Page 70 of The Paradise Plan

“You’re mad.”

“I’m not mad,” he said.“I’m frustrated.”He watched Spence and Conrad throwing the ball.It was only a matter of time before Spencer tried to recruit the younger man to his crew, and Harrison didn’t want to have to step in between that.

“It took a lot for me to even arrange this meeting, and it didn’t go the way I wanted.”He looked over to her.“It’s frustrating, that’s all.”

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“It’s not your fault.”

She tugged her hand free, and things stayed tense between them.Harrison wasn’t sure why, but when Conrad had to get to work, he suddenly wanted to leave too.

Spencer had finally relaxed, and he carried the conversation with Cass and Lauren.Harrison just listened, their voices finally ebbing into the sound of the waves.

When it was time for Spencer to hit the road, Harrison didn’t kiss Cass before they left.He did say, “I’ll text you later, okay?”and she’d nodded.

He stewed over the afternoon that evening.Into the next day.For a week.He wasn’t sure what had gone wrong, only that he hadn’t felt like himself.

Spencer had said,Cass is great, Harrison.I liked her a lot.

He generally was a good judge of character, but Harrison had been so off that day, and he still didn’t know why.

One morning, while he shaved and thought about what pastry he’d get for Cass that morning, a lightbulb went off in his head.“You weren’t yourself,” he said to his reflection.“You weren’t Harrison the man.The sexy boyfriend who plans fun dates and takes the perfect pastry to your girlfriend every morning.You wereSpencer’s overprotective, anxious brother.”

They weren’t the same person—they were versions of the same man—and Harrison hadn’t liked being with Cass when he wasn’t himself.

I figured it out, he sent to her.He swiped his keys from the counter and added,I’ll tell you when I drop off breakfast.

Oh, I’m not home, she said.Sorry, I meant to text you.Sariah and Robbie texted me late last night and said they were almost on the ground in Atlanta.I drove down to pick them up.

Harrison paused in his garage to read and then re-read her texts.“She’s not home,” he said aloud.“Her daughter and son-in-law are here.”

Sorry, Harrison, she sent.But you’ll get to meet them.

It’s fine, he said, because it was.I can’t wait to meet them, and I guess I’ll eat all the peach-mango tarts.

She sent a laughing emoji and then a piece of pie, and Harrison got himself out the door and over to Gourmet Goods.He could leave a bunch of pastries in her house—Lauren was still there—for when she returned with Sariah and Robbie.

He did just that, his throat closing as he left her house and headed to work.He wanted to meet her daughter and son-in-law.He did.He just wondered if things between them would change yet again, and how her kids would react to him in person.

After all, the idea of your widowed mother dating was one thing.Actually seeing her boyfriend was quite another.Harrison went to work with snakes in his stomach, all of them hissing about howthingsssswithCasssswere about to get more complicated.