Page 28 of Not Quite Perfect

Not, at least, until I could talk with her at length. There was a lot that needed to be said before we went public with our relationship. The most pertinent topic being whether or not we still had a one.

But first, I had to answer my dad’s question. My mind flashed through at least a dozen explanations, and I quickly discarded each and every one. None of them made a lick of sense. Inwardly, I began to panic.

But not Theo. “He and Victoria talk sometimes.”

Their mother’s eyes zeroed in on me, and if looks could kill, I’d have been a dead man. “They do?” Her words were like ice. I’d have been a dead,frozenman. A white walker, if you will.

Theo nodded. “You know how much Vic loves books. David’s been giving her recommendations on ones she might enjoy.”

“He has?” Drew and Roni asked at the same time. Drew’s voice was high, while Roni’s had dropped low. They each sounded incredulous, but for entirely different reasons.

Suddenly, I wondered just how much Drew knew about his sister and me, because clearly he didn’t think we spent our time discussing old books.

Thankfully, we had as we’d drifted off to sleep the night before. Victoria’s thirst for knowledge was another reason why I’d fallen for her.

“We’ve established she’s not a fan of Faulkner, but adores Zelda Fitzgerald and Edith Wharton.”

As Roni’s eyebrows slowly settled into a normal position and the angry crease in her forehead smoothed out, I realized my statement seemed to appease her. “That’s true,” she said. “Do you two discuss anything else?”

Aiming for nonchalant, I sat back in my chair, my elbow resting on Drew’s chair next to me. “Sure. We’ve swapped a few recipes, and I invited her to a talk at the University.”

“Which one?” Theo asked, leaning forward to study me more intently.

“The role of feminism in modern literature.”

He relaxed. “Did she tell you about that paper she wrote in college?”

I nodded. “Sure. That’s what I invited her in the first place. I thought she might like it.”

Theo craned his head toward the other room where we could hear Alex cursing. The oldest Witherspoon sibling’s eyes bounced back to me and he smiled. I couldn’t say why, but I got the impression I’d just passed a very important test.

One Witherspoon down, three to go.

Four, if you counted getting back on Victoria’s good side. And judging by the look on her face as she’d chased after Alex, I definitely had some groveling to do.

Thirteen

Victoria

“How well doyou actually know this guy?” Alex planted his feet shoulder width apart and crossed his tattooed arms over his chest.

“I—” I closed my mouth around the hollow words I’d been about to speak. After the Stacia revelation, I wasn’t sure of my answer.

Those uncomfortable few minutes around the dining room table had proven there were some pretty large gaps in my knowledge. While I might have known David’s body like the back of my hand, I was forced to admit a good number of things about him were still a mystery.

And yet I’d confessed to having already fallen in love with him. And he’d let me, even though he’d known he’d been keeping something as monumental as having been married before a secret.

Honestly, I didn’t know where that left us.

I’d put my heart on the line, only to have him betray me. And in front of my family no less. That wasn’t awkward or anything.

“That’s what I thought,” Alex rumbled when I couldn’t come up with an answer. And then he pulled me into a big old bear hug. “You have the worst luck with men, Vick. If I didn’t know better, I might think you were cursed.”

I set my palms to his chest and pushed him away. “If you’re trying to console me, you’re doing a piss poor job of it.”

“Who said anything about consoling? If it were up to me, I’d march us back into that room, grab the fucker, and let you beat him senseless.”

“Isn’t that assault?”

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