Page 13 of You've Got Male

He looked at her father, waiting for the lecture, but Lenard just shook his head disappointedly at Jonah, who now felt like a class-A jerk.

Moira led the way to the kitchen, where the rest of the group followed. Except Evie, who was gathering up the abandoned agendas off the seats and, for a brief moment, Jonah thought he saw her hands shake as she stacked them together, and something didn’t settle right in his gut.

Then her gaze met his and it was hot enough to nuke his nuts. “You blindsided me.”

“I took responsibility for my yard and apologized to each and every neighbor.”

“A fun fact you could have explained when we were in my room.”

Yes. He could have. He should have. But he thought it would be funny to see the look on her face when she realized that her whole plan to screw with his life backfired. Only he wasn’t laughing now. “I was going to tell you but then Waverly went ballistic.”And I saw you in nothing but panties and my mind was scrambled. “I should have told you.”

“It wouldn’t have mattered. You already rigged the vote. You used that single-dad charm and won them over.”

“So you think I’m charming?”

“I think you are a gigantic asshole.”

“You said you wanted everyone off your back. That’s what I did.”

She stepped into him, toe to toe. “What you did was go charm everyone into getting”—she poked his pec—“your”—poke—“way.”Poke. Poke.

He trapped her hand beneath his. “Just like you went around riling everyone up about my yard. Well, checkmate, sunshine.”

Unexpected hurt flickered through her anger. She jerked her hand back and crossed her arms around her belly. “I didn’t ask for this meeting, Jonah. Mrs. Lichfield did. I’m guessing she left that out during your morning coffee.”

“I didn’t meet with Lichfield. Knew it wouldn’t make a difference.”

“So you admit the point of your surprise neighborhood visits was to get people on your side?” she asked quietly.

“There aren’t sides here,” he said, watching emotions play across her normally schooled face. “What are you not telling me?”

Evie stared at him for a long moment, and he could see the exhaustion and a hint of vulnerability seep in. She brought one arm across her chest and defiantly gripped the bicep of her other arm, then gave a tired shake of her head. “Nothing I can’t work out. Good night, Jonah.”

He watched her walk down the hallway, away from the party, a party he knew she’d never pass up. For one, she was a people person. And secondly, she lived and breathed party etiquette and leaving her guests to fend for themselves went against every host-rule she possessed.

Jonah was about to go after her when Mrs. Gomez approached. She was dressed in mourning black, pink orthopedic shoes, and a cloak of grief. She clutched a stack of documents to her chest.

Gloria had lost her husband a few months back to a heart attack and was having a hard time bouncing back. In fact, tonight was the first time he’d seen her outside of her yard since the funeral.

“I know you need to get your little one home, but I need a minute.”

“What can I do for you?”

“It’s about my Raoul’s life insurance. Those little pricks at the insurance company are giving me the runaround about my payout, and I know that you gave them hell when they tried to deny your claim after Amber passed. I can’t even make heads or tails of what it says. It’s like trying to understand the inner workings of the male brain. I swear they write it that way on purpose to confuse people.”

Unfortunately, that was the truth. Jonah only knew his way around a policy because when he’d been a broker at the firm, he’d specialized in investing and growing insurance payouts.

“If you want, I can take a look at it.”

Mrs. Gomez’s eyes took on a grateful sheen, as if she finally felt like she had an ally in the fight. It made Jonah wonder if Evie had any allies and who they were, because tonight she’d been on her own. Even though her parents clearly loved and adored her, her mom didn’t hesitate to question her stance on the vote.

“Moving on is just so hard,” she said with a sniffle.

Jonah put a supportive hand on the older woman’s shoulder. “I know.”

Chapter Five

Evie

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