“We’re fine,” Connor said, sliding the spoon under Atlas’s lip to catch some goo that didn’t make the mouth. He threw an affectionate look at Meredith. “This is surprisingly fun.”
Oh, boy. Now they were going to fall in love and he…he was miserable, alone, depressed, and…yeah, alone.
“Where is everyone? Hospital?”
“Eli and Kate are,” Meredith said. “And Maggie. Vivien and Peter just took a walk on the beach. Emma went to her new church friend’s house for a game night.”
“Latest on Jo?” he asked.
Meredith beamed. “Looks like she’s coming home tomorrow,” she said. “Can you believe that?”
“That’s incredible,” Jonah said, meandering to the fridge to open, browse, see nothing of interest, and close it. He turned around to find Meredith staring at him with that look—the all-knowing, more mature even though she was younger, Miss Perfect gaze he’d been getting most of his life.
“What?” he demanded.
She angled her head. “Jonah, come on. Talk to us.”
“About?”
“What’s eating you,” she said. “You’ve been morose since Pepper quit. You’ll find another nanny and we don’t mind…” Her voice trailed off as she straightened. “Are you crying?”
“No!” he denied hotly, blinking. “I just…onions from work.”
She angled her head, suddenly looking so much like their mother, it hurt him physically.
She was Melissa 2.0 with the same hair, the same eyes, and as she got older, an identical way of carrying herself. It made him want to tell her everything.
“She didn’t quit,” he said glumly, dropping onto the barstool on the side of the island.
Connor’s head shot up from the banana bowl. “You fired her?”
“No, no. She…” He looked from one to the other, knowing he was seconds from vomiting out a sob story and he’d not only have to trust his sister, he’d be giving a lot of leverage to this new dude in her life. Well, he needed help. Bad. “We broke up.”
They both stared at him.
“Excuse me?” Meredith finally asked. “You were…seeingeach other?”
“Early days,” he said. “But it was complicated. Really, really complicated. She has a…thing.” Was he going to share that, too? It wasn’t his to share. “A reason—a really dumb one, if you ask me—and thinks we shouldn’t, you know, take it any further.”
His sister looked like she wanted to crawl on her hands and knees over the island and squeeze the story out of him.
“What…kind of thing?”
He studied her for a moment, remembering the ectopic pregnancy and the fact that they had no explanation for it. She knew—and maybe Connor knew—that it could happen again. Meredith had no guarantee of having a baby, but she hadn’t made it some big fat wall that prevented her from loving someone.
“Look, it’s personal and I can’t give details, but she can’t have kids. And she thinks…that’s a dealbreaker.”
“Why?” Connor asked. “You have a child and she loves Atlas.”
“I know, but she thinks I’ll want more.” He shook his head. “And when I tried to convince her that it didn’t matter, that I really cared about her, and we had something real…she said that’s what her last guy told her and then he bolted and broke her heart. So, she said she wanted to go back to New Orleans and…I don’t know. Give me up.”
“Oh.” Meredith put her fingers over her lips. “She’s crazy about you.”
Jonah gave a dry laugh. “Strange way of showing it.”
He looked at Connor, who just lifted a shoulder. “I don’t know, dude. But this girl?” He put a hand on Meredith’s shoulder. “Is the smartest person I ever met. I’d listen to her.”
Jonah curled his lip. “No wonder you like him, Miss Perfect.”
