Page 87 of Fifth Avenue Flirt

She shrugs. “Working. You?”

“Same. I met with my brother last night.”

“You said. How was it?” she asks.

I think about her question. “It was good.”

“You don’t sound sure.”

“No, I’m sure it was good. But…”

“What?” she asks, and she jumps up onto the counter like she did the first night I met her.

I smile at the memory. “Keep that finger under the water.”

She just stares at me like she wants to kill me. What does it say about me that I want to kiss her into next week right now? “Tell me about Bray,” she says.

“He’s a good guy. He’s always been a good guy. I think I wrote him off as being…”

She doesn’t try to fill the gap for me and it feels good that the silences can feel so comfortable between us. I never realized how a comfortable silence can mean so much more than lots of words until I lived with Avril. She’s taught me that hanging out, watching TV, talking and not talking, can be so intimate. It feels so safe with her.

“I don’t know. I think I underestimated him.”

“Underestimated him how?”

“I wrote him off as just a good guy. I never quite understood why he came to New York and didn’t stay in the British suburbs and marry an English rose and have kids and…settle down.”

“Because that’s what good guys do? What does that make you?”

I start mixing the wet ingredients into my dry mixture. “I don’t know. I just thought I was driven by other stuff. He was my kid brother. I just…”

“You thought he was the protected baby of the family?” she suggests.

I meet her gaze. I know she feels written off and underestimated, but I don’t think that’s the way Worth or Poppy sees her. But she has to believe it, not me. “Not quite,” I say. “I just didn’t…I was so caught up in my life, in protecting myself, I don’t think I realized how kick-ass my brother was. He’s taking his company public in a few months. He’s the CEO. I thought he just worked in tech doing…I don’t know, some nine-to-five office job. Someone who liked to watch sports and drink beer. Turns out he’s built an online betting company that’s worth a lot of money.” Today, I did a bit more digging into my brother’s career. He’s really successful, and I feel like a fucking idiot for not having realized.

“You never knew?”

I wince. “I know. I’ve not been a very good brother to him.”

“I’m not saying that, but how come you didn’t know? You know everything about everybody who’s anything.”

“I think it’s because he’s not interested in anything but his business. He doesn’t seek out the limelight or the adoration like a lot of people in business do. He’s just kept his head down and worked hard. And I missed all of it.”

She looks at me thoughtfully. “You know, he might quite like the fact that you two don’t talk business when you get together.”

“Maybe,” I say. “But, I’m not sure what we do talk about. It’s fine not to talk about business, but I don’t think we really talked about anything. We just had a few jokes and took the piss out of each other.”

“Aren’t you talking about every male friendship ever?”

I think back to the dinner at Worth’s house. “No,” I say. “And I don’t think you think that, either. That’s how male friendships are depicted on TV and in the movies, but that’s not what my relationship with Deacon is like, and I don’t think Worth has those superficial bromances, either.”

“Worth doesn’t ever do superficial. Not ever.”

“Right,” I say. “But that’s what Bray and I have done since…” I think about it. “Since things got difficult.”

“Since your dad died?”

I shake my head. “Before then. The restaurant closing, going back to England. Our family broke. My dad died, and my brother and I stopped communicating.”