Page 23 of Summer with a Brother's Best Friend
MADDOX: Fine. Whatever. Just go over tomorrow and make sure she’s okay. I put a call in to the Probie’s parents—they’re going to let her use their place to do her baking—we’ll take care of the cleanup here. Probie is bringing the dumpster in the morning
REECE: Jace is the Probie, right?
MADDOX: Does it matter? Yes. Just tell Marigold it’s all taken care of.
REECE: You DO have a sweet side! She’s going to be so happy you did that.
MADDOX: You have to tell her it was you.
REECE: What? Why?
MADDOX: Because. I. Fucked. Up.
REECE: Well, don’t wait too long to un-fuck up
MADDOX: Thanks for the advice
REECE: I’m serious. She’s amazing and so are you. You deserve amazing.
MADDOX: I gotta go
Figures.Just when I’m trying to get it through his thick skull. I’m about to type back a snarky response when three little bubbles appear and then disappear before a message pops up.
MADDOX: Love you, Sissy.
REECE: Love you even when I don’t like you for hurting Marigold
MADDOX: I’ll fix it
Sighing,I throw my phone onto the bed beside me. Isaac is closing the bar tonight with Vienna while I was supposed to be preparing for my meeting with Mr. Gomes. I was supposed to get my thoughts in order and make a plan.
Instead, I had nothing but time to think about Isaac and wonder if I could honestly walk away again. Tension with my brother—and my parents—all seems so trivial after news of the fire.
I just want to see my friend with my own two eyes and make sure she’s okay. I want to help her rebuild her dream. And I want us both to get our happily ever afters.
Setting an alarm so I can grab coffees before I see Marigold, I text Isaac a quick update before turning off the light. With any luck, everything will be clearer in the morning.
ISAAC
“Seriously,what is the matter with you?” Vienna asks as we stack the chairs onto the tables.
“You’re going to have to be more specific,” I say as the exhaustion sets in following messages from Maddox and a couple from Reece. Honestly, it was hard not to close the bar down and race over there once we heard the sirens.
But Maddox would have been pissed at the distraction and not so subtly reminded me I know better.
“You’re just going to let Reece leave. After everything y’all have been through, sneaking around and being allin love,” she says pointedly.
“It’s not that easy and?—”
“Oh for fuck’s sake, you moron—yes it is. She’s the happiest I’ve ever seen her, and you have done nothing but fall all over yourself being the best damn unofficial boyfriend the South has ever seen.”
“You really know how to build a man up,” I say wryly. Vienna rolls her eyes with a huff.
“Are you just going to let her go? Are you not going to fight for her?”
“I can’t make her stay, Vienna,” I say a little louder than I intended, but she just squares off with me, hands on her hips and a glare that would make most men cower in fear.
Too bad I’m not one of them.
