Page 12 of The Homemaker

“See, that wasn’t so hard.”

“No. It wasn’t. Do you want to tell me more about your kids?”

He sits on the stool beside me so my knees slide between his spread legs. “No. We’ll take it slow. Names and ages are good for today.”

I giggle. “Stop. Point made. I can handle it.”

“Let’s talk about your job. Aside from free rent, do you like it?”

“Yeah. So far. It’s too early to say, but they’re fascinating, and it’s oddly satisfying.”

“Fascinating? Satisfying?”

“Mmm. Yes. The wealthy live such different lives. They have time to worry about stupid shit like politics and if the hedges need to be trimmed one or two inches. And they have the luxury of fixing everything with money, including things that are less than perfect in their marriage. I feel like a missing link. The glue that could hold their marriagetogether. Like the opposite of the mistress that tears happy couples apart.”

“That’s weird.”

I sip my orange drink then laugh. “I think the less Vera resents doing things she doesn’t like to do, and the less Hunter resents her not doing what he thinks a wife should do, the less they fight. Boom! Happy marriage.”

“Spoken like someone who has never been married.”

“Spoken like someone who is no longer married. You haven’t told me why your marriage ended.”

He opens his mouth.

I shake my head. “Nope. I don’t want to know. That’s more than you’d tell a stranger in line.”

“God I love your fear of commitment.” Callen slides off the barstool and kisses my cheek. “Your eagerness to screw.” He finishes his water and sets the glass in the sink. “And your complete lack of neediness. You’re a fucking dream, Alice.”

“I do my best.”

My thoughts drift to Murphy. He must think I’m a fucking nightmare.

Chapter Six

Murphy

It doesn’t have to make sense now.

It will … eventually.

“Seriously.What if she’s dying, and she’s decided to find her replacement now?” Blair asks, as we stretch on our side of the pickleball net while we wait for her parents to join us. “Murphy, are you listening to me?”

“Uh-huh,” I mumble. My focus is shit. It’s taken me years to move past the best and worst two weeks of my life.

And now, Alice is here, and she doesn’t remember me. Maybe that’s good, but my heart feels every scar she left behind.

“And what’s with the housedress and apron? Hair in the perfect ponytail? Heels? Murphy, that woman wears heels to do housework. It’s weird, like she’s doing it to impress myfather. I know my parents can be a little eccentric, but ahomemaker? He needs therapy. Right? Murphy?”

“Huh?” I muster a convincing smile.

Blair frowns. “What is going on with you? You’ve been off today. Everyone is acting strange except me. Is there something in the water?” Blair steps in front of me, demanding my attention as I focus on the guesthouse.

“I don’t think your mom is sick,” I mumble, refocusing on the woman I’m going to marry instead of the woman who derailed my life and made me question said life’s purpose.

“Ready to have your clocks cleaned by people twice your age?” Hunter asks as he and Vera take the court in matching white shorts and light green polos.

We laugh it off, but then her parents make us chase the plastic ball around the court for two hours, kicking our asses. After the women head inside to get showered for dinner. Hunter fetches two bottles of beer, and we sit by the pool.