Page 26

CHAPTER 26

Matt

A fter breakfast I drop Zoey off at home and then meet the guys at Caleb’s. I’m the last to arrive, and I let myself in and find them in the kitchen where Caleb is pouring the guys each a cup of coffee. He holds the pot out to me in offer, and I shake my head. Caleb being who he is, gets right to business.

“So, here are all the listings my realtor sent over. There’s about twenty, he said a lot of people are selling right now. Hopefully, everyone can find something in this stack.”

We each grab one off the stack and browse, passing them around when we’re done.

“There are a couple open houses in about an hour or so, and then the others he said, if we’re interested, he can schedule some private showings.”

We all nod.

“Which ones have open houses today?” I ask.

Jayden starts to fuss in his carrier on my chest, and I start to pace.

Caleb picks out a few listings and puts them in a stack. “These ones.”

I take them from him and thumb through them. There are a few I’m seriously interested in. In fact, almost all the ones I want to see are in this stack.

“Sounds good.” I hand the stack to Josh. “You going to pick up Liv to come to the open houses?”

He shakes his head. “I’ll take videos and stuff for her if I think she’ll like them, and then we can schedule another appointment. You bringing Zoey?”

I stop in my spot and stare at him while the guys all stare at me.

“Why would he be taking Zoey to look at houses?” Grayson asks.

“Because they’re dating,” Josh says.

“Matt’s actually dating?” Grayson asks incredulously.

“Yeah, I am. And who the fuck are you to say anything? You’re the one who was sleeping with anything that walked and then married the girl who couldn’t stand you.”

He points his finger at me. “You’re wrong. I wasn’t sleeping with anything that walked.”

I laugh, and Josh and Caleb just stare at him.

“I hadn’t been with anyone for almost two years before I married Hannah.”

“What do you mean?” Caleb asks. “You were collecting numbers the whole time.”

Grayson shakes his head. “You thought I was. I wasn’t. After my first date with Hannah, I never touched another woman.”

“Fuck,” I say. “You were in love with her the whole time.”

He looks at me completely unashamed. “I was.”

Josh claps him on the shoulder. “I know how that feels. I’m glad you guys worked it out in the end.”

Grayson chuckles. “I’m just glad mine wasn’t almost an entire decade like yours.”

“Touché,” Josh says. “Let’s circle back, though, are you inviting Zoey?”

I shake my head. “That’s a great way to scare her off. Hey, Zoey. I know we’ve only gone on one date, but do you want to go house hunting with me? That is probably the worst thing I could do right now.”

Grayson shrugs. “I don’t know. She knows you’ve got a kid, so if you guys are serious, it’s basically an instant family. Maybe house hunting won’t scare her.”

“He’s right about her knowing about Jayden. Getting into a relationship with someone who’s a parent isn’t something most people do on a whim. There’s a lot of thought that goes into it,” Caleb says.

“And what made you decide to date Bailey even though she had Charlie?”

He smiles. “She made me feel like the risk was worth it. I felt something with her I’d never felt before, and Charlie was just so strong. She had seen so much for a young kid, and was so resilient and happy despite it all. Finding them is by far the best thing that’s happened in my life. If I hadn’t found them, I wouldn’t be growing my family. When I say it’s a big deal to date a single parent, I just mean that Zoey thought this out. She didn’t just randomly decide and agree to go out with you. She knows if you guys get serious, it’s an instant family. So, if you’re looking for a house for the long term, maybe taking her with won’t scare the crap out of her.”

Caleb’s coming in with the heavy shit this morning. I grip the back of my neck. “I may already know what she wants in a house.”

That surprises them all.

“How do you know that already if you guys just started dating?” Grayson asks.

“We’ve been friends for a while. Zoey’s been coming over to my place ever since Liv and Drew broke up. We worked together in trying to get Josh and Liv to finally tell each other they had feelings, and Zoey occasionally likes to watch home makeover shows and has told me several times about what she hates and what she loves in those houses.”

Josh shakes his head. “Why am I not surprised Zoey was involved?”

“Oh, you can’t get pissy about it. You married Liv. You have a daughter together.”

He holds up his hands. “Not pissy at all. Just should have guessed.”

“We should probably get going,” Caleb says, and we gather our stuff and head out to our cars. Caleb takes Josh and Grayson, but I don’t want to deal with moving the car seat and I don’t think the guys would all fit with the car seat in my car, so I drive on my own.

With Jayden strapped to my chest, we walk into the first open house together, and it’s nice. The front door opens into an entryway with stairs on the right and a sitting room on the left. We walk further in, and it opens into a large open space.

The kitchen with an island and dining area are on the left, and a large living room with a built-in fireplace is on the right. I walk into the kitchen first, checking the appliances and cabinets. From there, I can see that between the sitting room and kitchen is a dining room. And there’s a door off the living room that leads to an office space.

I head upstairs next. This is a five bed, four and a half bath house, with all five of the bedrooms located on the second floor. There are four full baths up here, and the half bath is on the main floor.

Walking into the master bedroom, I take everything in. It’s got a large walk-in closet and an ensuite. There are two sets of bedrooms connected with Jack-and-Jill bathrooms and another bath beside the stairs. There’s a spacious area at the end of the hall that looks over the backyard and would be perfect to set up a play space. I can see these rooms filled with kids and hear Zoey laughing as she plays with them or see her downstairs curled up with a book in front of the fire.

If I had my way, and I knew I would get this house, I wouldn’t go to any of the other open houses. It has everything Zoey has said she’d love to have in a home, and all I care about is the space and that she’s happy.

I find the guys gathered in the master suit, and they all look at me when I walk in.

“And?” Josh asks.

“I like it. You?”

“It doesn’t feel like Liv’s style.”

I nod and look at Grayson.

“Too much space. We’re not planning on having kids, so we don’t need this many bedrooms. How many kids are you planning on having?” he asks.

I shrug. “I don’t know, but I want something we can grow in. If it’s too big down the line, we can always sell, easier than trying to go bigger later.”

Grayson grins and runs his hand down his face as he shakes his head.

“What?”

“You’re just saying we. Sounds like you’re factoring Zoey into this all.”

“I am. I should have asked her out earlier. I’m all in with Zoey.”

“After a single date?” Josh asks.

“Yes. After a single date. It’s not like I haven’t spent hours and hours with her before. Zoey’s made me want to stop the endless cycle of women. Her and Jayden have me seriously looking at settling down. I’m not saying I’m going to get down on one knee and propose to her tomorrow. I’m not insane. But I am saying that if I’m taking this seriously, that means factoring her into my future plans. Thinking about what she wants and needs.”

The guys nod, and we make our way downstairs. I grab one of the realtors’ cards as we head to the cars and off to the next open house. I don’t love any of the next houses the way I did the first one. Something about it felt right.

After the open houses, I contact a realtor and we put in an initial offer on the place.