Page 128 of Major Love

“Jace helped me fix the pieces together, so all that’s left is the polish,” Mitch replies. “But seriously, you don’t need to do it. We can get the first coat on tomorrow morning, and we’ll still be ahead of schedule.”

Tate walks around us into the garage, tossing down the black hoodie and subtly inspecting the large wooden tables.

Then he points toward a pot of polish, looking at his dad to silently askthis one?

Mitch nods and Tate immediately gets to work, throwing down a couple sheets and then heaving the first table on top of it, so that he doesn’t end up polishing his dad’s garage floor.

Mitch watches him for a couple of seconds and then says, “Don’t be in here longer than an hour, okay?”

When his son doesn’t respond Mitch lets out another sigh.

“We’re having dinner in around forty-five minutes. Come inside for a bit and join us for that.”

At the prospect of food, Tate glances up and nods, which immediately calms his dad and we head back out toward the front porch.

It’s only the afternoon so it’s bright white outside, the winter weather a big contrast to the fact that it’s almost spring. But that means that we’re now at the best part of the season, where the town is still filled with snow but the sky starts getting light and summery.

It’s one of my favourite times of the year.

We mount the porch steps and Mitch pushes open the front door, his eyes immediately on the couch, to where his fiancée iscurled up. Her laptop is open on the coffee table as she reads carefully through a printed version of her manuscript.

She raises her eyes to where we’re standing and a sweet smile plays on her lips, her cheeks instantly blushing brighter as Mitch heads toward her without even kicking off his boots. He leans down over the back of the couch so that he can give her a gentle kiss as he palms her shoulders.

I rake a hand through my hair, unable to resist a glance at Harper’s stomach, because now that she’s around five months along her tiny bump is finally starting to show.

Mitch rounds the couch and carefully settles himself beside her, placing one large hand over her belly as she arches backward into his arms.

She’s wearing a soft long-sleeved dress that covers her down past her knees, but it’s the beautiful baby blue colour that makes me glance at my boots as I settle into the armchair beside them.

Because baby blue makes me think of Sunday, and I’ve been trying not to think about her too much since this morning.

After what that guy said as he stepped up to my front door, I knew that Sunday would need a little space with him to talk about whatever the hell he came for.

If she has another man, it’s not like I’m going to blame her for it. We had a long stretch of time apart, and it would be crazy to assume that she wasn’t invested in other relationships. But I sent Sunday a couple of texts so she knows what time I’ll be home, and I’m hoping that her guy friend will be long-gone by the time I get back.

I link my fingers together and settle my elbows on my knees, my boot thumping steadily against the carpet as I stare unseeingly at the dark wood coffee table.

And about half a minute later I realise that the room is totally silent.

I glance up and my eyes meet Harper’s, her expression bright with surprise as she searches my gaze.

And behind her Mitch smirks over at me, looking amused as hell.

“Jace?” Harper asks gently, her voice sweet and cautious. “Are you… alright?”

Mitch snickers at that, because he knows that I’m stressing about a chick.

I push up off the armchair and nod down at Harper, stretching out my biceps and feeling the pull in my shoulders.

I can’t wait to get a shower when I pull up at my place.

Mitch gives me about three seconds to fill her in before rumbling, “It’s to do with a woman.”

“What woman?” Harper asks, her irises brightening with sudden interest. “The high school sweetheart? Sunday? Oh my God, are you seeing each other?”

“Harper,” I laugh. “Jesus Christ, slow down. You can’t give a guy twenty questions and expect him to know which one you want answering.”

“All of them!” she says immediately. “I need answers to all of them.”

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