Page 63 of The Rules

“Tell me why you’re taking this so hard, Dani.”

“I don’t know.”

He let go of one ass cheek and tipped her chin toward him, what little light there was catching in the moisture in her eyes. “You do.”

A rush of air left her lungs, like she’d been waiting for someone to come along and uncork it. “I just don’t understand how she could keep this from me. It just…it feels like a judgment.”

“What do you mean? Why would it be a judgment?”

“It’s like she got married and now we don’t have anything in common anymore. Like silly Dani wouldn’t care about babies. Maybe I was less than into the wedding details, that’s Emma’s thing, but this is her child. My best friend is spawning a little replica of herself and she didn’t think I would be excited about that?”

Dylan chuckled and shifted her weight. “Look, I don’t know why she chose to keep it to herself, but I don’t think she feels that way. You’re a good friend, Dani. That’s like your thing. You’re everyone’s cheerleader even if it’s a long shot. Like with the Jansens. I wasn’t sure I was going to pull that one off, but you were. You were so damn confident in me, like you were personally invested in some building you’d never even heard of. Cat has to know you’d be the same about this.”

Dani took a minute, still chewing her lip, then she tightened her arms around his neck, bringing them closer. She laid her head on his shoulder, and a sigh escaped from deep in his chest. He liked it way too much, holding her like this.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“For what?”

“You’re the only one who hasn’t made me feel crazy for feeling like this.”

He couldn’t see her pretty eyes anymore, but her voice sounded genuinely relieved. He squeezed her tighter. “Look, I get it. I’m kind of disappointed Josh didn’t tell me.”

“You are?”

“Sure. He and I have been through a lot. But since I know it was Cat’s decision, I’m gonna let it slide.”

“Do you ever feel like things are different between you two since him and Cat?”

“Nah. Josh has always been a few steps ahead in life. He’s got like a sixth sense, feels the weather changing, so to speak, and makes the adjustments before I even feel the rain.”

“The weather changing?”

“Yeah, like junior year in college he started partying less, nose to the grindstone. It was time to grow up and so he did. And then I did. After that, when he’d been working at the firm he was at for a while, he knew it was time to go out on his own. Convinced me to come along. He bought a house and then kicked me out, so I bought a house. Josh is like a human barometer. He senses the little pressure changes, knows when it’s time to head for higher ground. But it’s never been a problem—him there, me here.”

“What about his first marriage?” she asked. “You didn’t follow him down that path.”

Damn right.Even science has a margin of error. “That was different.”

“How?”

“I knew him marrying Sarah was a terrible idea,” he explained. “And I knew he was doing it for the wrong reasons. That was the one time in his life Josh didn’t have a clue what he was doing.”

Dani pushed her hand into his hair, stroking absently. They’d gotten used to the warmth of the water now and her fingers felt hot on his exposed skin.

“Maybe you’re the barometer sometimes too,” she said quietly.

The idea burrowed into his brain. He’d never thought of it that way. People had their roles in friendships that long, and he knew his, but maybe she was right. Maybe there had been a time or two where he’d been on the other side.

Her finger stopped moving, and she sighed. “With Cat, it feels like she’s moved to a different universe, and maybe I’m so mad because she likes it better there, whether I’m there or not.”

“Do you want to be in that universe?”

She shrugged. “Maybe. If I found the right guy.”

The right guy.The distinction sliced at him. Who was the right guy for Dani? Someone who would sweet talk her? Hold her hand and stare longingly into her eyes? He doubted it. Maybe it was his competitive side, but that little ache in his chest from before and the multiple beers he’d consumed stirred together and made him wish he could just say it.Why not me?

But he couldn’t. He couldn’t say it, and he couldn’t be it. That wasn’t him. He’d never been the right guy.

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