Page 87 of The Hero + Vegas = No Regrets

“If there was something wrong, you’d tell me, right?” Avril says, her eyebrows drawing together. “Like if you were sick or something, you wouldn’t try to hide it from us, just to keep us from worrying?”

“I’m not sick,” I say with a smile. “I’m just… rearranging things.”

“But if anything was wrong, would you tell us?”

If she’d asked me a week ago, I wouldn’t have been able to answer the same way. “Yes,” I say.

“Because I know what you’re like. You’re a great big brother, but me and Poppy are adults now. You can’t shield us from everything that goes wrong in life.”

“You’re right. If I’m ever terminally ill, I’ll tell you.” I start to chuckle. “You can stop mentally making funeral arrangements. There’s nothing wrong with me.”

That’s not true. There’s plenty wrong with me. I miss Sophia like we’ve been together a decade and known each other our entire lives. Emptiness has burrowed into my chest, cold and vast, and I’m sure now that she’s gone, it will be there forever. I’ll have to live with this chasm inside me—an empty space where Sophia should be.

But I have to keep putting one foot in front of the other, because too many people count on me for me to just give up. What I didn’t realize before now is that I can count on them too.

“I want to have the final say on major decisions if we go ahead and do this.”

Avril’s eyes grow wide and then she squeals. “You’re considering it? For real?”

“Of course I’m considering it, otherwise I wouldn’t be here. But I’m not just doing it for you,” I say.

She nods. “Worth, it’s going to be a great investmentanda family legacy.”

“I get that, but I want to make sure that overall, doing this is going to make me happy.”

She pauses. “So, will it?”

“I’m not sure.” Sophia made me happy, I know that much. Whatever she thought, my feelings for her weren’t about savingher. She waslovely. Being with her made me happy. “I’m going to have to sit with it for a while. But if you and Poppy are involved?—”

“We’re going to be involved. That’s the entire point of this place.”

“I’m going to be involved,” I say, finishing my sentence. “Maybe we could set up a way for you to earn shares in the hotel, up to a maximum.”

“So we’d all be part owners?” She lets go of the plans she’s holding so fast, they roll up and slide off the table.

“Maybe,” I say.

“Worth, that would be amazing.”

“But I’d have to have fifty-one percent,” I say. “Because I’m not having you two join forces against me.”

She laughs. “Well, that’s inevitable no matter how the shareholding’s arranged.”

I regard her for a second. She’s smart, determined, fun. “I like you,” I say.

“Of course you like me. I’m your sister.”

“I don’t think the two always go together. Anyway, I never realized until now.”

“You thought you hated me?” She puts her hand on her hip and lifts her chin, like she might be trying to start a fight.

“No, I just didn’t think about our relationship like that before. You were young and needed me. I loved you, obviously. I just never realized I liked hanging out with you.”

She shakes her head and turns back to the plans. “Don’t tell Poppy you only just realized you liked her. Her therapy bill is big enough as it is.”

I laugh. “You’re right there. I promise not to tell if you don’t.”

Refurbishing this hotel will be good in a lot of ways. Financially, it makes sense. It creates something good out of a lot of years of pain. And it might just rebalance the relationshipamong me and my sisters, so instead of me just being their safety net, I get to be their brother—plain and simple.

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