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“Yeah, you did. But I know how it is once you get married, Jesse.”
“Brianna and I aren’t getting married,” Jesse says.
My heart breaks a little at that statement, but he’s right. Our relationship is brand-new, and at the moment, our dreams seem to collide. There’s no seem about it. They do collide. They explode.
I suck up my disappointment. “Your brother’s right. He and I are new. I certainly hope it works out, but we haven’t discussed it. Right now, we’re just a new couple who found each other and fell in love. Nothing will change.”
“This is why you didn’t want me going off with Zane Michaels, isn’t it?” She turns to Jesse. “It had nothing to do with me. It’s because you wanted Bree, so you ruined my night in the process.”
“For Christ’s sake.” Jesse rakes his fingers through his hair. “It had everything to do with you. You’re my sister, Maddie. No, I didn’t want you going off with some playboy. No matter how good-looking or famous he is. No matter how rich he is.”
“That is such a crock,” Maddie says. “Rory and Callie are both engaged to two of the biggest playboys in our hometown, and they’re just as rich as Zane Michaels, if not richer.”
Maddie kind of has a point there. I’m not sure how Jesse will respond to that.
“That’s different,” he says, “and you know it. Donny and Brock have made commitments to Callie and Rory. They weren’t just looking for one night with a hot groupie.”
Nice job, Jesse. He handled that better than I expected. Especially since I know how he initially felt about both Donny and Brock dating his sisters. Especially Donny.
Maddie doesn’t respond, which I take as a good thing. Jesse made sense to her.
“You’re young, Maddie.” I stroke her head again.
“I’m your exact age.”
“You are. I’m young too. I just happened to find the man who I thought was my soulmate young, and it turns out he just might be.”
“Rory was twenty-eight. Callie twenty-six,” Jesse says. “You don’t need to find someone at any certain age. It will happen when it happens.”
She sniffles again. “Easy for both of you to say. Easy for Rory or Callie to say too.”
“Look at the rest of the awesome foursome,” I say. “Gina, Angie, and Sage—they’re all single. My sister, Diana, is twenty-five, and she’s not in a relationship. This isn’t a contest. It’s not a race.”
“Brianna’s right,” Jesse says. “It’s not a race. It happens when it happens, whether you want it to or not.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asks.
“I think what Jesse means,” I say, my voice cracking slightly, “is that he wasn’t expecting it to be me, and he wasn’t expecting it to be now.”
Jesse rubs his forehead. “Yeah, I figured that would piss you off. But you’re absolutely right, Bree. That’s exactly how it is for me. Now was not the best time for me to have found someone I want to be with. I need to focus on the band and the tour. But it happened. I can’t say I’m not glad it happened. But the timing wasn’t exactly perfection.”
Again I hold back my disappointment at his words. “See, Maddie? You can’t go around looking for it.”
“You did,” she says. “You came on this tour hoping to get my brother to fall in love with you.”
“I came on this tour so I could be close to him. That’s true. But I also came on this tour to be with you. And at the risk of beating a dead horse, Maddie, none of that has changed.”
Jesse sighs. “I need to get to bed. And I want you two to get to bed as well. There’s no more need to hash this out tonight, for either one of you. Brianna and I were planning to tell Brock and Rory in the morning, and we’re still planning to do that. So, Maddie, I’ll see you at breakfast.” He gives me a chaste kiss on the cheek. “Good night, Bree.”
“Good night, Jesse.”
Jesse leaves, and I stroke Maddie’s hair once more. “In the morning, this won’t seem as weird to you.”
“Don’t bet on it.” She sniffles.
I sigh, rise from her bed, and head toward my suitcase that’s still standing against the wall. I open it, quickly find my pajamas, and head into the bathroom.
Tomorrow… Tomorrow we tell Brock and Rory.
