Page 33 of Not Quite Perfect

“I know.”

“I don’t think you do. Our mom is …” He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Suffice it to say, she doesn’t want Victoria to make the same mistakes she has.”

I bristled at the implication. “Is that what you all think this is? A mistake?”

Theo shrugged and laughed humorlessly. “I honestly don’t know. I’m even worse at relationships than Victoria is. I haven’t had a girlfriend since college.”

I studied the oldest Witherspoon sibling out of the corner of my eye. Objectively speaking, all four of the them were attractive. Hell, Victoria was the most beautiful woman I’d ever laid eyes on, but that went without saying.

But as a unit, they were just … extra. The whole family looked like they could have stepped straight out of a Ralph Lauren advertisement.

Well, maybe not Alex. He was kind of scary.

But Theo Witherspoon had the type of good looks that women bent over backwards for. Then again, being handsome didn’t necessarily mean he was looking for love. For all I knew, he fucked a different woman every night and liked it that way.

“Never found the right one?” I asked, wanting to know his story but trying not to seem like I was prying.

He scrubbed his hand over his jaw. “I found her years ago. I’ve just been too chicken shit to ever tell her. And now I’m her boss.”

I winced. “Ouch.”

“Yeah, ouch.” He clapped a hand to my shoulder. “Anyhow, I’m going to head out.” He took a few steps toward his car but then stopped and turned back toward me. “I’m assuming Alex gave you the whole ‘I’m watching you’ bit already?”

“Yeah,” I answered, wondering what version of that warning he was going to deliver.

He nodded, seemingly satisfied. “Okay, then.”

“You’re not going to lecture me too?”

Theo laughed. “Hell no. Alex is the scary one in our family.”

I fought the grin that threatened to form on my face. Alexwasa scary motherfucker. I felt better knowing even his family thought so.

I waved my hand in farewell as Theo climbed into his Mercedes, the solid sound of the door thumping in the dark.

I looked back over my shoulder, debating whether or not to go inside and say goodbye. Since I still had to win Victoria’s mom over, I pulled up my big boy pants and walked back up the path toward the front door. The sooner I got this over with, the sooner I could be back in my condo, laying in bed, dreaming of Victoria.

* * *

“What time didyou end up leaving?” Victoria asked on the other end of the line. I could hear her moving around her house, preparing for Monday morning.

“About nine,” I answered, recalling that last painful hour.

Reluctantly, I’d walked back inside to say goodbye, only to find my dad with his tongue down Roni’s throat. I’d nearly vomited my dinner up onto the brand new carpet.

Drew, however, was completely oblivious to any of it. Flat on his back on the family room sofa, his chest rose and fell with the type of deep sleep only students could achieve. When you were that busy and your brain was that taxed, you took the zzz’s anywhere you could get them—even if that meant you were less than twenty feet away from where your elderly mother was making out with her elderly husband.

“I didn’t stay long.”

A cupboard closed, and I pictured Victoria prepping her coffee maker. I drank a few espressos a day, but she downed coffee like it was water.

“Did they say anything?”

“Not really. They were too busy making out.”

“Ew. Gross.” She made a gagging noise into the phone.

I chuckled. “Yeah, not exactly a scene you want to walk in on. Drew was passed out on the sofa though, so at least he was spared.”

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