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“She does. You should see me at work. Everyone’s super jealous.”
“I bet. It almost makes me want to move back home.”
“Right? I might never leave.” Lucy’s gaze moved to where our mom was sitting, playing peek-a-boo with the baby, who’d just woken up. She smiled affectionately. “She really is the best, hey?”
“That she is.”
She took a swig of beer. “Gabe and Jake not coming today?”
“Fishing,” I answered.
“How’s Jake?”
I shrugged. “Working too hard, as usual.”
Lucy winced and went to say something but was interrupted by Claire’s partner Jen coming back from the bathroom, looking pale and uncomfortable. I noticed Lucy narrowing her eyes in that way she always had when she was trying to figure something out, so I turned my attention to the two of them too. Claire got up and pulled Jen’s chair out, whispering in her ear. Jen nodded and Claire kissed her on the top of her head, sitting down again and passing her a glass of water.
“Hey, Jen, you okay?” I asked.
“Yeah, not bad.” She exchanged a look with Claire, who smiled and nodded ever so slightly. A hush settled over the group and Jen shook her head ruefully and smiled. “Pregnancy’s a bitch.”
There was a collective shriek, making Mila jump in my arms. The next few minutes were a chaotic mix of hugs and kisses, questions about due dates, inquiries as to how Jen was feeling, my mom crying. There might have been a tear in my dad’s eye, too. Not that he’d ever admit it.
Once the initial uproar had passed and everyone had settled down, Lucy took a sip of beer and leaned back in her chair, a mischievous look on her face. “Took you long enough.”
“Well, we kept trying, but nothing was happening, so we thought maybe we were doing something wrong. Turns out apparently you need sperm to make a baby. Who knew?” Claire replied, her eyes twinkling.
A ripple of laughter went around the table until Chloe piped up loudly from her position on the floor next to her dad’s chair. “What’s sperm?”
Everyone went deadly quiet, Claire making a face and looking apologetically at Elissa.
“Lunch!” Dad announced, placing the pork in the center of the table.
A few minutes later, with the sounds of a big, happy family enjoying a meal together filling the deck, Lucy turned to me and murmured, “Right, bro, time to spill the beans. Who is she?”
I paused, a forkful of potato salad halfway to my mouth. “Who is who?”
“Don’t bullshit me.”
I swallowed the potato salad to give myself some time. I could feel her watching me and flicking her a sideways glance, I saw that narrowed, assessing gaze again. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I was expecting her to push further, but to my surprise and relief, she only let out a low whistle and reached for her beer bottle, saying nothing more.
CHAPTER10
Matt
Afew days later, I pulled up at Zara’s to see the gleaming red Volkswagen Beetle parked out the front. A tingle of anticipation at seeing her again curled in my gut, even though I was desperately trying to talk myself out of my attraction to her. She was, I thought, “complicated”, and closed off. But damn, she was also sweet and funny. And beautiful. So beautiful. I could drown in her eyes and die happy—
Fuck! Now I was getting soppy. I really needed to pull back and rein this in. Zara didn’t seem like the casual hook-up type, and I had zero interest in a relationship, so…yeah, no dice. I grabbed my toolbox from the floor of my truck and walked toward the house.
Bess was already whining at the front door, scratching it with her paw. “I know, girl. You like her too,” I said softly, trying the door handle and finding it locked. Silence greeted my knock, so I walked around the side of the house and stepped onto the patio. Peering in through the sliding doors I could see there was nobody inside. “Strange,” I said to Bess. She looked up at me inquiringly. “Well, her car’s here. She must be somewhere. Let’s go look.” Not really sure where she could be, I allowed Bess to lead the way as she trotted off down a winding path flanked by purple and pink dahlias, tail wagging in anticipation.
Maybe I should call out? I stepped off the path onto an expanse of grass and caught sight of Zara at the same time as Bess did, standing right next to a concrete pond she’d just cleaned out and refilled.
“Shit!” Bess charged off, a blurred streak of black and white. “Bess, heel! No, Bess!” I broke into a jog. Too late. Bess took a flying leap a good twelve feet back from the edge of the pond and landed right in the center, causing an enormous splash that drenched Zara from head to toe before she could even register what was happening. I heard her gasp in shock, throwing her hands out to protect herself, but the damage was done. “Bess! Naughty girl!” I chided. Bess was paddling around the pond in circles, clearly thrilled with the game and oblivious to the damage she’d just done. I came to a halt next to Zara. “I’m so sorry, I couldn’t stop her. She just loves water. It’s the only time she doesn’t do as she’s told.” I reached down and pulled Zara to her feet, my breath hitching at the light in her eyes. Her initial shock had given way to sparkling amusement. “Sorry,” was all I could say.
Laughing, she said, “It’s okay, she was just having fun. Look at her go!”
“You’re soaked.” I carefully kept my eyes on Zara’s face, since she was wearing a thin shirt that was hugging her a little too tightly.
