Page 2 of Garden Daddy

Show her how he’d changed.

Get his girl back.

Even though he’d dated other people since their divorce, having Eden back in his life was making it impossible for him to look at anyone else.She was here to stay unless he wanted to ditch his two best friends, which was not an option.His two best friends were now in committed relationships, heading toward marriage with her two best friends, and he was so filled with envy, it was debilitating.

Not only that, but the more time he was forced to spend around Eden, the more he got to know her again and the more he wanted her back.She was similar but different from the woman he’d married.More confident, more sure of herself, and somehow even more bratty than when they’d dated, which he wouldn’t have thought was possible.

She was definitely brattier than when they’d been married, and that was his fault.He’d tried turning both of them into the people he thought they needed to be in order to be successful.

Out of the two of them, he’d changed the most in the past five years.He’d learned a lot about himself and about relationships.He could see where he’d gone wrong and where he’d been a colossal ass.And he wanted to do better.

He wanted to be her Daddy again.

Eden huffed.

“Fine.You have two minutes, then I’m getting back to my relaxing downtime.”

Thank God.He’d take two minutes.

Eden

Dammit,why did Marcus have to be so hot?She’d always liked him in a suit, until she’d started hating those suits, but the way he was filling out his Flower Power t-shirt also did things to her.Then she got mad because she didn’t want to be attracted to him anymore, and that stupid t-shirt reminded her of all the shit he’d refused to do when they were married.

Now, he was super relaxed, hanging out, respecting downtime, and willing to wear something besides business casual clothes.Great.

She wasn’t sure why he was showing up, wanting to talk.Maybe he just wanted to stop arguing with her all the time since they had to hang out, thanks to their friends.Yeah, fat chance.She’d been saving up insults for him.Eventually, she was going to find one that bothered him.She’d really thought the fart one would do the trick, but he’d seemed more amused than anything.

The big jerk.

Two minutes, then she would close the door, even if she had to shove him back to do it.No matter that she was pretty sure he’d gained about twenty pounds of muscle since their marriage, she had the power of petty rage fueling her.

Marcus nodded, accepting her edict.Good.Once he agreed to something, he would follow through.The ‘almighty deal’ was very important to him, and once he said he would do something, he would.Which wasn’t always a good thing when he’d overloaded himself by promising things to people at work and neglecting everything else.Everyone else.Like his wife.

“I will be honest.I thought if I ever saw you again that I would feel like we made the right decision about our divorce.I never wanted to hurt you, and I wanted to see that you had moved on and were happy.I’m a different man now.A better man.And the more I see you, the more I miss what we had, but also the more I like the person you’ve become.I think we should try again.”

Eden stared at him.

Blinked.

That was not what she’d expected to come out of his mouth.

“What could you possibly like about me?”she asked incredulously.Not because she wasn’t likeable—she damn well was—but because after their divorce, she’d deliberately set herself up to be the opposite of who she’d become as his wife.

She’d dyed her hair bright, crazy colors that made her poor Japanese mother despair of her ever finding another husband.She’d started wearing the most offensive t-shirts she could find, smirking at what she imagined Marcus’ face would be if she’d ever tried to wear that while they went out and about.Eventually, she’d gotten over doing things because of how her ex would have reacted and realized she actually just liked all that stuff.

Then she’d stopped doing it for him and started doing it for her.

But helikedit?

“I like that you’re the girl I fell in love with again.That you reclaimed that part of yourself after I… well, if I didn’t kill it completely, I definitely caused you to bury it.I like your sass.I like how you look after your friends.I like your confidence.I like… you.I’ve always liked you, even when I felt like there were parts of you that went counter to the image I was trying to project.I was wrong about that, by the way.You were right.I should never have asked you to be anyone other than yourself.”

She’d been willing.She hadn’t said no.She’d tried to pack herself into a little box, into the form he’d wanted because she’d wanted his attention and approval.She’d lost herself for him, and it wasn’t just because he’d asked her to.Although he hadn’t asked it of her, there had been ways she’d tried to change because she’d seen the other corporate wives doing it.

That was part of the danger.She’d been willing to do that for him.For a scrap of his affection and attention.

This new Marcus?This self-aware, repentant, humble Marcus who took care of himself, took the time to relax, and made space for his friends?This Marcus was a million times more dangerous to her than the arrogant, ‘I know best,’ self-involved husband who’d started taking her for granted.

“Thank you for the apology,” she said, even though he hadn’t actually said sorry.Marcus had always had a thing about apologizing.Even when he was remorseful, he’d had trouble saying the words, so pretending he had apologized gave her a little petty spurt of happiness.

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