“We knew that,” Erin mutters.
“And that I have a brother.” The sentence comes off my tongue and leaves my mouth with a bitter taste.
I haven’t quite put it all together yet myself. Am I pissed off because she had another child and hasn’t left him yet the way she did me, or am I pissed off because she showed up out of the blue to drop this bomb on me at the worst time? Or am I still pissed off that she left me to begin with? All of