Mr. March: A Friends to Lovers Romance (Calendar Boys Book 3) Read online

  MR. MARCH

  Calendar Boys Series

  NICOLE S. GOODIN

  COPYRIGHT

  Mr. March

  Published by Nicole S. Goodin

  Digital edition

  ISBN: 978-0-9951168-4-9

  Copyright 2019 by Nicole S. Goodin

  All rights reserved. ©

  This ebook is for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this ebook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it to your favourite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Mr. March

  First published March 2019

  All rights reserved. ©

  Cover design by Nicole Goodin

  Images purchased from Deposit Photos

  Editing by Spell Bound

  DISCLAIMER

  This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to events, places, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  The author acknowledges all song titles, song lyrics, film titles, film characters, trademarked statuses and brands mentioned in this book are the property of, and belong to, their respective owners.

  Nicole S. Goodin is in no way affiliated with any of the brands, songs, musicians or artists mentioned in this book.

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  EPILOGUE

  THANK YOU!

  MR. APRIL

  OTHER TITLES

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  PLAYLIST

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  UPCOMING TITLES

  DEDICATION

  For all the babes born in March

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  This book has been written using UK English and may contain euphemisms and slang words that form part of the New Zealand spoken word.

  Please remember that the words are not misspelled. They are slang terms and form part of everyday, New Zealand vernacular.

  I.e: I’m from New Zealand and sometimes we say weird things down here… please try and be cool about it.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Luke

  I glance over at Mia as they begin to lower Troy into the cold, hard earth.

  I’ve never seen a woman as broken as the one I see now, and I’ve seen a lot – more than any man should ever have to.

  She’s clutching her newborn son like a lifeline as she says her final goodbyes to her husband – the love of her life.

  This grief – it’s the price you pay for love.

  Sobs wrack her small body to the point where I’m worried she’ll drop Joe, the tiny baby my best mate will never, ever get the chance to meet.

  He was so excited to be a father. He loved Mia like nothing I’ve ever seen before and he loved the baby growing inside of her just as much.

  The two of them were one of those couples that you can’t help but watch – you could literally see the love in their eyes when they looked at one another.

  I’ve known the both of them since high school; they were childhood sweethearts who shared a love you would probably never find twice. Hell, I haven’t managed to find anything like it even once.

  That’s what scares me the most I think… that Mia will never find that again and that Joe will never have the father he deserves.

  I hate to think they’ll be alone forever.

  I catch Mia’s eye and I watch her bottom lip tremble as everything she’s ever known is ripped away from her.

  She’s looking right at me, but it seems like she’s looking through me more than anything.

  I know she doesn’t blame me, but I couldn’t fault her if she did. I couldn’t save her husband when they brought him in to me, and I should have been able to. I wish more than anything I could have.

  I’d have given anything for it to have been me that was struck with that stray bullet instead of him. I have nothing and no one who would mourn me as deeply as Mia is mourning Troy. He had the whole world waiting for him back home.

  He had everything he ever wanted, and he was only a few days from getting it all.

  He was getting out. We both were. Him to be a father, and me to pursue a different career path… a different life.

  We both wanted a life outside of the Army.

  We were so close.

  He should have been there with Mia when she gave birth. Instead his body was in a box being flown home from the other side of the world.

  I don’t know how Mia will survive her life without him. He’s all she’s known for such a long time.

  I know she’s accustomed to being without him for long periods of time while we were deployed, but this is different. This time he’s not coming back.

  Up until he took his last breath, his only concern was for that of his family – his wife… his baby.

  I made a promise to a man I respect far more than I respect myself, that I’d take care of her, and their son, for as long as they needed me too. No matter how long that might be for.

  I might not have been able to save his life, but I can keep my word. I can dedicate my own life to them.

  I can do that for him.

  I never, ever break a promise and I’m not about to start now.

  I crouch down next to the deep, dark hole, long after everyone else has gone and whisper into the darkness.

  “I’ll take care of them, Troy, I promise you.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Luke

  Two years later

  I sit down on the bottom step and wipe the sweat from my brow.

  I swear this is the hottest day we’ve had all year and I’m spending it pushing around a lawn mower.

  “Here.”

  I startle; I hadn’t even heard her come up behind me.

  Mia holds out a glass of her homemade lemonade for me to take.

  I reach for it gratefully and chug it back in one go.

  She sits down next to me, her tanned leg brushing against mine as she does.

