Page 17 of Baby for my Best Friend's Brother

I smiled noncommittally. My parents had spun out of town like marbles, rolling in opposite directions and lodging in the unlikeliest of places. They were both rediscovering themselves. My dad with a much older woman, and my mother on a commune. I still adored them, but sometimes I couldn’t believe they were the same people who had raised me. I didn’t want toshut down Mrs. Evans’ hopes though. She seemed so pleased by the idea.

Shortly after, I walked her and Mr. Evans to the garage door and said goodbye. They wanted to linger, but there was nothing left for them to do. And I wanted to be alone for a little while. I wasn’t great at acclimating to new places, and it would be even harder once Callum came home.

Curious, I searched the home. I found what must have been Callum’s home office. It overlooked the back lawn. There was a single picture on his desk–the only personal item I’d found so far. I picked it up curiously and came face to face with Emma Harding Evans. Beautiful, blonde, and forever thirty-one. Forever abeloved wife and motherwith an expiration date. It made my heart hurt to see how happy she looked. She and Callum really had been the perfect couple. Anyone who had seen them posing for this picture, holding a one-year-old Noah between them, would have assumed they were in for a lifetime of happiness and success.

I set the photograph down and moved into the next room. It was a library with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and a fireplace. Over the fireplace was a framed picture that, when I got closer, I realized was actually a flatscreen television. I looked around and saw that the two armchairs in the room were soft and comfortable, and one had a Bluey figure tucked between the seat cushion and the arm. So this was where Callum and Noah spent their time.

Suddenly, I heard a door shut in the house, and then a few moments later, “Quinn?”

It was Callum, and from the sound of it, he was in the room off the kitchen with the uncomfortable sofas. I went back the wayI came, which led me through his office, and came face to face with him in the doorway.

“Hi,” I said guiltily. “I was exploring.”

He smiled, a polite and automatic reflex. His eyes went past me to the picture frame on his desk, and the corner of his mouth tugged down.

“Make yourself at home.” He moved past me and adjusted the frame. I hadn’t put it back at the exact parallel to the long edge of the desk, and he’d noticed.

I bit the inside of my cheek. “I shouldn’t have–”

“Quinn, it’s fine.” Callum sounded tired. “I mean it. Make yourself at home. Nowhere is off limits, although this room isn’t particularly interesting.”

“But the library is.” I nodded past him. “I found your secret television.”

He allowed himself a small smile. I had a feeling there were a lot of things Callum only allowed himself in small doses. “It’s tuned to Nickelodeon ninety-five percent of the time.”

“And the other five percent?” I moved back into the room, drawn to him in a way I couldn’t explain. I wasn’t just making small talk–I really wanted to know what kind of things could hold the attention of a man like Callum Evans. “No, let me guess. The National Geographic channel.”

Callum cut his eyes at me. “No.”

“Sports?”

He shrugged. “Sometimes.”

I put my finger to my lips, pondering him. “True Crime.”

“Never.” He looked older when he said it.

I could have smacked myself. Of course Callum didn’t watch tragedies to relax. He’d lived one.

“Bachelor in Paradise,” I guessed, mostly to make him laugh.

It worked. His face opened up again, became younger. “Hell no.”

I bit the inside of my cheek while I considered sayingporn. I knew it would make him laugh, but it would also make him think about sex. And if both of us had it on the brain, what would that lead to?

“I give up,” I said, chickening out. “What does Callum Reginald Evans watch in his free time?”

He winced at my use of his middle name, which he kept a carefully guarded secret. “I’ll tell you, but I don’t want any shit,” he warned.

I pantomimed pulling a zipper across my mouth. He’d turned, so now we were face to face with only a couple feet between us. Somehow, we kept ending up like this. And just like before, the air changed. Charged. He watched the progress of my fingers as they grazed across my lips.

And then his eyes moved up to mine, and I knew without a doubt that one day, he would kiss me.

I stared at him, completely unable to look away.

CHAPTER 10

CALLUM

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