The Cottage on the Corner Read Online Free PDF Page A

didn’t make a sound, just shoved her arms into her coat sleeves at Morgan’s bidding, and watched Max with wide blue eyes.
    Morgan lifted a small black suitcase, grabbed the little girl’s hand. “Let’s go, Zuzu. Your father is too busy to be bothered.”
    â€œI am not—”
    â€œCan it!” she snapped, stalking from the room, the little girl running along beside her. Still not a peep out of her. She wasn’t Max’s kid. He was 99 percent sure of it. But that 1 percent?
    Yeah. That was bothering him.
    Not to mention the fact that he felt sorry for Zuzu.
    She looked way too stoic for a child her age, her gaze solemn as she stood at the door and waited for Morgan to shove her feet into three-inch heels. No shoes for the girl. She wore those footy pajama things. Blue with green and yellow cars all over the fabric.
    Shouldn’t she be wearing pink or yellow or some other girly color?
    She stared at Max while Morgan shrugged into her coat. He stared at her. He didn’t know much about kids, but this one seemed to be upset. With him.
    I’m not your dad. That’s what he wanted to say, but he kept his mouth shut because the faster she and her mother got out of his house, the happier he’d be.
    Morgan opened the door. Frigid winter air blew in, and Zuzu shivered, reaching her arms up to Morgan.
    â€œMommy’s hands are full. You’re going to have to walk,” she said, hooking a designer purse over her shoulder and grabbing the suitcase. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.” She grabbed Zuzu’s hand a little too roughly for Max’s liking. It reminded him of the years before he’d gone to live with his grandparents. Of being dragged from his bed in the middle of the night, shoved into whatever car his mother happened to be borrowing. It made him think of all the times he’d been driven to the next seedy little apartment, the next uncle or dad or whatever his mother asked him to call her newest boyfriend.
    Not his problem, but the kid looked so tiny, her black hair pulled into a ponytail that listed sideways on her head. She shoved her thumb into her mouth, eyeing him suspiciously. Smart kid, but no matter how smart she was, there was no way she could defend herself from the trouble Morgan might drag her into.
    Let them go, his inner voice yelled, but his gut was saying something else, and he always listened to his gut.
    â€œWhy don’t you warm up the car, Morgan?” he suggested, knowing exactly what his ex would do. She’d always been pretty damn good at jumping at opportunities. “That way the kid won’t freeze.”
    â€œWhat do you ca—” Morgan’s gaze dropped to Zuzu, her eyes going from angry to calculating.
    â€œAll right,” she said, just like he’d known she would.
    She crouched down so she was face-to-face with her daughter. “You stay right here, okay? Mommy will be back soon.”
    She hurried down the stairs, the suitcase banging against her thigh. Max listened to high heel shoes tapping on pavement. Maybe he was wrong about Morgan. Maybe she’d changed. Maybe, just maybe, having a child had made her into something more than the selfish self-serving wretch she’d been when they were living together.
    The sound of a car engine split the early morning silence, and he tensed.
    One. Two. Three .
    Headlights splashed across the pavement below, sweeping along the winter dry grass beside the driveway.
    Four, five, six.
    Tires whooshed over pavement and the Mazda sped away.
    Morgan might have looked back, but Max doubted it.
    Apparently she hadn’t changed. At least not in any way that mattered. He looked at the little girl. She looked at him. He was pretty certain she knew that she’d been screwed.
    â€œWell, kid,” he said. “I’m sorry about this.”
    The little girl took her thumb out of her mouth, and did exactly what he didn’t want her to