Page 19 of The Best I Never Had

Harrison puts on his most charming smile—the one that’s gotten him out of plenty of trouble over the years—and wraps her up in a bear hug. “Good morning, Nana! You’re looking particularly beautiful this morning. How are you?”

She laughs as she pushes her way out of his arms. “You’re full of shit, and I love you for it. I’ll leave you to it. I should deal with that damn deer.”

The moment she’s gone, Harrison spins to me. “Where were you last night?”

Crap. He must have come by my room while I was talking with Thea. “Just wandering around the property.”

Harrison’s eyes narrow. “So you weren’t avoiding talking to me about the Thea situation and how perfect it is?”

I groan, dropping my head into my hands. “Not you, too.”

“Yes, me, too! A month ago, I told you I wanted to set you up with Addy’s sister, and now we find out she’s the woman you’ve never gotten over. It’s fate, man.”

“It’s not fate, and I’m not going to win her back.”

“Not with that attitude, you aren’t,” he says, shaking his head in mock judgment.

Harrison’s default setting is positivity, so certain that things will work out in his favor, which makes sense when I’ve always been there to cover for him. It was okay when he got caught drinking in high school because I talked the cop into letting him off. Everything was fine when he left his internship in the middle of the semester because he had a job lined up with me after college. It’s worked out each time he moved to a different department of the company because I was there shifting responsibilities around to cover him.

I scrub my hands down my face. “How could you not have known it was Thea? This is your soon-to-be sister-in-law.”

He shrugs, unbothered by my despair. “She calls her Tia.”

“You never saw a picture?” He shrugs. “You’re telling me that Addy doesn’t have a single picture of her sister in her apartment?”

Harrison’s usually cheerful face hardens. “Addy doesn’t have photos up in her apartment. She’s got a thing about settling into a place, which I think is fair after everything they went through in their childhood. We’re working on it.”

It feels like I should apologize, but I don’t understand what I’m apologizing for, and I can’t ask for more information about their past without revealing that I never actually dated Thea. I should know it all.

I want to know it all.

Harrison shakes off the cloud, smiling that broad, dimpled smile. “Which is why I plan on spending the rest of my life filling that woman’s walls with more good memories than she knows what to do with.”

A part of me is still on the fence about this marriage, but when Harrison talks about Addy with complete devotion woven into every word, I can’t help but get pulled into the magic.

I clap him on the shoulder. “What happened to my wild little brother who loved keg stands and late-night parties?”

“He’s been thoroughly and completely tamed, and he’s grateful for it.”

“I’m happy for you,” I say, and find I mean it. No hesitations. “But about Thea, don’t pull anything. I’ll talk to her if I think she’s open to it.”

Harrison lifts his hands in submission as the doors swing open behind him. He spins with an eagerness that would have embarrassed him pre-Addy, and his face lights up. Two long steps, and he’s sweeping her up in his arms.

“Missed you,” he murmurs, kissing her neck in a move that feels way too intimate for it to happen in front of their siblings.

Addy’s laughter echoes around us. “It’s been an hour!”

“You’re right. Let’s never do it again.”

Thea’s a step behind, having to dodge Addy’s flying feet. She looks beautiful, with her curls piled on top of her head in a messy bun. We share a quick smile before I look away, afraid of what Addy and Harrison will read between us.

Harrison looks at me over Addy’s head. “You ready to go?”

I swallow the groan climbing my throat. I forgot Harrison said he was planning something for just the four of us so we could all get to know each other. I’d been worried it was all a big matchmaking scheme. Now, I’m even more worried.

“Just need to pop upstairs and grab my wallet,” I say.

“Don’t forget a bathing suit,” Harrison calls at my back.