“He says it’s nowt to do with him,” Max grumbled from behind Mia, his anger deflating with the entrance of his wife and the fact his kid was now heavily investing in rearranging my face. “Verity just did the old Markham vanishing act.”
“Listen,” I interjected as Sophie, clearly finding the adult chat dull, gave my face one last pat and then fought her way to slide down my body, before toddling to the toy box Max kept in his office, “Verity exited my life abruptly two weeks ago, and I haven’t been able to contact her since. I only just found out about her father’s passing yesterday.” I looked up at Max. “What do you mean by ‘the Markham vanishing act’?”
“You didn’t know about Verity’s dad?” Mia’s eyebrows were raised. I felt a rush of annoyance mixed with guilt again and threw up my hands in frustration.
“She avoids talking about her parentsat all.”
Mia’s eyes narrowed, and her hands went to her hips. “Did it occur to you that there might be a reason for that? I thought you cared about her?”
“Idocare about her,” I snapped and then let out a long breath to get my anger under control. “Listen, I was so wrapped up in her that, yes, maybe I missed some things. Maybe I didn’t push like I should have done. And I–” I looked to the side and felt my face heat. “She doesn’t trust me. I know that, okay. And that’s on me. That’s about my pride and how much of a stupid bastard I was when we started this thing. But I know something’s wrong. I know she wouldn’t have just cut me off like that unless–”
“Unless she was hiding something,” Mia cut in. “Listen, it’s not our place to share the Markham family history, but we’ve learnt that when the shit hits the fan, Verity and Heath tend to withdraw. It happened when their father died, and it took a fair amount of effort for them to let us in. I think the fact that Heath was in love with Yaz was helpful, but she still had to work hard to sort him out.”
“They must have really loved their father,” I said and then watched in fascination as Mia and Max exchanged a confused look. Max opened his mouth to speak, but Mia gave a sharp shake of her head, silencing him. What was that about?
“We’d better talk to Heath,” Mia said, and Max gave a short nod. She turned to me. “I think it’s better that you go back to London. We’ll sort Verity out, and then she can contact you herself.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “You wouldn’t even know there was anything to sort out if I hadn’t come to find her.”
“Harry, there’s no point being stubborn about this. It will have to be on her terms. The Markhams are… complicated.”
“I don’t care how complicated they are. I’m in love with a complicated bloody Markham, and I amnotgoing to keep walking away from her.”
Mia eyed me for a moment before stepping forward into my space. “I hope you mean that,” she said softly, looking up at me to search my face.
Chapter21
She deserves her own slice of happiness
Harry
“What did she say when you rang?” Yaz asked from her position at Heath’s kitchen counter. She was holding a spaniel in her lap like a baby and stroking the dog’s tummy.
“I asked why she was avoiding us, and she said work was crazy. I thought you guys must have been busy with yourmassive project,” Heath said as he moved to the kettle and started to make tea. Max, Mia, Baby Sophie and I were at Heath and Yaz’s house. I’d insisted on coming along and it was Mia who’d championed my cause to Max.
“She’s hardlybeenat work for the last two weeks, Heath,” Max said, and Heath stopped what he was doing to look over at his friend.
“Where the fuck has she been then?”
“I tried to ring her just now and I got a foreign dial tone,” I said, and everyone’s attention came to me. “She’s not replying to texts.”
“What did you do now, Hazza?” Heath said, his voice rising with anger.
“Nothing! Listen, like I told Max, there was a lawyer, Mr Crawley. He came by the site. Verity spoke to him in private, and it was after that that she changed. She blew me off, then the next time I saw her was when–”
“When you called that bullshit meeting in your Big-Dick-Energy conference room,” Max said.
“Can we stop calling my conference room that! It’s actually a standard bloody size.”
“Don’t be ashamed of the BDE, mate,” Yaz said, giving me a wink. “Nothing wrong with trying to compensate in whatever way you can.”
I scowled at her. “I have no need to compensate foranything, thank you very much.”
“What happened at this bullshit meeting?” Heath said, ignoring the BDE banter and focusing his furious gaze on me.
“I just wanted to see her. I was frustrated, okay? I may have been a bit of a prick again.”
“Abitof a prick?” Max said in disgust. “I had to practically scrape her off the floor of the lift after you finished with her.”
