Page 37 of The Charming Checklist
“Wow. Is this ajoke?”
Ava shook her head. “Note how nearly every requirement is the opposite of me.”
“And you care. Why?”
“Sure. I mean, of course. In a perfect world, you know...well.” She waved her hand dismissively. “Never mind.”
“No. Tell me.”
“I just... I have strong feelings for him, that’s all. He’s...not who I thought.”
Valerie took Ava’s hands in hers. “Oh my gosh, Ava. Just tell him how you feel.”
“What for? We’ve spent some time together. The birthday dinner date was...really nice. He got me a cupcake, and we went to the boardwalk afterward. But if he’d wanted me to stop looking for his perfect wife, he would have told me by now. He hasn’t. Instead, when I told him about Darcie, he said ‘okay.’”
“Cheer up. Maybe she won’t like him.”
Ava snorted. “No, she’s going to love him. They’re perfect for each other.”
“I’m really getting sick of hearing all this ‘perfect’ stuff. There’s no such thing as two people who are perfect for each other. There are always going to be differences. People are inherently flawed, just as they should be. You find love when there’s a real connection. When you see something in each other that no one else can. When you need each other because you bring out the best in each other. And sometimes two very different people can find that, too.”
“It’s too late. I already gave up.”
“Look, whether or not he likes this woman, whether or not she’s perfect for him, you should tell him how you feel. You never know. He could surprise you.”
But he already had. He was kinder than she’d imagined and asked questions that pushed her to think in different ways about old subjects. And he clearly had her back.
“There’s nothing I can do about it now. She’s coming, and she’ll either hate him or love him. I think my future is in her hands.” She shrugged. “At least she’s a good person.”
“You are forgetting one tiny detail.” Valerie hooked an arm around Ava’s shoulder. “Hemight not wanther.”
But Ava didn’t think so. No, not in a million years. There was a reason she’d waited to phone Darcie.
Because she was exactly what Max wanted, and the knowledge of that slid into Ava’s heart with a solid punch.
Chapter Eleven
Well, damn. It had been a week since Max had taken Ava to the family birthday dinner. A week since she’d been such a great help to him in the kitchen. During the week, they’d talked when they ran into each other at the bar or texted on days when they didn’t. Mostly they’d talked about her business plan, which he’d reviewed, and made some changes to. He had plenty of ideas.
Max had begun to feel something he’d have never imagined slowly growing inside him. He’d never felt this comfortable and relaxed with a beautiful woman. He could be himself around Ava. Grumpy at times, he was certain annoying and anal at others, and still she seemed to like him. Then again, shedidpretty much like everybody, and he shouldn’t have felt special.
Now this.
She’d set him up with a woman.
The whole thing was your idea, genius.
He supposed he could blame this all on himself since he’d never told her to stop looking for his so-called perfect wife. When he’d never given her any indication that he was interested in her. Clearly, he’d received mixed signals from Ava on the night of her birthday dinner. The night when they’d walked along the boardwalk like a couple of teenagers. The night he’d nearly kissed her again and swore he’d seen that same invitation in her eyes. Wrong.
On the night of the stupid party, Max showered and dressed casual. Jeans, button-down shirt, didn’t bother shaving. Take it or leave it, Donna Abbott, or whatever her name was. He didn’t care anymore. He was a professional businessman, highly successful, and so what if he was a little clueless about love? It wasn’t as if he’d had all kinds of time to devote to the study of it. He’d bet he wasn’t the only former military man sick of the temporary stuff that only lasted until a woman found out he wasn’t made out of steel. Until a woman realized the hard way that sometimes a military man carried a little extra baggage.
He’d been watching Sub all day so that Cole, Valerie and Ava could have zero distractions while they set up for this party. He and Sub had been surfing in the morning, and then hung out in front of the plasma TV screen watching football. Max alternately pitched popcorn for Sub to catch midair, and also threw it at the screen because of the quarterback’s disgusting passes.
“C’mon, let’s go, boy. It’s that time. No more avoiding it.”
He drove to the lighthouse with the top down, Sub in the front seat, buckled in of course. Valerie would kill him otherwise.
“Yap! Yark!” Sub pronounced louder the closer they got to the lighthouse.
