Along Came Mr. Right (11 page)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Later that afternoon, Max drove down a tree-lined suburban street in Kirkland and parked his car against the curb in his sister’s quiet cul-de-sac. He grabbed a full-to-the-brim paper bag from the passenger seat and got out. He’d arranged for a substitute to cover his classes for the day, but he had every intention of making it back to school in time to see Olivia and Paige.

As he made his way to his sister’s front porch, the wind ruffled his hair. The fickle weather of early spring had turned to rain again. He knocked softly on the door in order not to wake her newborn baby.

He hadn’t called to tell her he was coming over, but Clarisse wouldn’t mind. Before his sister had married David, they’d mutually had an open door and empty couch available to whichever of them needed it. Today he needed his sister’s advice on how to share his secrets with the one woman who, despite what his algorithm said, suited him better than anyone else did.

The door cracked open more fully once Clarisse recognized him. “Max, what are you doing here?”

He smiled at his sister’s disheveled hair and crumpled clothing. He held the full paper sack out to her. “I brought you a few dinners. I figured you could use them.” He looked behind her. “Where’s David?”

“My poor husband’s finally getting a little sleep,” Clarisse said with a stifled yawn.

Max hesitated. Maybe this was a bad idea. His sister looked so tired. “Is Lucas sleeping for any length of time at all?”

Clarisse accepted his peace offering with a grateful smile and stepped aside, allowing him to enter. “No. I have a feeling I’m never going to sleep more than two hours at a time ever again.”

“I’m sure you will, eventually. When he’s one, or two, or eighteen.” Max followed her back to the kitchen and sat on a bar stool at the counter while he watched her put the prepackaged fresh dinners he’d picked up at Whole Foods in the refrigerator. He knew it was bribery. So did she.

When Clarisse finished, she turned to face him. “Not that I’m not happy to see you and to talk with someone where I can use more than two words . . . but what’s wrong?”

Max gave her a lopsided smile. “How do you always know when something’s wrong?”

She came to sit on the bar stool beside him. “I had my suspicions you’d show up soon. Now talk.”

His smile slipped. “You’ve seen the pictures, haven’t you?”

Clarisse crossed her arms over her chest. “When were you going to tell me—your only sister—that you were engaged?” Her eyes widened. “And to
Annalise
?”

“I don’t want to be engaged. At least not to her,” he confessed. It felt good to say the words so bluntly.

“Oh, thank God.” Clarisse released a pent-up breath. “I couldn’t believe it when I saw the news. Annalise is, well—”

“Annalise.”

Clarisse threw up her hands. “Exactly.” Lowering her voice, she continued. “Dating her then was a mistake. Marrying the woman would be . . . catastrophic.”

“There’s more to the story.”

“I’d love to hear a good story. Lucas is asleep. There’s no better time.”

“It’s complicated, Clarisse.”

His sister reached out and gently touched his arm. “Is that why you didn’t invite any of us to your engagement party last night? Even the press commented on the fact that neither your parents nor your sister were there—although they did give me a little leeway because of Lucas.”

“How did you find out?” he asked, although he already knew. His sister was up all night. She had to do something to entertain herself while feeding her baby. The open tablet computer on the counter revealed her source.

“I read about the party and Annalise’s pregnancy in the online society section of the paper today.” Clarisse gave him a stern look. “When were you going to tell me you were going to be a father?”

“The baby’s not mine.”

Clarisse’s eyes widened. “You need to tell me everything. Now.”

Max furrowed his brows. “I don’t want to involve you in the lie.”

“What lie? What is she sweet-talking you to do now?” Clarisse looked at him expectantly.

Max knew he shouldn’t break his agreement with Annalise, but if he didn’t talk to someone, he was going to need to invest in some pretty heavy-duty antiulcer medicine. Beyond a doubt, he knew he could trust his sister, and still he hesitated. Once he opened the dam, there would be no going back. “I can’t tell you everything. But I can tell you that Annalise and I entered into an agreement.”

