Page 45 of The Good Guy on My Porch

“If that’s true, you’ve been dating some real losers.”

She snuggled closer and I had to remember to breathe. “You have no idea.”

***

“She still dating the preacher?” Molly asked when I stepped inside. I’d sat with Dilly snuggled against my side until the sun had gone down and, even after she’d said good night and gone inside, I still felt her warmth against my side. Still saw her happy smile, tears shining in her eyes while she watched the play, every time I blinked.

“She is,” I said.

“So, you’re on a crash course to break your own heart?”

“Looks that way.” I sank onto the couch next to her. “How are you doing?”

She smiled. “You know me, the hardest part is making the decision. Now that I’ve decided, I’m in my happy place strategizing and making plans. Henry thinks the baby will boost my popularity among women voters.”

Henry was her best friend and her campaign manager. “That’s a fantastic reason to have a baby.”

She grinned. “I know. If we could just get an idea of how a marriage would play, I’d know what to say to Daniel.”

I spun to face her. “He proposed over the phone? That son of a—”

She held up her hands. “He proposed in person. He’s in my room, catching up on the sleep he lost when I was having my away time.”

“I assume you said yes,” I said.

“I told him I don’t want to get married just because of the baby, but he’d already foreseen and pre-empted that argument by telling me he bought the ring two months ago.”

“Good man.”

She held out her hand and showed me the enormous sparkler on her finger. It was the sort of ostentatious diamond I’d bought my fiancée, before I’d decided I wanted a simpler life and she’d decided she was more in love with my potential future wealth than she was with me. “Do women like that sort of thing?”

She grinned. “Some women do, but some women just want a man who’s there for them when it matters.”

“Don’t try to make me feel better. I’m poor and will never be able to afford a giant ring. I may as well move into the monastery now.”

She rolled her eyes. “You don’t need to move into a monastery. Just keep pining after women who’ve put you in the friend-zone and are dating other people.”

“Ah-ha, you’ve discovered my secret plan.”

“Seriously,” she said, her smile fading. “Haven’t you been hurt enough? After what Charlene did, I—”

“I was in a bad place for a while.” After my fiancée and girlfriend of four years had dumped me, I’d gone on a week-long bender and forgotten to bathe or wash my clothes for a little while. My sisters had banded together and forced me to return to sobriety and good hygiene. At least, that’s what I let them think. I’d already started down that path after a woman I’d flirted with at the local bar mistook me for a homeless man and offered to buy me dinner. “But I know exactly where I stand with Dilly. We’re just friends.”

She shook her head. “I’ve seen the look on your face when you walk in after spending time with her. You need some distance.”

“I’ve tried that. I’ve even tried dating someone else. It doesn’t work.”

“You’re a masochist.”

“Probably. But never seeing her again would be more painful.”

She shook her head. “Or maybe you aren’t ready for a relationship and pining after an unattainable woman is your subconscious way of dealing.”

“Nope.” I pushed to my feet. “You’re a future senator, not a shrink. Leave the psychoanalyzing to Suze.” Suze was our oldest sister and a shrink, though she managed not to psychoanalyze us.

She shook her head. “Daniel brought a ton of take-out from Alistair’s if you want some. He brought your favorite. He thinks you had something to do with my change of heart.”

“Daniel is one in a million,” I said, exaggerating only a little. “Don’t ever let him go.” I didn’t miss much of my former life, but Alistair’s was my favorite restaurant of all time.

“I don’t plan to,” she said.

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