He squeezes my shoulder and pulls me in for a hug. “Don’t worry about it. This is what best friends are for.”
But all I can think about is that we aren’t best friends. How he’llneverbe my best friend. I can’t have one of those. Because then I’d have to tell him why I really left that stage. And it has nothing to do with the last six months of my life and everything to do with the beginning of it.
5
SUMMER
Six weeks later…
Iglance over my shoulder, convinced there’s someone else behind me other than reporters hidden behind a hedge of boxwoods. There’s no way Rhett Dawson would be inviting me—some random fan he met one time in the back alley of a concert venue—into his house.
Is this even his house?
“You live on Harrison Boulevard?” I ask, frozen on his covered porch. With all the media-fed facts I know about this man, how is it that I didn’t know he liveshere?
I mean, sure, I knew he moved home after the concert fallout. The news said as much. And his presence does a better job of explaining the random reporters out front. I just didn’t know home was five minutes from me.
If I hadn’t seen him up close without his cowboy hat on, I might not have recognized him. His hair is ruffled, and dark circles frame his eyes.Weatheredis how I’d describe his posture, with slumped shoulders and hands stuffed in thefront pocket of a well-loved gray hoodie. He looks like he’s lived a thousand lifetimes since I saw him all those weeks ago.
He blinks at me. “You have a kid?”
Maybe he meant it as a statement, a compliment about my age or something. But it sounds more like a surprised question to me, and it strikes a nerve. The topic of a growing family is the only thing anyone comments about my life these days. As a childless woman in her thirties, with a biological clock that’s ticking, I don’t need to be reminded of it every damn day. It’s no one else’s business. Not even Rhett Dawson’s.
“This is Henry.” I push him in front of me as if I can hide behind a five-year-old’s spikey hair.
Rhett’s eyes flit back and forth between our faces. Likely cataloging the one characteristic that we share: bleach blonde hair.
“Well… are you just going to stand in the doorway?”
His delivery is so blunt it would knock me back a stair if I wasn’t curious about what lies beyond this grand entrance. I’m practically leaning into his foyer. This might be the only time I’m ever invited in, so sue me. I glance over my shoulder at all of the jealous reporters and cross the threshold, pulling Henry inside with me. I spin in a full circle, greeted by picture frame–covered walls and lamp-adorned surfaces. It’s as cozy as a Nancy Meyers movie.
“Everett. I’m just saying—” A woman once hidden behind his tall frame squares her shoulders to him. The whole room fills with his deep exhale as she speaks. “She’s too old now for the Infant Toddler Program. I checked. And you make too much money for Head Start.”
He begins to turn back toward me when she jerks his arm. “Everett! She needssomething. You could use some help.”
The tension in the room is so thick I feel as if we’ve intruded on a private moment. This woman is half his height and yet helooks intimidated under her stare. I wonder if this is what he meant byI’m not sure I’ll ever be good enough.
“This is not the time, Caroline. We have guests.” His formal tone surprises me. In fact, everything about him is different from last time. Tense and serious and properly pissed.
“When would you suggest is a good time for doing what’s best for your child, Everett?”
The way this woman continues to lay into him doesn’t sit right with me. I can handle a condescending tone—got good at it with Brian—but talking down to someone just because they aren’t fulfilling the expectations you set for them is a no for me now.
I thrust out my hand to the woman. “I’m Summer, Rhe—Everett’s nanny.”
Her eyes widen.
I don’t dare look at Rhett Dawson to see what he thought of that lie.
The woman has the decency to shake my hand but doesn’t offer anything about herself.
“And you are?” I press.
Her eyebrow lifts. “Caroline Blackwood. I’m Quinn’s grandmother.”
With the same last name as his fiancée, this must be Rhett Dawson’salmostmother-in-law.
An adorable little girl in overalls turns the corner of the hallway. “To-To, come see!”
