Page 122 of Unforgettable

He sighed and shook his head, staring out the window on his side of the car. “She was concerned about what Zach might think or how it could make his life harder. That I hadn’t taken him into consideration.”

“That’s bullshit,” I muttered, and Josh made a sound of agreement in his throat.

“It is, but I’m not sure I did so well changing her mind.”

“This isn’t going to cause any problems for you, right?” The last thing we wanted—both me and Amanda—was to come between Josh and Zach. He was the most important person in Josh’s life, and if our presence disrupted that…

“It’s nothing I can’t handle. She just doesn’t want me to introduce either of you as my partners and doesn’t really want Amanda around him more than necessary until we know, as she put it, ‘that this is going to last.’”

“Doesn’t have much faith in us then…”

“She said our track records don’t bode well for the future.”

I choked out a humorless laugh and glanced at the clock on the dashboard. Unfortunately, we didn’t have too much longer to talk, but I wanted to make one last point.

“Our lack of relationships has nothing to do with commitment issues. They were due to a lack of appropriate candidates. We weren’t going to waste time on anything that wasn’t going to last. We waited… for a reason.”

His nod was slow, and I knew he understood the deeper meaning of my words. We’d waited for each other—we’d waited until it could be the three of us.

A faint smile tugged at his lips, but then he was back to looking out his window. I could feel there was more he wasn’t saying.

“Anything else?” I asked

“Nope,” he replied quickly and opened his door. “Now, let’s go get our girl.”

THIRTY-SEVEN

Reed

My parents’house was entirely too big for the two of them, but they wouldn’t sell it. The tan three-story brick-and-stone structure was where I grew up, so my mom refused to let my father put it on the market. She said the walls held all of the memories of my childhood.

They’d purchased the eight-bedroom house only a few years after they were married, with plans to fill each room with a child. But they’d only been able to have me.

I assumed when they realized I was the only biological child they’d get, they would have sold the house and found something a little more reasonable for our three-person family. But they didn’t—my mom said the rooms that never became nurseries were reminders of how thankful we should be for what we did have.

The place still felt like home. It smelled like Mom’s cooking and I could hear the laughter around Christmastime—the one time of year my entire family was together.

Memories like that made me grateful they’d never sold it.

“I always forget how much money your parents have until we pull up to this damn house and it’s like you’re smacked in the face with it,” Josh quipped as I pulled into the long, winding driveway.

Mature oak trees my mom and I planted when I was a kid lined the drive that opened to the main house. With impeccable timing, the outdoor lights illuminated the brick facade and the surrounding landscaping as the last of the sun faded behind the horizon.

“Yeah, it’s pretty impressive,” Amanda commented from the back seat. “But still homey.”

I snorted a laugh. My mom made it homey, but we could only hope that my father’s reception was welcoming. That was if he came out of his office at all until Mom pulled him out for dinner.

We piled out of the car, Josh helping Amanda down in her heels with an outstretched hand. I met them on their side of the car and stared up at the house. For the first time since my mom told me dinner was nonnegotiable, I felt a flicker of nervous energy.

“Hey,” Amanda said. “Did you tell your parents that you were bringing both of us?”

“Umm… not necessarily,” I said, and they both gave me wide-eyed, concerned looks. Quickly, I continued, “But Mom always tells me to bring whoever. I promise it’ll be fine. She’ll be more than excited to see y’all.”

“She better be,” Josh muttered, and we headed up the walkway.

Placing my hand on the small of Amanda’s back, Josh took one of her hands, and we approached the door. I tentatively tried the door handle.

“Unless you want to tell your parents, I recommend that we stop touching each other,” Amanda said, and like she was suddenly a thousand degrees Josh dropped her hand and I yanked mine from her back.

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