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Merry’s tailgate parties before the races had become lovefests for Darren. Fans swarmed the space ahead of the race to buy merchandise, compare race stories, and hope for an appearance from their hero. It was strange and amazing to watch. To me, Darren was just my baby brother. The youngest, quietest, and most reserved of the brothers. But these people were in awe of him.
The funniest part was watching Kelly’s reaction to the women who threw themselves at Darren. There wasn’t a bit of jealousy in her. She knew he was totally wrapped up around her finger. He barely even noticed the other women, and when he did notice them, it was because they were asking for his autograph. They were so invested in trying to get his attention they didn’t even notice Kelly in her mechanic overalls.
And Kelly loved making fun of him for it. None of us would ever forget her sitting at the bar laughing until tears streamed down her face because a woman tried to slip him her hotel room key. Apparently, Darren thanked her for it and reassured her he didn’t need a hotel room because his house was only half an hour from the track. We made fun of him for a good long time for that one.
Now I watched as Kelly ran up to him and he scooped her up in his arms, spinning her around happily. He was careful setting her down on her feet and rested a gentle hand on the slight bump of her belly. The family had just gotten the news that another new baby was on the way. And I was pretty sure it wasn’t the only one. If I knew my best friend as well as I thought I did, I was all but positive there would be another announcement soon.
All in all, there was a lot of celebrating going on for my family. It was a good time in our lives. And to top it off, Cynthia was healing up better than ever and Peter, the junior investor we’d hired, was great. He fit in immediately, and we were all getting along well.
But there was something missing. Even with all the happiness and excitement all around me, I didn’t feel completely like a part of it.
Two months ago, I wouldn’t have felt like this. I would have been ecstatic for my brothers and enjoying the celebrations that came after the race wins. I would have thought everything was perfect. But that was before Bryn. Before she walked in and out of my office like she owned it and totally upended everything. I decided to try to be her knight in shining armor and fix everything for her.
That was a month ago. A full month since I told her I would help with her investments. I honestly wasn’t expecting her to be able to come up with the seed money as quickly as she did. She warned me at the beginning it might take her a while, which was why it was such a shock to have her show up at my office again, but this time with a check.
It probably would have been less of a surprise had she not pulled back from me the way she did. I didn’t know what happened. Things seemed to be going so well between us. Even if I put our spontaneous night together aside, it seemed like we were at least forging some type of friendship. But then she all but disappeared. All that was left were the occasional emails updating me on her progress.
It made me realize I must have been wrong about what was building between us. At least I had decided not to try to pursue anything with her. Her completely withdrawing from me proved it would have been awkward for both of us had I tried to make anything more out of what happened between us. At least this way, we still had our professional relationship. And that had to be enough.
Maybe if I said it to myself a few dozen more times, I would believe it. But as it was, I had taken her money, congratulated her on getting together the seed money she’d been working toward, and watched her walk away. That was three days ago. Since then I hadn’t been able to even look at her file. It was like I was stopping myself because as soon as I opened it up and started her investments, it would be that I had resigned myself to there never being anything else between us.
Which was maybe exactly what I needed to do.
So, the next morning, I went into the office with a new resolve. Accepting it was just business with me and Bryn, I sat down and pulled up all the information about her. I got to work, shoving away any feelings or thoughts about her, because, really, that was what I was good at.
