Page 73 of The Match

I’m getting ready to put my truck in reverse so I can drop at Evie’s feet and grovel for forgiveness when a movement on my porch catches my eye. I forgot to turn on the porch lights before I left the house, so I can’t see who it is. For a split second, hope soars in my chest, and I think that it’s Evie. But then I remember she can’t drive, and there is no way she could have called an Uber and beat me here.

Maybe I should be worried that it’s a robber. But I haven’t heard of many criminals who like to leisurely swing on porches before breaking and entering, so I think I’m safe in that regard. Curiosity has me putting the truck in park once again before I step out of it.

Only after I approach the porch do I remember the old saying curiosity killed the cat.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

“Not exactly the welcome home I was hoping for, but hello to you too.” Natalie, my ex-wife, is smiling and swinging on my porch like she never left me. Like she has spent every day of the past few years caring for our daughter beside me. Like she belongs here.

She doesn’t.

“This is not your home. We’re not friends. And I sure as hell am not going to banter with you. Now, tell me what you’re doing here.”

Her smile fades, and she stands up to walk closer to me. I take a step back because every cell in my body is attuned to how angry I am at her and is acting like an opposing magnet. I don’t want her anywhere near me.

“I thought it was obvious. I’m here to see you and Sam.” She looks over my shoulder like maybe I carry Sam in a backpack or something. “Where is she, by the way?”

I so badly want to say something snarky like Maybe you’d know if you had cared enough to stick around and be a part of our life. But I don’t because I’ve already been a jerk once tonight, and I don’t feel like being one again.

“She’s spending the night with June.”

Natalie makes a disgusted face. “With June? I hope you’re not letting your sister rub off on Sam.”

I bite the side of my cheek so hard that I taste blood. In an attempt to not lose my cool with Natalie, I turn around and unlock my front door. “You lost the right to make parenting decisions when you left and stopped coming back. And if you have any hope of talking to me about whatever it is you’re doing here, you’ll want to talk nicer about my sister, who has sacrificed an enormous amount of her life to help me raise my daughter.”

I go inside the house and Natalie is practically biting my heels, she’s walking so close to me. She slips in behind me before I can stop her.

“You’re right; I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.” Natalie looks around the house. She’s wide-eyed as I turn on the lights. Oh, right. This is the first time she’s been in here. I was in the process of building this house when she left, so she never got a chance to enjoy it. It’s a good thing too. It gave me and Sam a clean start. A place where we could move on and not have to be plagued with memories of what our life was like before in that old house.

“Wow, Jake. This house is gorgeous.” She smiles at me, and I try to squint to see the woman I used to love. But nope. She’s not there anymore. Natalie is as beautiful as she always was, but there’s a distance now behind her eyes. Layers and layers of a new person I know nothing about. And don’t really care to know anymore either. If it weren’t for our daughter, I wouldn’t even be engaging with her now.

“So, you’re here to see Sam?” Finding an end to this conversation would be nice.

Her shoulders slump. “You don’t have to be so gruff with me. I know I messed up, okay? I’ve been too distant . . . and I know it’s not fair to Sam.”

I cross my arms. I’ve fallen for her wounded-bird act before. It ended with Natalie splitting in the middle of the night once again and me holding my daughter while she cried the next morning, trying to convince her that her mom’s leaving had nothing to do with her.

“Are you implying that you want to be part of Sam’s life again?”

She tips a shoulder and gives a light grin that I realize is supposed to be flirtatious. She starts advancing toward me. “And yours.”

Not even if hell freezes over.

I shake my head and give Natalie a sharp look that tells her not to take another step in my direction. “First of all, you can’t just do this, Natalie. You can’t leave us with barely any contact for two years, then surprise me on my front porch late at night, hoping to play house whenever you want to. You needed to call, give us some notice, and I would have arranged for you and Sam to spend some time together. I’ve never kept you from her; you’re the one who abandoned her, and I don’t know if she will even want to see you. Second, you and I are done for good, so let’s get that out of the way now.”

“Arrange a time for me and my daughter to spend together? You’ve got to be kidding me, Jake. Sam is just as much my daughter as she is yours, and I have a right to come and see her whenever I want to.”

“Really? Because it seems to me that if she was just as much your daughter as she is mine, you would have known when she had the flu . . . or when she won first place in her school talent show . . . or been there when she was diagnosed with epilepsy. I don’t remember seeing you sleeping beside me on the floor in her room.” I’m fighting hard to keep my voice from raising, but I don’t know how much longer I can stand in front of Natalie and keep it even.

I’m pissed the hell off.

Natalie doesn’t seem to sense that every muscle in my body is flexed with anger, because she steps closer and tries to press her hand to my chest. I shrug her hand off and take a retreating step back.

Her brows furrow. “Jake, I know that I haven’t been the mom that I should be for Sam. I’m so sorry. It’s just that auditions have been demanding and I didn’t want to miss out on any opportunities. But I’m sorry I left you to deal with this all alone. I’m here now, though, and I’ve changed. I’m ready to be a family again.”

I laugh, but it doesn’t sound nice. “Just when did this change take place? On your flight back from Hawaii? And what did your boyfriend have to say about you wanting to become a family woman again?”

The long lashes I used to think were so beautiful drop down to my chest. “He and I broke up this week.”

---