I knock on the door, and when a guy opens it, I have to do a double take.

Max is standing in front of me. Shirtless. Unbuttoned jeans hanging on his hips. His eyes go wide, and then he grins and holds up a wad of bills. “You are not the pizza delivery guy.”

“No. I’m not.”

Lifting onto my toes, I peek over his shoulder and see Nix setting her dining room table in her T-shirt. And nothing else.

Wow. Awkward.

I raise a brow. “So, you and Nix?”

“Um. I think I’d rather let her answer that?” He turns around. “Lizzy’s here.”

The silverware clatters from Nix’s hands and onto the table. “You didn’t text back.”

I look to Max and then Nix and back again. “Something you two want to tell me?”

Crossing his arms across his chest, Max leans against the doorframe. “Do you want to answer that or do you want me to?” He cocks a brow at Nix, who looks as if she’d rather have God strike her down than have this conversation.

“Just . . .” She takes two steps toward me then stops. “I need to get dressed.” She points at Max. “Don’t say a word.” Then she jogs to the back of the house where the master bedroom is.

I clear my throat. “She’s gonna come out here and try to convince me that you two just get together and hang out half naked in a completely platonic way, isn’t she?”

Max presses his lips together and shrugs.

“How long has this been going on?”

He lifts his palms and then points in the direction Nix disappeared as if to remind me that she told him not to say anything.

When Nix reappears, she’s put on a pair of shorts. She scowls at Max. “Go get dressed,” she hisses.

“You’re wearing my shirt.”

She flinches, and I laugh. “Nix, it’s not a big deal.”

A red, beaten-up Escort pulls into the drive, and a teenager with a mop of black hair climbs out with a pizza box.

“There’s the pizza,” Max says.

He climbs down the porch steps to pay the driver, and Nix drags me into the house and then into her office. She shuts the door behind me, leans against it, and closes her eyes. “I swear it’s not what it looks like.”

“If by that you mean you aren’t about to ease some post-sex munchies with pizza, then I think you’re a big liar.”

Her eyes fly open. “It just . . . happened. Please don’t tell Hanna.”

“Oh, sweetie.” I wrap my arms around her and hug tightly, even as she keeps her body stiff as a board. “Max doesn’t belong to Hanna. She chose Nate, remember?”

I release her, but she still hasn’t relaxed.

“It just happened,” she repeats. “He brought Claire in for her well-child visit and somehow I brought up that my garage door opener wasn’t working and he offered to come fix it and then he fixed it and we were laughing and he kissed me and it was so nice that I kissed him back, and the next thing I know, our clothes are coming off.” She takes a breath. Finally.

“Sounds great. So, it was the kind of kissing that made your clothes magically disappear, huh?”

She swallows. “Pretty much.”

“My favorite kind of kissing.” I smile, but despite my attempts to keep this light, Nix still looks mortified.

“It seemed harmless, but nothing’s going to come of it. I promise.”

“I’m still confused about where the problem is.”

“He was in love with Hanna. Hanna was in love with him.”

She’s so cute. “And now Hanna’s married to Nate and raising his babies, and you and Max are both single, healthy, consenting adults.”

“You make it sound simple,” she mutters. “When, in my head, it’s like this complex equation.”

I sigh. “Compared to my love life, yours is like basic addition.”

“And yours is more like advanced trigonometry, huh?”

I nod and swallow. “And, Nix, I was never any good at math.” Then I cry. I don’t want to, but the tears spring to my eyes and roll down my cheeks and my breathing goes choppy.

She hugs me and strokes my hair.

“I’m sorry I lied to you,” I blubber. “There are secrets that aren’t mine to tell. But you’re right. I’m giving him the chance to hurt me again. Only problem is, the alternative hurts more.”

“I don’t understand,” she says. “How can you let him break your heart all over again?”

“With some people, love becomes your air, like the oxygen that you can’t live without. You need it, and once you find it, you’ll do anything to keep it.”

“Sam’s your air.”

I nod into her shoulder.

“You don’t have to tell me Sam’s secrets, but I want you to know you can talk to me if you need someone.”

There’s a knock, then Max pokes his head into the office. The smile falls off his face when he sees me. “Who do I need to castrate?”

“Sam,” Nix says. “But only if I don’t do it first.”

Max walks into the office and pulls me out of Nix’s arms and into his. His compassion brings the tears back full force.

“You’re the best thing that ever happened to him,” he whispers in my ear. “If he marries her, he’s a fool.”

Chapter 22

Sam

My head is pounding, and I feel as if someone poured a vat of sawdust into my mouth while I slept. I turn to bury my face in my pillow and roll into a warm body.