Page 58 of You've Got Male

She sighed as if hesitating, then lowered her voice as if she was about to impart secrets of national security. “You have to promise not to say a word to anyone. Only one other person on the planet knows what I’m about to tell you.”

He took her hand. “You can trust me.”

At the wordtrustshe flinched ever so slightly, and it made him wonder just what kind of assholes she’d been spending time with.

She looked over her shoulder, as if expecting to find an influencer with their phone poised to record her every word. “My mom is turning sixty in a few weeks and I’m throwing her a surprise party.”

“She’ll love that.” He didn’t know a lot about Moira, but he knew that she loved to be the center of attention.

“She can smell secrets from a mile away. When I was a kid, Christmas was a joke. She’d just pick up a box and smile, as if she already knew what was inside. And she did!”

“And you want to really surprise her?”

“Yes. She surprises everyone. And you know what they say about how people do for others what they wish someone would do for them?”

He didn’t think that she realized how much insight she’d just given him into her mind. Evie was the queen of accountability, always being there for her loved ones and helping carry the load. Did that mean she wished someone would do that for her?

“I want to do that for her. I want it to be a garden party at the house with all her friends and family. And I want it to be perfect.”

Now he understood why she’d been so upset the night of the board meeting. “And my yard would be an eyesore that would bring your party down—and not to mention the rats.”

She sank her teeth into her lower lip. “Yes.”

“Why weren’t you just straight up with me?”

“I already told you. The more people who know, the greater the chance that my mom finds out and the surprise element is ruined.”

That was part of the story, but his gut said she wasn’t telling him the whole truth.

“You didn’t think I’d care,” he guessed, and the look on her face said he’d hit the nail on the head. Guilt washed over him. Had he really pushed things so far that she thought he’d purposefully sabotage her party?

“I don’t think you’re an asshole, Jonah,” she said and, thank God, it seemed she meant it. “I just didn’t know if you were ready and I felt guilty that I needed you to be ready. Then Karlson kept calling and I took the easy way out and blamed it on the Beautification Board.”

“So when that backfired and they gave me six weeks I blew your plan?”

Her silence was all the answer he needed and, man, he feltlike a jerk. He was starting to realize just how many people derailed her plans on a daily basis. Little things like sleeping in. Big things like going to college and quitting a job she clearly loved. He didn’t want to be one more person who made her life complicated.

“I will have the yard done by the time the party is here.”

Her eyes lit with unexpected surprise. “Really?”

He cupped her cheek. “Really, sunshine.”

She visibly swallowed and he could see the pulse at the base of her neck pick up. “You don’t have to do my proposed plan. I meant what I said. If you hate it, no harm, no foul.”

“I love it.”

It was the perfect solution to his problem. And he was starting to think he’d found another perfect solution. Too bad it wasn’t real.

“Now how about we go pick out a rose bush.”

“My mom loves roses. I’m more of a peony kind of girl.”

“I have no clue what a peony is, but I’m treating you to the biggest one they have.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Evie

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