Clarisse didn’t say a word, simply watched and waited for him to continue.

“I needed money to fund the development of my app. That’s when it was tweaked and became Matchmaker 2.0. I could handle the algorithm and the programming, but I needed a designer’s help with the user interface and marketing. That kind of thing takes money up front, and there was no scenario in which I could go to Dad. Annalise needed a temporary fiancé. The deal was short term. Each of us would achieve our goal. Except that—”

“You met someone.”

Max startled. “How did you know?”

Pride brightened her tired features. “I’m your sister. I know things.” She reached for his hand, wrapped her fingers around his. “And now you want out.”

“Yes. But it’s more than that. I haven’t told her the truth. I can’t. She thinks Annalise and I are truly engaged.”

“And,” his sister prompted.

Damn, she was good. “Olivia is the one. I think she’s my perfect match.”

Clarisse squeezed his hand. “Matchmaker 2.0 told you that?”

“I wish,” he said with a laugh. “No, the program was corrupted when she took the test. I’ve fixed it since then. If she’d only retake the test, I know Olivia and I will match.”

“Olivia.” Clarisse smiled. “I like her name.”

Max returned her smile. “I like a whole lot more than that. The problem is, she doesn’t trust me, and I don’t blame her.”

Clarisse’s sisterly, razor-sharp gaze settled on his face. “Well, then, tell her the truth. The whole truth.” The sound of Lucas fussing came over the baby monitor beside them. “Don’t move. I’ll be right back.”

She wasn’t gone long and returned downstairs with Lucas. Max held out his arms to her and eagerly accepted his nephew. The infant continued crying at first but then settled down, staring into his face.

The most intense feeling of rightness moved through Max. He stared down at the baby with a sense of wonder that swelled through every part of his soul. He remembered the tiny life inside Annalise. And in that moment, he realized he wanted a child. He wanted disheveled hair and crumpled clothes and sleepless nights with the right person. He wanted a family.

With Olivia.

The thought was a quiet whisper of longing.

“Max, are you all right?” Clarisse asked.

He looked at his sister and smiled. “Thanks to your sweet little baby, I finally know what I truly want, and what I’m willing to do to get it.”

Clarisse smiled as she saw the truth reveal itself in his eyes, at least as much of the truth as he could tell her. “Eventually I knew you’d find your way with the right person.”

“I can’t say anything more.”

She nodded as she stifled yet another yawn. “Annalise.” She made a face. “I understand.”

“Tell you what. How about I come back here next week and hold baby Lucas for an entire day and let you and David both sleep?”

Tears came to her eyes. “Really?”

“Really.” He transferred the baby back to his sister’s arms, then leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. “And thanks for being my sister.” He let himself out and made his way back to his car.

A quick check of his watch showed him that he’d better hurry to make it to the high school in time for Paige’s tutoring.

Olivia arrived at the high school to find Paige sitting on the floor outside Max’s classroom. She’d pulled her dark bangs down over one eye, hiding from the world again. “Hi, sweetie, what’s up? Why aren’t you in your tutoring session?” Olivia sat down on the floor beside the girl. She hoped this current mood had nothing to do with the worrying phone call she’d received from Eugenia just before coming here. They were going to talk when she dropped Paige off today.

“Mr. R. wasn’t in class today, and he didn’t leave a note or anything that said my tutoring was canceled,” Paige said, her tone sullen.

Olivia’s chest tightened. Max had probably forgotten all about tutoring while recovering from his engagement party. Olivia pasted on a smile and patted Paige’s hand. “It’s okay. How about you and I spend the afternoon together?”

“Doing what?” Paige stared at her through the fringe of her bangs.

“How about we go through your Shakespeare?”

“Ugh,
Romeo and Juliet
again?”

“Isn’t your test Wednesday?” Olivia asked.

Paige nodded. “Yeah.”

