Page 92 of Singled Out

Dakota followed me and sat more sedately on the other side.

“Dad messed all of us up,” she said. “Why else would none of us have any history with a single serious relationship?”

I nodded because she was spot on.

“I think you need to get over what Dad did and embrace what’s right in front of you.”

I raised a brow at her ridiculousness. “Just like that? Just snap my fingers?”

“Whatever it takes, Max.”

“Your words don’t hold a lot of weight seeing how you’re in the same position.”

“I’m not though. I’ve never fallen in love.”

“I haven’t either.”

Dakota tilted her head and stared me down. Then she smiled indulgently, as if she were explaining the basics to a three-year-old. “You can deny it, but that doesn’t mean it’s not true.”

I crossed one leg over the other knee. “Let me get this straight. You’re advising me on relationships and love even though you’ve never had either one?”

“I guess I am, because I know you love Harper.”

“I care about Harper, but we’ve only ever been a fling.”

“Doesn’t matter. You love her. I saw it the day we moved. You tried so hard to hide everything, but any time you looked at her, it was there in your eyes, in the look you got on your face.”

“I thought you didn’t know about Harper and me.”

“I said she never told me. You gave yourselves away that day.”

“We weren’t serious, Dakota.”

Even as I said the words, I heard Harper’s declaration that she loved me. I’d spent hours last night questioning whether it was true. What I’d concluded was that she had no reason to say the words if she didn’t believe them to be true. I knew her well enough to understand a part of her probably hated that she’d developed feelings. She’d basically said as much.

“You might not have set out to be serious. Hate to tell you, brother dearest, but if you didn’t love her, you wouldn’t be in this condition, with your house a shambles, your kid eating crap food all day, and yourself a smelly, disgusting mess.”

I narrowed my eyes again, about to argue, but her words struck a chord. I’d had short-term, nonserious connections with plenty of women. There wasn’t a single one that had made me do more than blink when it ended.

I lowered my leg and leaned forward, elbows on knees, running my hands over my face.

“I wouldn’t know what love was if it smacked me upside the head and yelled at me,” I said eventually.

A quiet chuckle came from my sister. “From where I’m sitting, it has.” She pulled her legs up beneath her. “Tell me something. When was the last time you let a woman stay overnight at your place?”

I stared at her without answering. I didn’t let women stay overnight, not now that I had Danny, and not before he was in my life either.

“That’s what I thought,” my sister said. “Harper’s different from everyone else. You’re different with Harper.”

“What if that doesn’t matter?” I said, not fully convinced she was right.

“It matters, Max. If you love her, you shouldn’t let her go. What if she could make you and Danny happy?”

I let myself think about that for maybe five seconds before shutting it down. “Danny’s exactly why I can’t take a chance. If I let her in and she leaves…”

“You would get through it, and so would Danny,” she said. “But what if she doesn’t leave?”

“Chances are good she’ll leave.”

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