Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 84802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 424(@200wpm)___ 339(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 424(@200wpm)___ 339(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
“She is Jack’s doctor.”
“She’s also a beautiful, smart, and successful woman.”
My eyes close a bit, and I try not to glare at him. “Aren’t you married?”
“That right there is what I’m talking about,” he says, laughing. “This is going to be fun.”
“What does that mean?” I ask him, confused.
“Max dated my sister right under my nose, and I had no idea. I thought she was dating a stockbroker, and all along, she was dating the guy who was my right wingman.”
I laugh when he says that. “I can’t cross that line,” I say softly. “I won’t do that to her.”
“Do what to who?” Max asks, sitting down.
“Talking about his divorce,” Matthew says, saving the day because all I did was open my mouth over and over while nothing came out.
“Must be tough,” he says, and I just nod.
“If I’m honest, I knew it wouldn’t last. We are just so different.”
“What would you do if Karrie wanted a divorce?” Max asks Matthew.
“I’d kidnap her and take her to a deserted island with our kids,” he says, glaring.
“Same,” Max says, and we don’t talk much more because our food comes, and we all dig in. All of us fight over who will pay the bill, so we put all our credit cards in the middle and the waiter chooses one. Matthew won that round.
When we walk back to the hotel, I see that it’s almost eight. I pull out my phone and find that my mother sent me a picture of Denise sitting in the middle of Jack’s bed with Jack on one side and Michael on the other, her arms wrapped around both of them as she reads them the I love you forever story. I show Max the picture, and he just smiles.
“I can’t wait for her to find someone who can give her that,” he says. “Give her the family she deserves.”
“You never know,” Matthew says with a smirk, “it’ll happen when it’s ready to happen.”
“Yeah, I guess. I never expected to be knocked on my ass by Allison, and if I’m honest, I fell in love with her the first time I knocked into her and smashed her phone.”
“She fucking hated you,” Phil and Matthew say at the same time.
“Maybe she did,” he agrees, “but in the end, I made her fall in love with me.”
The elevator pings, and Phil and Max get off the elevator at the same time, leaving Matthew and me. “Don’t say it.”
“I didn’t say anything,” Matthew says, smiling, and I just look ahead as I let my thoughts get lost in the what-ifs.
Chapter Fifteen
Denise
“You really didn’t have to cook for us again, Mrs. Morrow.” I look at Zack’s mother sitting at the other end of the island and smile.
Yesterday, I called Allison to chat, and she was almost in tears. Alex was teething so badly, and she hadn’t slept all night, and to make matters worse, Max wasn’t home, so she was fit to be tied. I offered to take Michael for the weekend to give her a break, and I don’t know who was more excited—Allison or Michael. She drove him right over, and we were on our walk to the park when Jack called.
When I went to dinner the night before, he had asked me for my number—just in case he said—and then came with a pen and paper. I never imagined he would call me, so when a strange number came through, I answered it right away, not even thinking, and his sweet voice filled my ear.
“Dr. Denise,” he said as he laughed, “I called you.”
“I know you did, honey. What are you doing?”
“I’m going to show Grandma how to play mini sticks,” he told me. “Do you want to come over and play?”
I looked down at Michael, who must have heard and nodded. Then I heard a woman’s voice on the phone. “Hello?”
“Hi there.”
“Oh my goodness, he actually called someone,” she said in shock. “I’m sorry, my grandson asked to borrow my phone.”
“I know, Jack told me. I’m his Dr. Denise,” I told the flustered woman laughing.
“Oh, thank god, he didn’t call some random person,” she said and then I heard Jack in the background talking to her.
“She’s coming for a play date, Grandma,” he said, and I heard him jumping up and down.
“Honey, we don’t know if she’s busy,” she tried to tell him, then came back to talk to me. “You don’t have to.”
“I’m actually with my nephew, Michael, and he would love to come and visit Jack.”
“That sounds lovely,” she said, and she somehow felt familiar to me.
“Would you like me to bring you anything?” I ask her, and she told me no and that she would see me soon, then hung up.
They played mini sticks for hours, and then after dinner, Jack and Michael wanted to take a bath together. I felt that I had overstayed my welcome, but Shirley just beamed with happiness. “He’s never had such a good friend before,” she said to me while Jack and Michael played Tonka trucks.