Page 4 of Perfect for Her

“Max and I haven’t really had a date night in a few months and were wondering since Luna is so used to being around you and Ethan if you’d be okay to watch her one night a month?” Addison’s expression is guarded and I give her a reassuring smile because I can only imagine what it would be like to be married and have a one-year-old take up all of your free time.

“It’s not a problem at all. You tell me the days you want and we’ll work it out.”

The relief in her expression is visible and she leans in, kissing her daughter on the cheek before waving at us and making her way down the front steps toward her car.

As my eyes track Addison walking down the street, I can’t help but feel that seed of jealousy in my stomach, wondering what it must be like to have a partner, someone who goes through the same ups and downs and the same fears. That’s the one regret I’ve had since the beginning and I’m hoping I’m not too late to fix the damage I’ve done.

Mark

“Knock, knock!” Addison says right before she bursts through my front door and smiles at Lucas and me, my brother not far behind her.

“What are you guys doing here?” I ask, hugging Addison and then doing the same to my brother. “I thought Lucas said you all had plans.”

“That was true. We were going to have our date night but decided this sounded like more fun.” She winks in Lucas’s direction and he gives her a grateful smile.

I won’t admit it to anyone, but I’ve missed that sense of normal we used to have before everyone decided to shack up and find love. But Addison and Max being here without Luna kind of feels like old times.

“What about Luna?” Lucas asks, knowing that on their date nights they usually ask one of us to watch her, and since I know Cash and Hannah are home with their own baby and Kate and Drew are away for the week, they don’t have many options.

“We asked Harlow to watch her. Luna loves her at day care, so when I mentioned tonight, she offered to watch her.”

“That was nice of her,” Lucas says, making his way into my kitchen to get them a drink. “How is the day care anyway? I know Billie said that she was finding it hard to adjust to life outside of modeling.”

At the mention of modeling, I freeze, my entire body going numb as the white noise clouds my hearing. She can’t mean the same Harlow, can she? That’s impossible. There is no way that after four years the girl of my dreams has moved to my small town and I haven’t noticed or seen her. My eyes flick between Lucas and Addison, my expression shocked.

“Wait a minute. Is your babysitter Harlow Bennett?”

Addison’s eyes pop out of her head and that’s when my hands fist at my sides and I struggle to retain air in my lungs.

“Yeah, she told me she quit modeling and decided to come here to start her own at-home day care since—”

“That’s what she wanted to do if she wasn’t modeling,” I finish for her and everyone goes silent.

Fucking hell. Every limb of my body is itching to find out where she is, why she’s here and if she remembers that week as perfectly as I do. But I rein it in, bottling up my insistent need for this woman and biding my time.

“Do you know her?” Addison asks, all of my friends looking confused as fuck.

“I did,” I say quietly, hoping everyone leaves it alone.

“What do you mean, you did? How could you have possibly met her when you don’t even leave your own house?” Max jokes, but then his body stills, and his eyes meet mine as I walk away and head out toward the back deck, needing to get away from prying eyes. But of course, my brother doesn’t get the hint and follows me.

“You know, most people would take walking away as a sign that the person doesn’t want anyone to follow.” My head turns and I see Max leaning back against the sliding glass door, arms crossed.

“You met her in Jamaica, didn’t you? On the trip I sent you on four years ago?”

I know I can’t lie to him, so I nod silently.

“And you didn’t think to tell anyone about it?”

A laugh bubbles out of my chest as I begin to pace along the edge of the pool I had installed three years ago.

“And tell you what? That I spent the week I was there wrapped up in a woman that lived on the other side of the fucking world? That I begged for her to stay and she turned me down?”

Max rolls his eyes, shaking his head and he pushes off the glass and walks slowly toward me.

“Yes, that’s exactly what I want you to say. I’m your fucking brother, Mark. I knew something happened on that trip, you came back somber and pissed off and I never knew why. Now it all makes sense.”

“Forgive me for not wanting to add on even more drama to your life when you were pining over your best friend’s little sister at the time. I figured you had enough girl shit happening to want to hear about mine.” The anger I’ve bottled up over the last four years bubbles up and I take the plastic vase sitting on the patio table and throw it against the back fence, watching it shatter into a million pieces.

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