Max smiled. “We’ve shared space before.” He turned to the table. “It was nice to meet you all, but this one needs to show me her charity.” He locked arms with me and escorted me out into the large hall where tables with information on our charities were available to scan or take home. The administrative staff worked with all of us and were in charge of staging tonight. They did an incredible job. It was hard to get through the crowd to get to my charity, Book Ends, which encouraged kids to read more and also gave them a sense of social responsibility. For every book they read, a book was donated to a school in need.

Max smiled. “Why did you pick this? I don’t remember you reading a lot in school.”

“I love to read. I was too busy in high school but read a ton in college. Now I listen to audiobooks to and from work.”

“Do you sleep?” He moved closer and lowered his voice. “Is Lexi still around?”

I shushed him as I looked around in case she sneaked up on us. “She is. She’s even here tonight.” Max had met her once when we first started dating and told me to run the other way. He got bad vibes. Hayley felt the same. She’d helped us move here but was completely perplexed about why I was okay with Lexi moving to Connecticut with me. Lexi overheard and they got into a huge fight. Hayley ended up leaving early and now we only talked on my lunch breaks or on my way home, never when Lexi was around.

He pulled me close. “I don’t want you to freak out, but Parker and Grayson are here.”

My back was to the crowd which gave me time to prepare myself. “How does she look?”

He raised his eyebrow and paused. “You look better.”

“Shit,” I muttered.

“Uh-oh.”

My heart stopped and the blood in my veins turned to ice. “What does that mean?”

He smiled and nodded. “She’s coming over,” he said through clenched teeth as he kept a smile on his face.

“I’m not ready.”

“Not an option.” He turned me slowly to face Parker.

I held my breath, knowing she would take it away if I didn’t. I knew she would grow into a beautiful woman and I’d seen a few photos, but I just wasn’t prepared to see her this close and in person.