Page 60 of More Than Pen Pals

“Where are you going?”

“To a diner down the street. We can talk there.”

He jogs to catch up with me. “Why can’t we go to your apartment? It’ll be more private there.”

Exactly. “I’m hungry, and there’s nothing to eat at my place.” That’s not entirely true, but I have nothing he’d want to eat. And I’m famished since I didn’t feel like eating much at the game.

Glenn follows me into the diner next to the restaurant where I met Ash last night. How was that only twenty-four hours ago?

A waitress seats us and takes our drink order. I open my mouth to ask Glenn to explain himself, but he holds up a hand to stop me.

“Before you say anything, I have something to ask you.” His hand slips into his jacket pocket and pulls something out before moving it onto the table in front of me. “This isn’t how I wanted to do this, but you left me no choice.” In the blink of an eye, a diamond ring glitters up at me from a plush jeweler’s box.

thirty

After getting back from the game, I haven’t been in my office two minutes when my brother walks in and installs himself in his chair. Something seems off about him, but I’m too distracted to give it much thought.

“What are you doing tonight?” he asks.

“Going home, eating dinner, hanging out with the girls, going to bed. You?”

“Our sisters won’t be home. It’s Friday. They’re teenagers. They’ll be out. And you, my friend, are twenty-five and single. You should also be out tonight. In fact, you will be.”

“I will not.” I don’t have the energy to have this conversation, much less go out with him and Colleen.

“You will. As my self-proclaimed best friend, you’re taking me out and staying typically sober while I get sloppy drunk and almost certainly cry on your shoulder. Then you’ll carry me home, tuck me into bed, leave a glass of water and some aspirin on my bedside table, and sleep on my couch because you’re worried about me.”

I feel my eyebrows inching farther and farther up my forehead as he outlines his plan for our evening. “Randy, what’s going on?”

He slouches down in the chair. “Colleen dumped me.”

“What? When?”

“Right after you left for the game. I called to confirm our plans for tonight, and she cancelled on me again. I demanded to know why, and she admitted she’s seeing someone else. She’d rather be with him.”

While I can’t deny I’m thrilled Colleen is out of his life, my brother is obviously hurting, and I need to support him. “I’m sorry, man. You don’t deserve this.”

“Thanks for saying that, but you never liked her.”

I sigh. “It’s not so much that I didn’t like her. It’s that you never seemed truly happy with her.” And rightly so. She mostly treated him like garbage. I never figured out why he stayed with her for so long. “You should be with someone who lights you up, not someone who brings you down. I want you to be happy.”

Tears glisten in his eyes. “That’s exactly what a best friend would say.”

“Definitely deserving of a trophy, or at least a medal.” I smile to lighten the mood. I don’t need him crying in my office. There’ll be plenty of time for tears later tonight when he can blame it on the alcohol.

He laughs. “Especially since you’ve never said anything remotely like that before in your life.”

My smile fades. “I’m sorry I didn’t.” I’ve lost track of the amount of apologies I’ve given or received in the past three days.

“You’re going to make me cry.” He gives me a puppy dog face.

“No, I’m not. If you cry, it’s all on Colleen.”

“So are you in?”

“I’m in.” I can’t let him go out and get drunk on his own, although I wonder where his other friends are.

“Come straight to my place after work. Oh, wait. You can’t wear a suit or shiny shoes to the places we’re going.”

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