Page 39 of Dan.

“El, I’m not sure…”

“Please?” I bump his shoulder with mine until he looks at me. “My parents really like you and Mom already knows about you coming by.”

He still doesn’t look at all convinced. “Will your brother be there?”

I shrug. “Probably not. He isn’t exactly welcome due to his relationship with Roxanne.”

“That still strikes me as so strange,” he muses, some of the tension in the room going away now that the subject is changing. “He and your mother always seemed so close. I thought they had a great relationship for a mother and son, so I wouldn’t think that she would be so against him marrying whoever made him happy.”

“She’s on the fence about it,” I admit. “I’m making some headway into convincing her to come to the wedding, and I bet if we join forces at dinner we can convince her to go.”

Johan rolls his eyes to the ceiling, contemplation written all over his face, before he nods, having made up his mind. “Okay. For your brother’s sake, I can come have dinner with you. For right now, though, I think I need some time alone.”

“Message received.” I stand and stretch my arms over my head before walking to the door. “I’ll leave you alone. Thanks for actually talking to me.”

He simply nods as I leave, shutting the door fully behind me to give Johan the privacy he wants. I suppose I might as well find my brother and tell him the news, because if not, Andries will just track me down instead.

I find my brother half asleep in one of the loungers on the terrace, a book open on the low table beside the chair. When I approach him, clearing my throat, he sits up and pushes his sunglasses away from his eyes. When he sees that it’s me he rotates and stands, most likely anxious to hear about my meetup with Johan.

“How did it go?” he asks.

“He’s still leaving for Ibiza tomorrow.”

“You were supposed to get him to stay!” Andries complains, pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation.

“He really wants to leave. There’s nothing I can do about that. But he isn’t mad at you or anything. In fact, he’s coming to the family estate for dinner once we get home. I think Johan and I can work as a team to convince Mom to attend your wedding.”

Andries narrows his eyes at me, crossing his arms. “Are you really trying to convince Mom to attend the wedding?”

“Well, yes. Why are you asking?”

“I don’t know… I, um, I can’t shake the feeling that you might still be on Dad’s side.” When I don’t answer, he stares right through me and then asks, “Are you going to pull a fast one and try to ruin my wedding, or are you really on my side this time?”

I make a show of checking my nails as he rants, waiting until he’s finished speaking. “Honestly, Andries, as of right now I’m not on anyone'sside. Instead, I’m doing what I think is right. But… if you could accept Dan and I seeing each other, I would do everything in my power to convince Mom to come to the wedding.” It’s a split second decision to try and convince my brother to loosen up on the restrictions he wants to put on us, and I hope it doesn’t backfire on me.

He doesn’t look thrilled. “So, this is how it’s gonna play out, huh? Either I accept your little fling with my best friend or you’re going to try and fuck my wedding up?”

I don’t rise to his bait, remaining calm. “You can’t ask for tolerance if you aren’t tolerant yourself, you know.”

My brother lets out a huge breath, and when he responds there’s more honesty in his tone than I expected. “I just don’t think Dan is the right man for you, El. I mean, just a month or two ago he was still fucking Jessica. Do you really think–”

“You are literally about to get married to a former prostitute,” I point out, raising my eyebrows. “Shut up, okay? You have no room to talk.”

Andries is speechless, and without a word, he turns and walks towards the railing at the edge of the terrace. He leans over it, placing his crossed arms on top of it and gazing out at the sea in contemplation. He’s left me just standing here, but after a second I decide to follow him wondering if I was just too harsh with what I’d said. But it wasn’t really a lie… Andries can’t deny what Roxanne used to do for a living. I wonder if he’s still uncomfortable with the fact, and if he is, it doesn’t bode well for the future of their marriage.

I approach him, assuming the same stance with my arms on the railing and facing the incredible view. We stay like that for a few minutes, just breathing in the fresh sea air before my brother turns his face towards me. “You really think I’m making a huge mistake getting married to her, don’t you?”

His question is difficult for me. My opinion of Roxanne has undoubtedly changed over the past few weeks, and she and I had reached a sort of understanding before this afternoon, but that doesn’t mean that I think she’s the best match for Andries. But she loves him and makes him happy, so that should be all that matters, right?

It turns out, things aren’t that simple, and love might not always be the only thing needed for a successful marriage. The thought of the legal problems Roxanne is about to be deep into crosses my mind, and I sigh deeply. “If you really want to, I’m not going to try to stop you. It’s just… you’re so damn young, and she’s already thirty-six! Who knows how things will be in ten years, or if the two of you will even be the same people you are now?” I shrug, helpless to explain everything that I really feel about this insanely nuanced situation. “It all feels so sudden. Mom and Dad are just worried, even though I have to admit they’re handling it terribly.”

“You know, Uncle Alex got married to hisgoddaughter, who’s like twenty-three years younger than him,” Andries points out, but the fact doesn’t endear me to his situation anymore. The word ‘goddaughter’ makes me shudder, even though I know my uncle and his young wife are completely happy in their marriage these days.

“Just because they’re married and things are okay between them doesn’t make it right,” I argue.

“But they’re happy,” Andries insists.

“But they’ve only been married for a year or two,” I remind him. “That’s hardly enough time to base an opinion on.” I know that he isn’t going to give up on the argument, but I can’t help but want to get my own point across, too.

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