Jada laughed. “And the problem with that is what again?”
“Things with Max were never supposed to get to this point.” I let out a sigh. “It’s not that I don’t want to live with Max, I just don’t want him to get the wrong idea. But it’s Max, so he would. He’d have a nursery painted before I got my boxes unpacked.”
“I don’t get it. Why in the world would you not want to settle down with Max Quinn? He’s gorgeous and charming and successful and adjusted-”
“He’s perfect. I get it. I know this.”
“So? What’s the problem, Kari?”
“Max comes from this big family. He wants a wife in the kitchen, babies at his feet, Sunday family dinners. It’s just,” I swallowed and looked away, “not something I see for myself.”
Jada touched my shoulder, looking at me with eyes that saw so much more than I wanted. “You might not want that right now and that’s perfectly okay. But . . .”
“But what?”
“But you need to figure out what you want. If you’re sure you don’t want Max for the long-term and he does, then you have to consider that.” A frown touched her lips and I could see she was torn. She was trying to be honest with me, but knew it wasn’t the easy answer I wanted to hear. “Have you talked to him about this?”
“Constantly. He asks me to move in nearly every day. And I would, Jada, I really would. But then that leads to the next step and that’s the one I don’t want to take.”
She tilted her head and frowned deeper. “You don’t want to get married?”
I looked at my sister’s hand on her tummy. “I don’t think I’d mind getting married.” I swallowed passed the lump in my throat. “But I don’t want to have a family.” The words came out softer than I would’ve liked, but saying it too loudly would’ve given my voice too much room to crack.
”I never knew you didn’t want kids,” she breathed, looking at me like I was a stranger. Whether she realized it or not, she was right. There were things about me she had no clue about.
“Yeah, well . . .” I moved the box from one arm to the other, looking everywhere but at her. It was so much easier keeping things from her when she lived in Boston. “It’s just . . . complicated.”
MAX
“Joe Montana was the greatest quarterback that ever played football. Now that,” Cane said, tipping his Corona towards me, “is a fact.”
“I’m still going with Tom Brady. He has four Super Bowl rings and we both know the Patriots should’ve beaten the Giants in the other one. That was a loss I’ll never believe.” I sat my red plastic cup down on the end table.
“I’m sorry. I can’t handle you liking the Patriots.”
“So does Jada,” I pointed out, watching his face twist in disgust.
“Fuck that. She only likes Julian Edelman and I think that has very little to do with football.”
I busted out laughing, glancing at my watch. “You’re probably right about that. Hey, it’s getting late and we should probably get going. I’m sure Jada needs to rest and I need to look over a few things for work tomorrow anyway.”
Cane ran his hands through his short blond hair. “I got a letter from the court yesterday. Simon plead guilty to the drug charges against him and conspiracy to commit murder.”
“That makes it easier, right?” I asked, watching him try to keep his shit together.
“Yeah,” he muttered, cracking his knuckles.
Simon Powers and Cane had a long, twisted history, ending with Simon hiring someone to try to kill Cane. Instead of killing him, they’d gotten to Jada. She’d been banged up pretty bad. Thankfully, Cane had gotten to her and saved her . . . and killed the hit man in the process.
It’d been a mess, but luckily it was all proven to be masterminded by Powers and he’d gotten the book thrown at him. Him pleading guilty assured that Cane and Jada didn’t have to testify or worry about something going wrong at the trial and him getting out. Because if he got out, there was no doubt Cane would kill him. And this time, it probably wouldn’t be considered self-defense.
“This pregnancy thing is making me fucking crazy,” Cane said. “It’s the only time I can remember not knowing what to do. I want her to eat so the baby gets vitamins, but it’s a double-edged sword. She’ll just puke it up, then I have to worry about that. It’s a fucking nightmare.”
I chuckled. Seeing Cane worry about someone other than himself still caught me off guard sometimes.
“And now she has these hormones going through her and she just starts crying. And I have no idea why. I left the toilet seat up this morning. She cried.” He looked at me wide-eyed. “For fuck’s sake! I’m screwed anyway I go.”
“Has she told you to put the seat down before?”
“Yeah, but it’s hard to remember in the middle of the night.”
I laughed a little louder. “Maybe it’s not about the seat. Maybe it’s about you not listening to her.”
“This isn’t funny, Max.”