Page 72 of This Feeling

Smiling, I reached out and pulled her to me. Cupping her face, I kissed her gently. When we broke apart, I sighed. “Let me call him.”

Hitting my brother’s number, it only rang once before he picked up.

“Where in the fuck have you been, Declan?”

Harper

“Hello to you, too, Sean,” Declan said as he turned and took a few steps away from me. I couldn’t hear what Sean was saying, but it was clear from how loud he was talking, he wasn’t happy.

Deciding to give Declan some space, I headed back into the house and downstairs to grab my own phone. I’d had it on silent since we got to The Muddled Moose. Pulling it out of my purse, I saw I had three missed calls and four texts. All from Sean.

“Well, looks like Maddiedidtalk to you.”

Pushing the phone into my back pocket, I opened the fridge and got out two bottles of beer. I had a feeling the wine wasn’t going to cut it after Declan got off the phone with his brother.

By the time I got back to the roof, Declan was leaning against the wall with his eyes closed. He was still on the phone.

“Sean, this isn’t a me problem; this is ayouproblem. You had the stupid idea of asking Harper to fake-date you. She decided she was done with it, she gave you the opportunity to make it right, and you didn’t. We ran into Mom, and neither of us was going to lie.”

I screwed up my face as I walked to Declan and handed him the beer. He mouthedthank you.

“I’m with Harper now, yes. No, you can’t. No. I doubt it.” He sighed. “Let me ask her. Harp?” When I glanced up at my name, Declan asked, “Sean wants to know if he can come up and talk to us.”

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

“Did ya hear that? What happened?”

I watched as Declan struggled to keep from laughing. “That would be…traumatizing. No, I’m not laughing.”

A small chuckle slipped from me as I watched Declan struggle to contain his laughter. “Maybe take the key back, or put on the safety chain,” he said with a laugh.

I couldn’t help but frown. Maybe weshouldlet Sean come up and talk. I was curious why Declan was trying so hard to keep from laughing.

“Again, that’s on you, Sean. You’d never see that happening with me because she’d never have a key to my place. How is thismyfault?”

I heard Sean yelling but couldn’t make out any words.

Finally, Declan had had enough. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Sean. Then make an appointment with a therapist!”

He pulled his phone away from his ear and jabbed it so hard with his finger, I couldn’t help but burst out laughing. “Makes you wish it was the olden days when you could slam the phone down on the person.”

Declan slowly shook his head. “He’s pissed. He’s actually mad atusfor outing him before he had a chance to do it himself.”

“I take it your mom got a hold of him.”

A slow smile spread across his face before he took a drink of his beer. I leaned back on the sofa and popped some cashews into my mouth as I waited for him to speak.

Sitting across from me, he surveyed the tray. Picking up a carrot, he swiped it through the hummus. Luckily, he answered me before popping it into his mouth. “Oh, she more than got a hold of him. She stopped by his place.”

I covered my mouth to hide the giggle.

“It gets better. He had a girl with him.”

I gasped and leaned forward, my mouth gaping. “Who?”

“One guess.”

Tapping my finger on my chin, I thought for a moment. “Well, the plot twist would be Crystal, but I don’t see that happening.”

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