Page 24 of Built to Last

He walks around, looking at the pictures on the walls. “The sitch is that you and my brother had a moment, and I wanted to find out why you’ve now blocked him. He tried to call you.”

It was an impulse. “Sorry. I’ll reverse that. He needs to be able to get in touch with me. I gave him my personal cell. I only use that for friends. I’ll give him my business number.”

He glances back, giving me a frown. “You’re not friends now? You looked like friends a couple of days ago. Who is this?”

He points to one of the pictures on the wall.

“My father and uncle. Way back when they first started the company. They’re standing in front of the first building they ever broke ground on,” I explain. “It was built in the seventies. It was an apartment building. They tore it down two years ago for a new high-rise.”

Nothing is permanent. I’ve learned that over the years. That lesson is why Banover Place feels so sacred to me. There’s history. A small part of it mine.

“That’s sad.” He gestures toward the door. “I’m right? That was your mother?”

“I don’t know anyone else who would yell at me for not pumping out kids.”

He chuckles a bit and takes the seat in front of mine before leaning forward and getting serious. “Was it Britta?”

Well, he gets right to the point. “Are you talking about Reid’s fiancée?”

He groans. “I knew it. I knew she would wreck everything. Harper, they are not engaged and haven’t been in a long time. Over a year.”

“It’s not my business.”

He stares for a moment. “It seemed like it was about to be your business. I can see things. You didn’t go back to our room to talk about design plans.” His expression softens. “I haven’t seen my brother react like this to a woman in…ever. He is not involved with Britta. Not anymore. Not the way you think he is.”

“Again, it’s not my business.” I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m happy things went down the way they did. I made a fool of myself, but it wasn’t anything lasting. We didn’t go so far that I feel any real shame. I almost feel like I avoided a massive mistake. “We were high off romance and champagne that night. It’s a good thing she showed up because I think there would have been a whole lot of regret in the morning.”

“Not on my brother’s end.”

“Jeremiah, I’m not willing to discuss this with him. Why do you think I would discuss it with you?”

He gives a glowy smile. “Because I’m sweet and sunshiney? Come on, Harper. I’m the guy all the girls talk to. You know I spent most of my high school and college days as someone’s gay bestie. I find myself shockingly alone right now. All my girls have betrayed me by marrying boys and suddenly they move to…I can barely say it…Jersey. They know I can’t walk into Jersey.”

He’s cute, but I have to keep my distance. Although there’s a part of me that wants to connect with him. The truth is I’m the third wheel most of the time. My girls “betrayed” me by finding themselves amazing men, and now all I have is this job I’m holding on to by a thread, an extended family that thinks I’m an ATM, and a mom who wants to get my baby factory operating so she can pass her delusional love for the patriarchy down to another generation. Maybe I should get a dog. “I’m sorry. I don’t think getting involved with your brother is a good idea. I mean, he’s in European tabloids. I’m not the kind of woman who gets into tabloids.”

“Which is exactly why I like you,” he mutters under his breath and then sits up straight, obviously deciding on a different tactic. “Can we at least agree that he didn’t lie to you?”

“I never said he did.” We didn’t talk about whether or not we had partners. I assumed, and we all know where that gets you.

“Can we agree he didn’t lie by omission? He hasn’t seen Britta in months. They broke it off last year, and he had no intention of getting back with her. She showed up at the reception with an old friend who was invited to the wedding. She wasn’t. Apparently the security at the reception wasn’t as tight as the ceremony.”

He’s forgetting the important part. “But she was looking for him.”

Jeremiah sighs and sits back. “She does this to him. She throws some massive fit, breaks things off, and then comes back months later. I’ve often wondered if she does it because she wants to see someone else for a while.”

“So she broke off the engagement.”

He winces like he wishes he hadn’t said something. “He would have broken it off this time. He was planning to. He hadn’t found the right way to do it.”

This is not my fight, and yet I find myself still asking questions. Likely because I can’t stop thinking about the way the man kissed me. Like I was the sweetest thing he’d ever put in his mouth. Like he could do it forever and still want me.

I read too many romance novels.

“How long were they together?”

He stares for a moment like he knows he’s in a mine field and isn’t sure he wants to take that tentative first step. “A few years, and that should tell you something. It’s always been off and on. They had a major fight and he was done, though technically she said the words before he did. I know my brother. He’s not going back.”

I don’t know his brother at all. “Well, he certainly shoved me out fast enough when he knew she was on her way up.”

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