  She’s got on the shortest pair of shorts you’ve ever seen and a tiny little singlet top.

  I know she hates wearing such a small amount of clothing, but this heat is what it is. Even Mia can’t cover herself up in these temperatures.

  She smiles at me and holds up the jug to see if I want a refill.

  I nod eagerly. Mia’s lemonade is my favourite.

  “You know, you don’t have to keep mowing our lawn. I can get a guy in or do it myself…”

  I down half the glass this time and chuckle as I wipe my mouth.

  That lawnmower would easily weigh more than she does, so I’d be surprised if she could push it around out here for an hour. And
as far as ‘getting a guy in’ goes, I’m the guy people get to mow their lawns.

  This conversation is nothing new, we have this same discussion at least every two weeks – we have a lot of other discussions too. Whether it be about me fixing things for her, putting out her rubbish bin, mowing her lawn or cleaning out her guttering, she always feels needlessly guilty.

  “You know I don’t mind, Mia.” I bump my knee against hers and she smiles sheepishly.

  “Would you at least let me pay you?” she replies hopefully.

  I roll my eyes. Same conversation, different day.

  I swig back the rest of my drink and get to my feet. “What did I tell you yesterday?”

  “That you’ll never take my money,” she grumbles.

  I wouldn’t take a cent from her. She’s doing okay financially, but it’s just her now. Troy isn’t here to make ends meet for them anymore.

  “Where’s Joe?” I ask as I use the bottom of my shirt to wipe my face.

  “I just put him down for a nap.”

  She smiles so sweetly at the mention of her son, and I thank the powers that be, yet again, for giving him to her. If it weren’t for Joe, I don’t know how Mia would have gotten through the past two years.

  Truthfully, I’m not sure I would have managed without him either.

  “Tell him I’ll catch him later then, alright?” I call as I turn away and push the mower in front of me.

  “You’re still coming for dinner, right?” she asks.

  I come for dinner every Tuesday and Friday, she knows this, yet every single week she checks.

  I’ve not missed a dinner since she first invited me – I probably never will. As long as she wants me around, I’ll be there.

  “It’s Tuesday, Mia.” I chuckle. “I’ll be here.”

  She doesn’t answer, and I don’t turn, but I can picture the blush staining her cheeks as though I was looking right at her.

  I lift the mower onto the back of my truck and wave out to her before climbing in.

  “Thank you, Luke,” she calls to me. She’s still standing up on the steps, the sun glistening on her golden hair like some kind of angel.

  “Anytime, Mia.”

  I swallow the lump in my throat as I drive away down the street.

  It’s not easy seeing your best friend die before your eyes.

  It might be even harder realising that you’ve got feelings for his wife.

  ***

  I finish up my list of jobs for the day with plenty of time to spare. I never thought I’d wind up being a handy man around my neighbourhood, but here I am. In fact, I never thought I’d wind up living in suburbia, surrounded by house after house that looks just like mine, but sometimes plans change.

  I thought I’d be travelling the world and when I finally did come home to settle down, it would be with a woman by my side, and as a medic, not a hammer hand, but after Troy, I just can’t.

  I can barely look at a stethoscope without breaking out in a cold sweat.

  I can’t listen to a ticking clock without being taken back to the moment when I frantically tried to hear his heart beating. I can’t even visit a GP’s office without giving myself a pep talk in the car before I head in.

  And as for having a woman in my life, I guess I do – but not at all in the way I’d imagined.

  Mia isn’t the only one who broke inside the day he died – I came out more than a little worse for wear too.

  I pull into my driveway and kill the engine on my truck.

  I’ve got an hour to get cleaned up and get back to Mia’s.

  I need to make my usual stop on the way, and then I get to enjoy one of the best nights of my entire week with my two favourite people.

  I’d never put much thought into having children of my own, but after hanging out with Joe these past couple of years, I can’t imagine not having them one day.

  He makes everything better.

  He’s a distraction, entertainer and love giver all wrapped up in one cute little package.

  He’s a really great kid. Mia is doing an incredible job of raising him.

  I know Troy would be so proud of her. I hope he’d be proud of me too.

  I’ve kept my word. I look after Mia and Joe in every way I possibly can. I’m there for Mia in any way she’ll allow me to be.

  I trudge up the stairs, stripping off my dirty, sweaty clothes as I go.

  I turn the shower on, scalding hot – just the way I like it, and step under the steady stream.

