Page 91 of Singled Out

“Night, Danny boy.”

“Nigh’, Dada.”

I tiptoed out, hoping like hell this was a sleep-through-the-night night. We made it about eighty percent of the time, but it’d serve my ass right if he woke me up. That’s what I deserved for blowing off his routine today.

“What are you doing here?” I asked Dakota as I entered the kitchen.

“I could ask you the same.” She was scrubbing off the pizza pan I’d left on the stove after lunch.

“I live here.”

“But what are you doing, Max? Your kitchen is a wreck. You broke your no-sugar rule with Danny.” She held up the empty animal cracker bag. “Pizza, popcorn, beef jerky? You ate like a couple of broke college students or hungover bachelors. You had him up past his sacred bedtime. Is this how it’s going to be?”

“We had a guys’ day,” I snapped.

“You’re father and son. Every day is guys’ day in this house. This feels more like guy-who-knows-he-screwed-up-big-time-trying-to-cope day.”

I narrowed my eyes at her, wondering if she knew about Harper. “What are you getting at, Dakota? You never said why you’re here.”

“I’m here because you need help seeing the light.”

I raised my brows at her boldness. I was beginning to suspect Harper had talked to her, but I wasn’t going to out myself.

She put away the pans then looked me straight in the eyes. “For being a pretty smart guy, you sure have some dumb-assery in you.”

“I don’t have the energy to stand here and listen to you insult me. If you have something useful to say, get on with it.”

“Breaking up with Harper was a big mistake. Huge. Like, I can’t figure out what the hell you were thinking, Max.”

“That’s between Harper and me. She knows what I was thinking because I told her. It doesn’t concern you.”

“Oh, I know what you told her.”

“I thought she was keeping our business to herself,” I muttered.

“She never breathed a word to me about the two of you before today. She went out of her way to protect you and your job even when you didn’t need it. She held up her end of the bargain, but that deal disappeared the second you broke her heart.”

“I didn’t break her heart,” I said automatically.

Had I?

“Keep telling yourself that.”

I wanted to argue, but I couldn’t get the look on Harper’s face, that flash of hurt, out of my mind.

“If that’s true, I’m deeply sorry,” I said, feeling a hundred years old. “I assure you I didn’t need you to come over to rant. I feel bad enough as it is.”

My sister set aside the sponge and studied me. Her shoulders lowered, her expression gentling. “I didn’t come here to rant, even though I am mad,” she said, her voice softer.

“I don’t see how it’s any of your business.”

“It’s my business because two people I love are hurting.”

“You can’t fix this,” I told her. I wanted to say I wasn’t hurting, but I realized the scene she’d walked in on probably said otherwise. I did feel like utter fucking shit.

“No, but you can.”

I didn’t know where she was going, but I was sure I didn’t have the energy for it. I sauntered back to the sectional and flopped down.

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