“Are you ready for that test?”

The teenager shook her head and pushed her hair away from her eye. “The
No Fear Shakespeare
is helping. But I’m not sure I’ll ever understand even with that.”

“There are so many levels to Shakespeare. It’ll take your whole life to understand everything. For now let’s see what the sixteen-year-old you knows.” Olivia got to her feet and held out her hand. “Let’s go into Mr. R.’s classroom and discuss themes and motifs.”

Paige sighed, accepting Olivia’s outstretched hand. “Okay.”

They walked into the classroom and sat down toward the front. “Olivia,” Paige said quietly, “I don’t even know what a motif is.”

“I’ll explain. I know you see them when you’re reading. After that we’ll break the text down analytically.”

Paige gave her a sour look as she thumped the book down on her desk. “If you say so.”

Olivia wasn’t discouraged by the teenage behavior. “Of all you’ve read, is there any element that stands out to you, something you felt was repeated?”

Paige groaned. “Shakespeare talked about light and dark until I was sick to death of it.”

“That’s great, Paige. That’s exactly right. Light and darkness was used throughout the book as a literary motif.” Olivia flipped open the book. “Act two, scene two. Do you remember in the balcony scene where Romeo talks about the sun and the moon? He describes Juliet as the sun, banishing the envious moon and transforming night into day?”

Paige groaned. “Did people really talk like that back then?”

Olivia sat back with a sigh. “People in love say all kinds of silly things.”

“Is that right?” At the sound of Max’s voice, both women turned to see him leaning against the doorjamb.

“Mr. R.,” Paige exclaimed with the same excitement Olivia felt but tried hard not to show. “You didn’t forget about me.”

“Never, kiddo.” He stepped into the room, his gaze fixed on Olivia. “Mind if I join you?”

Paige patted the desk next to hers. “Olivia’s trying to help me understand Shakespeare.”

“I’m sure she’s doing a fine job.” He folded his body into the small desk.

“How was your engagement party last night? You looked like you were enjoying yourself.” Despite Paige’s presence, Olivia wanted him to know that she had once again seen the pictures. The secretive Ms. Pickles wouldn’t have it any other way.

A strange light darkened his eyes. “You weren’t there.”

“Wasn’t invited.”

“The whole thing should never have happened.” He released a heavy sigh. “There are things you need to understand about my current situation, things that seemed like a good idea at the time.” His voice was raw.

Something inside her melted. For a man who was about to be married, he didn’t act or sound as though he was pleased. She knew in that moment she couldn’t turn away. He might have lied to her about Annalise, but the truth of his regret echoed in his voice. And God help her, the more time she spent near him, the more she wanted him. Wanted him in a way that defied explanation. No matter how hard she tried to fight it, there was something that continued to draw them together.

Olivia looked up into the gray eyes that studied her with equal parts hunger and remorse. This was the light and the dark she’d been trying to explain to Paige—the desperate emotion where Romeo and Juliet were forced to separate but tried to pretend that the light of day hadn’t interrupted the still of night.

For the first time she understood why Max was fighting so hard to keep her near him. And having found him, she couldn’t simply let him go. Not when something with his relationship with Annalise was wrong. Not without a fight.

“Yes, we need to talk,” she replied, feeling a renewed sense of hope.

Between them, Paige rolled her eyes. “All right already,” the teenager interjected with a snort. “Please stop the old folks acting session on my behalf. I get it. Romeo and Juliet were desperate to be together, and fate kept getting in their way.” She snapped the book closed and stuffed it in her backpack.

Max laughed and pulled his hand away. “Sorry, Paige. I’m glad you finally understand. You’ll do great on your test Wednesday. Want to work on some math now?”

Paige shrugged but pulled her geometry book from her backpack. “As long as the two of you don’t act that out, too.”

“We promise,” Max said with a grin to Paige. He brought his gaze back to Olivia. “When can we talk?”

“Wednesday afternoon?”