Page 29 of Last Fall

Because Ididhave something to offer Zoe that no one else—no other adult—could.

I offered her an opportunity to smileagain.

* * *

Inever turneddown a dinner invitation from Eve. And it wasn’t for the food. The food was fine. Great, even. I came for the company. Their house was always full of happy people who cared about each other. In this, it was exactly like being home. Growing up with a house full of people, I got really fucking lonely during theseason.

And trust me, I’d tried to do what Jake and Eve did, but I seemed to lack that certain loving quality most people needed to be a good host. My dinner parties, Super Bowl parties, and game nights all failedmiserably.

So I gave up and enjoyed the fact that Jake and Eve were awesome hosts who saw fit to keep mearound.

Zoe managed to mostly avoid me for the rest of the birthday party last week, but I did wrangle a moment alone with her. No kissing or handholding. Just a genuine goodbye in which I told her how much I looked forward to our next conversation. And the next, because dammit, I wanted to make her smile if nothing else. Was I still working toward more? Hell yeah. But in the meantime, smiling was my number onepriority.

I was on the road with the team for the rest of the week but she was never that far from my mind. I kept trying to figure out how I could run into her this weekend when this dinner invite landed inmylap.

Based on the number of cars outside I knew it would be a full house tonight so I didn’t bother knocking. Instead I followed the voices to the kitchen. The wine glasses were out and Jake’s best friend Greg was doing the pouring. His wife—and my agent—Marie stood beside him. June and Roman huddled in the corner having some sort of heated discussion, and out the back window I could see Max and Sam inthepool.

Normally when I walked into this house I was greeted by the soft sounds of Zoe with the girls. Playing, watching a movie, sharing secrets—it was the sweetest thing to see themtogether.

I let out the breath I didn’t even know I’d been holding when I saw her in a chair beside the pool, a spiral notebook in her lap, a pen in her mouth, and the most adorable scowl on her face. Like she was mad at thenotebook.

“Hey!” Jake called. “Glad you made it.” Then he poured me a glass of the red and pushed it across the counter. It must be Italiannight.

“Cheers.”

Marie held up her glass, her eyes darting up and over my shoulder. A second later Iknewwhy.

“Good to see you, brother.” Wes slapped me on theback.Hard.

I choked on my wine, then gave him the firmest handshake I had in my arsenal. “Good to seeyoutoo.”

And yep, I got the big brother glare of death from Wes. I knew it all too well. I should. I’d given it more times than I couldremember.

“I’m sure dinner tonight will be entertaining,” he gritted out. He’d been giving me a hard time all week. Death glares, shoulder punches harder than usual, smartassquips.

“Nope.” I shook my head, still not letting his hand go. “Nice and easy. It’s Italiannight.”

Wes wrenched his hand away. “Doesn’t that mean it will be rowdierthanever?”

“I can’t control the crowd but I guaranteeentertainmentwill be at aminimum.”

He definitely caught my meaning and relaxed. “Eve, you look lovely as ever.” Wes moved to our hostess, kissing her cheek and flirting in his new “friendlier” way. Carrie cured him of most of it, butnotall.

I kept my distance as we moved from appetizers to dinner. With a crowd this large we ended up eating family style at their giant dinner table. Platters were passed around as conversation grew louder. It was not my doing, but somehow Zoe wound up seated beside me. I was grateful for the opportunity—even if someone was glaring daggers at me from across the table all night. Warning me off and challenging me all at the same time. He was a complicated fellowlikethat.

“Can you please pass the garlic bread?” Zoe asked. Her voice was so soft and feminine. It made this dormant part of mewakeup.

I sat a little straighter. Why? I had no idea. But I reached for the basket determined to keep things light. “Hereyago.”

“Thank you.” She took the basket and selected the biggest, butteriest slice before setting it in the open space above herplate.

Since my mouth was watering looking at the bread I decided I deserved a second slice, too. “Temptress.”

“Excuse me?” shelaughed.

“How can I resist white carbs when they’re right in front of me?You’reevil.”

Fuck, her whole face lit up in the biggest smile. My damn heart stumbled over itself. How was I supposed to play it cool when she did stufflikethat?