Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 69858 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69858 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
But I can’t deny that Collette and Jon make it look good. Damn good.
“Thomas,” Collette says, pointing her wine glass at me. “I was just telling Mac how great he is.”
“I’m biased, but yep,” Jon says, pouring himself a glass of wine. “He’s a good dude. Granted, I’ve never had him as a boss.”
“They met before that,” Collette tells him gleefully. “Get this, he came up on her dating app. And she rejected him as he was sitting right next to her.”
“Hold up.” I wave my fork to clarify. “That makes me sound cruel. You’re forgetting a crucial clarification. I didn’t know he was sitting right next to me. It was the universe being a little bitch at both our expenses.”
“Wait, are you serious? That actually happened?” Jon asks, staring at me, and it’s hard not to notice how much he resembles Thomas. Jon’s eyes are a warmer blue, his features slightly broader, a touch softer, but there’s no mistaking they’re brothers.
“He would have told me about that,” Jon says, then reconsiders. “Actually, no, he wouldn’t have.”
“Really?” Collette asks Jon, surprised. “I thought you guys were close.”
“We are, as far as adult brothers go. But Thomas has never . . . he doesn’t talk about that stuff.”
“By stuff, you mean girls?” I say, drawing out the word like a little kid scandalized by the opposite sex.
Jon grins. “Exactly. He’s always been private about that stuff, even more so after Janie.”
“Who’s Janie?” Collette asks, and thank goodness she does, because I’m dying to know.
“Eh.” Jon looks hesitant, glancing at me, clearly regretting bringing up a woman from his brother’s past in front of me.
“I’m a vault,” I say, crossing my heart. “I won’t mention her.”
He narrows his eyes slightly. Fair. I am totally not a vault, and I am not even remotely good at keeping secrets.
Jon sighs and relents anyway. “She was this girl he was seeing a couple of years ago. We all thought they were going to get married. Thomas had already been talking rings. Then her ex showed up, some hotshot consultant who’d broken up with her when he moved to London, but then came back for her.”
“Oh, poor Thomas,” Collette said.
Jon nods. “I think it gutted him a little. It would anyone.”
“This Anna girl seems to be perfect for him though,” Collette says, swiping at a bit of lasagna sauce on her chin with her napkin.
I feel a little stab of . . . something.
“True,” Jon agrees. “She reminds me a little of Janie, actually. Same vibe.”
Sure, if you call boring a vibe.
It’s a nasty little thought that comes out of nowhere, and is brutally unfair. I don’t know Anna, I’ve never even met this Janie.
The thought lingers anyway.
“Small world though,” Jon is saying, looking at me. “You and he crossing paths so often.”
“Tell me about it,” I say around a mouthful of food.
My tone must betray that I think the situation is a lot more dire than merely “small world,” because Collette gives me a be nice look, and Jon looks surprised. “You don’t like Thomas?”
Crap. “No! I mean yes. Of course I do.” I scramble, setting my plate aside. “It’s just . . . I think both he and I would have preferred our first meeting to also be our last. Now we’re working together five days a week, and then there’s your guys’ party, and then the wedding . . .”
And I haven’t even let myself think about the fact that for as long as Collette and I are friends, and Thomas and Jon are brothers, we’re always going to be a little part of each other’s lives.
So . . . forever. I can’t even.
“Oh, speaking of the party—” Jon breaks off when Collette jabs an elbow into his side and glares at him.
“Uh oh,” I say, my gaze moving between them.
Collette sighs. “Okay, so, Jon and I spent some time earlier this week putting together a list of people we want to invite.”
“And . . . there’s murder in the mix?” I joke. “Why the face?”
“Well, it’s just . . .” Collette twirls a lock of her hair in a gesture I know means she’s nervous. “Almost everyone on the list is either married, or in a pretty serious relationship, so we were kind of thinking of inviting plus-ones.”
“Oh. Jeez, is that all? I’ve hung out with you guys’ friends before, I never mind being the fifth wheel, or eleventh wheel, or whatever.”
“See, that’s exactly what we told him!” Jon says, relieved. “That you’d be totally cool with it.”
I narrow my eyes. “Him?”
“Thomas thought it would be a jerk move to make the party a couples thing, when the maid of honor and co-coordinator is single. He didn’t want you to feel left out.”
A sharp emotion jabs me right in the throat, and I’m pretty sure it’s rage.