Page 104 of The Photograph

I glance at my wrist. “They can wait. Anything else?”

Erica pads further into the room. “Yes, Joan and Kirk want to do a final review of the schedule for Holloway’s grand opening. They also said they’d be happy to organize things with Aelin.”

“What do you mean with Aelin?”

As Michael shifts to look at her, Erica shuffles from one foot to the other. “I put them in contact with Aelin when they asked questions about the configuration of the rooms, and they’ve been consulting with her since the beginning.”

Mike winks at her which makes her smile.

“Set up a meeting with them for tomorrow. It was a good idea to get them in touch with Aelin”

“Sure. Anytime your schedule allows is good?”

“Yes, thanks, Erica.”

When she shuts the door, I lean back. “What’s the news?”

Mike gets to his feet and grins. “Cara and I are back together.”

I’ve never seen that stupidly happy expression on Mike’s face, but it suits him. I hug and

backslap my brother. “Congrats, bro. Happy for you.” I study his face. “How serious is it between you two?”

“She’s it for me. My wife if I can convince her, and I’ve got you to thank for that, even though our reunion was more like a crash.”

I pat Mike’s shoulder. “Convince her?”

He chuckles. “Yeah. I don’t know if you noticed, but to these two, marriage sounds like a death sentence. But I’m going to show Cara how good it is until she has no choice but be my wife.”

Yeah. Stupidly happy.

I grab a couple of waters from the fridge and toss one bottle at Mike. As we sit back at my desk, he says, “Cara’s been hard on you.”

Yes, and for good reasons.“I hurt her kid sister. I get it.”

Mike narrows his eyes. “What are you going to do about Aelin?”

I don’t know. “I have to be careful with her, she’s—”

Mike rolls his eyes. “Gabe, she’s not fragile or vulnerable or whatever crap you’re telling yourself. Trust me, I’ve hung out with her and she’s no breakable doll.”

I snap my head up.“You’ve hung out with her? When?”

“I don’t know, a few times depending on how busy we are.”

Is she hurting as much as I do since we’ve been apart?I stride to the bay window staring at nothing and slide my hands in my pockets.

In the car coming back from the funeral, she turned her beautiful eyes to me, and thanked me for being there for her and her sister. Just before climbing out of the car, she cupped my face with so much sadness in her eyes, I pulled her to me and held her tight until she pushed against my chest and exited the car.

Michael joins me in front of the skyline of the city. “We made a pact of not talking about you or Cara, but the little she said is she thinks you’re a good man.”

And she’s got the biggest heart. But I hurt her too bad.“She does?”

Mike watches me closely. “Yeah.”

I don’t deserve her But enough of that emo shit. My brother’s finally happy.“Any plans tonight?”

“Nope, Cara and Aelin are spending the day together.”

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