Until April (Until Her/Him #10)(57)

“Yeah, it’s nice, but that’s not what I’m talking about. Cohen put out a statement today.”

“What?”

“He says there was never a woman, that everything was made up to build a buzz around his band’s new album.”

He hands me his cell phone, and I glance down at the screen and quickly scan the news article he has pulled up.

Holy shit, he did it.

He takes his phone back and reads from the story. “I’m still looking for the kind of love I wrote about on the album and believe it exists.” His head lifts, and his gaze locks with mine. “Do you think he heard about that crazy woman trying to shoot you and now feels bad about it?”

“No,” I say immediately, because even though I trust my friends, no one knows about Maxim talking to Cohen except my parents and the men who went with him, and I’d like to keep it that way. “Or I don’t think so. It wasn’t even on the news.” And it wasn’t, which was actually surprising, but then again, there are probably shootings all the time that don’t make the news.

“Well, whatever his reason, I’m glad he did it.” He takes the shopping bag from me. “And from what Kirk said, women are going nuts, and their album is doing even better than it was.”

“Good for them.” I let us into the house and head for the kitchen.

“Are you okay?” He stops me before I can start unloading the groceries I brought. Looking up at him, I tell him the truth as I smile.

“Better than I’ve ever been.”

“When do Kirk and I get to meet the guy who makes you smile like that?”

“Soon.”

“I can’t wait.” He leans down to kiss my cheek then asks, “Do you need any help in here, or are you good with me working outside?”

“Go work,” I urge, and with a nod, he heads to the back door, pausing to look at me over his shoulder with his hand on the handle. “This house really is fucking awesome.” He grins.

“I know, right?” I grin back, then watch him step outside as I get to work, and it takes me over an hour to get everything just right.

I toss some premade cookie dough into the oven, because honestly there is nothing better than walking into a house that smells like someone has been baking. I set out a cheese and cracker tray along with some small bottles of water, refresh the flowers the owners have around the house, make sure the pillows are fluffed, beds are made, and that there are enough brochures out for everyone to take one with them. While I work, Matt hangs out by the pool on his phone, probably talking to his clients, then around noon when the house is full of realtors with their clients, he takes off to do some work, leaving me on my own but promising to come back if I need him.

With the constant flow of people in and out of the house all day, the time flies by, and before I know it, I’m putting what is left of the cookies I made into a Ziploc bag, gathering up the signup sheet and realtor cards left behind, and putting it all into my bag before shutting off the kitchen lights. I head through the house to the front door, making sure everything is as it should be, then grab the key and lock box from the entryway table and go outside.

As I turn to lock up, I catch a black car drive around the circular driveway out the corner of my eye and sigh, because even if I want nothing more than to get home to Maxim and Binx, I’m sure that it’s probably the owners coming home. And without a doubt, they’re going to want to see how the day went.

With the most enthusiastic smile I can muster, I wait as I hear a car door slam shut, and a moment later, a woman I don’t recognize dressed in black slacks, a black designer top with dark sunglasses covering her eyes, and a Louis bag slung over her shoulder walks around the corner.

“Hi, are you here for the open house?” I ask.

“I am.” She looks from the key box in my hand to me, causing her dark hair that is cut in a chin-length bob to swish across her cheeks. “Am I too late?”

“I was just getting ready to lock up, but I can still show you around if you’d like.”

“Great.” She steps up onto the porch with me, leaving me no choice but to open the door for her to go inside or be pressed up against her. Just as I start to follow her in to the house, a sage-green Range Rover with dark-tinted windows pulls around the driveway. Thinking that actually might be the owners and wanting to give them a heads up if it is, I turn back to the woman.

“If you want to start looking around, I’ll be with you in just a minute,” I tell her, and she nods, then disappears farther into the house. I head down the short steps to the driveway and blink when I see Maxim get out of the passenger seat of the Range Rover, Melanie exits from the driver side, and Myla and Kai get out of the back.

“What are you guys doing here?” I walk toward them with a wide smile on my face, hugging Myla first, then Melanie and Kai before going to Maxim and leaning up for a kiss that makes his lips tug up into a smile.

“I was already planning to fly in later this week so that you and I could start shopping but after what happened we decided to fly in to see for ourselves that you were okay,” Myla says, stepping close and tugging me away from her son to give me another hug.

“You didn’t have to do that.” My chest warms as I lean back to look at her. “Even though I’m happy you’re here.”