  The shower is the one place I let myself give in and think about Mia in the way I would if she were just some woman I’d met and not the widow of my closest friend.

  If Troy really is up there somewhere, looking down on us, I’m pretty sure he’d step out and give me some privacy while I took a shower, so I figure I’m safe to fantasise in here.

  I can’t recall when it happened, but it’s almost as though one morning I woke up and she wasn’t just Mia, my friend anymore.

  I don’t only love her as a best friend. I’m in love with her too.

  She’s Mia, the beautiful, sexy woman with a laugh that makes me smile and a voice that I feel down to my bones.

  She’s funny, sweet, smart and broken.

  And I love everything about her.

  I don’t know if it’s the broken in me that loves the broken in her, but I do know I never, ever looked at her in this way when Troy was alive.

  She’s been Troy’s since school, but he’s not here now and I don’t know what I’m supposed to do about that.

  I don’t want to be in love with her, and I’ve spent the better part of the last six months trying to convince myself that it’s just a phase, or a crush that I’ll move on from, but each time I see her, it only cements the fact that these feelings aren’t going anywhere at all.

  And every single day, I feel a little more guilty than I did the last.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Mia

  There’s a knock at the door at 6.00pm on the dot.

  I don’t know how many times I’ve told him that he doesn’t need to knock anymore, but he never listens.

  In fact, he never does anything I tell him.

  He never stops doing things for me and Joe. He never stops spoiling my son with toys or day trips. He doesn’t stop doing my yard work or fixing my car.

  He never moves on from us and focuses on his own life.

  He listens to all the important things I say, though. He hears me when I’m upset, or when I’m lying about being okay. He listens when I talk about Joe or my dreams of the future.

  He knows me so well now. He’s my best friend.

  He might even know me better than I know myself these days. It’s been a long two years, and if I’m honest I don’t really know who I am anymore.

  To most people, I’m a widow.

  To Joe, I’m Mumma.

  But to me… I just don’t know.

  Everything I had planned for my life has changed. It all changed the minute his light went out and faded into darkness.

  The only thing I’m certain of is that the man waiting on the porch will be there to support me through it all. All I have to do is ask.

  I open the door and sure enough, Luke is standing there waiting, a bunch of flowers in his hand.

  “For you,” he says as he holds them out to me with a smile.

  I still don’t know why he does this, but it’s a tradition spanning nearly two years at this point, so I don’t bother acting surprised the way I used to.

  Luke has been here for me, whenever I’ve needed him. Nothing is ever too big of an ask or an inconvenience.

  He was here with me, changing nappies and heating bottles when Joe was only tiny and I was sleep deprived and struggling to manage on my own.

  He was the only one I trusted to hold my baby without supervision for a long time.

  He was here through storms, power outages and broken windows.

  He’s always been here.

  I know he thinks
it’s Joe who has gotten me through, and while I don’t know what I’d do without my son, it’s him that held my head above water and made sure I didn’t drown.

  I owe a lot to the man in front of me.

  I hold my hand out for the flowers and bring them to my nose to breathe in the sweet, floral scent.

  “They’re beautiful, Luke, you didn’t have to.”

  “I wanted to,” he replies – like he always does, with a shy smile.

  “Thank you.”

  “Wuke!” the little voice behind me shouts.

  Luke’s eyes light up at the sound of my son’s voice.

  I’ve never seen a man so smitten with a child before. They share a bond that goes well beyond friends. It cuts me deep that the closest male role model Joe has is Luke, when it should have been Troy, but I know my husband would be happy that Joe has the next best thing.

  Troy and Luke were like brothers.

  Luke crouches down just in time to catch the bundle of toddler energy that flies towards him.

  “Wuke!” Joe cries again with a laugh as he’s scooped up into Luke’s arms and carried back inside.

  “Hey, bud. I missed you… I haven’t seen you since yesterday.” Luke ruffles Joe’s hair. “Did you miss me too?”

  Joe nods eagerly.

  They melt my heart, the two of them – what’s left of the fragmented pieces anyway.

  “Joe, honey, can you tell Luke he doesn’t need to knock on the door please? He won’t listen to me,” I tease as I shut the door.

  “Wock, wock, who dere?” Joe replies animatedly.

  Luke chuckles, that deep, manly laugh of his as he sets Joe down to the ground.

  He drops his big body to the floor, and Joe parks his bottom right next to him, shuffling in as he tries to get even closer.