Not Quite Perfect (Oakland Hills Book 3) by Gretchen Galway Page B

Merry away from his face. “Yeah. Should be here any minute.” He gently bounced Merry up and down. “Did you have a big burp? What a special girl you are!”
    “Very special. Check out the wall,” April said. “Projectile. She let loose when I sat her up.”
    He made a face at the spatter spreading three feet. “She did that?”
    “Gold medal spitter you got there,” April said.
    “Gold medal spitter,” he repeated, laughing, nuzzling Merry to his chest for a moment before laying her down on the table. “Such a special girl.”
    April reached for a fresh diaper. She didn’t appreciate how stimulated she got at the thought of seeing Zack again—and, bonus, he’d be out of his habitat, a suit released from captivity, like a tiger out of the zoo.
    Please—a tiger? What was the matter with her? Not a sexy, dangerous predator. No way. More like… an owl. Or a ferret.  
    Still, she’d be happy to sit this one out. Creating her first pattern-matched sketches for impatient designers that morning had worn her out, and Merry had skipped both of her naps. She unfolded the diaper, lifted Merry’s legs, and wiggled it under her little bottom. “I’ll do this. You have to get ready for dinner.”
    He bent over and kissed Merry’s forehead. “I’m fine. You might wear something a little less terrifying, though.”
    April started to defend her Buddha-in-a-bikini T-shirt before she realized what he was saying. “I’m not coming to your corporate dinner.”
    “Sorry, but you are. Rose and Mark will be there, and they don’t even work at Fite. You do work at Fite, don’t you?” He looked around the bedroom. “I put some clean baby onesie things in the dresser. Are any of them left?”
    “Hold on, no. I can’t go. I won’t go.”
    “Mom already told him you’d be there,” Liam said. “The whole family, she said. You know how she is. Somehow, she came by the office with Merry, met Zack in hallway, and one thing led to another.”
    “When? Merry’s been with me all afternoon.”
    “Monday, I think. I only found out an hour ago when she called me to find out if Zack was a vegetarian.”
    “No,” April said, “I can’t go. It’ll be too weird. You’ll hate me for something or other—I’ll say something, I’ll do something—I can’t handle the pressure.”
    “He’s just a consultant, Ape. He works for Fite, not the other way around.”
    “You already told me to change my shirt,” she said.
    He rolled his eyes. “Fine. Wear whatever you want. Just help me find something for Merry, will you? Please? Bev seems to think I have no style, which is pretty hilarious considering I’ve been running that garment company of hers for a few years.”
    “I think we’ve got some baby yoga pants around here somewhere,” April said, wondering why she was overcome with nerves. So a guy she met at work was coming to dinner, so what?
    Her mind lingered over the memory of him sitting at the desk behind her, scribbling in his little notebook. She wondered if he’d bring it with him to dinner, take notes on the food, their conversation, the decor.
    Liam was right. Why should she go out of her way to avoid him? She didn’t care what he thought. Her name was April Keep Rita Happy Johnson, not April Impress Zack the Hot Anal Retentive Suit Happy Johnson.
    Muttering the long name under her breath, she picked out Merry’s outfit—yoga pants and matching hoodie—and threw it on the changing table for Liam on her way out the door.
    “See you over there,” she said. “I’ve got to wash off the rest of this baby yuck before dinner.”
    And maybe find something else to wear.
    Maybe.
    * * *
    Zack’s finger hovered over the doorbell.
    The whole family , Liam’s mother had said. How had he been lassoed into that one? One minute he was congratulating her on becoming a grandmother, the next she was giving him directions to the house.
    She looked like April. That might’ve been it. The shape of the face; the sharp,