“I’m fine.”
“Uh-huh.” He arched an eyebrow at me. “Maybe you should tell your face that if it’s true, because you really don’t look fine.”
I sighed. “Is it that obvious?”
“Yeah.” He took a long sip of his beer. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“No, but hey, can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Are you considering marriage?”
His eyebrows hiked up. “Wow, that’s random.”
“I know, but just…” I trailed off for a beat and shook my head. “It’s just something I’ve been thinking about.”
“You’vebeen thinking about whetherI’mconsidering marriage?”
“No, I’ve been thinking about marriage, and you’re a Thayer. Your family has been known to arrange those too.”
The Thayers were even older money than we were. I would have imagined that, as the second oldest of their stock, Colin would be under pressure too. Jane was the oldest and the only girl, and she’d been married to my brother for a couple years now.
It stood to reason that their family would’ve wanted Colin married by now, but I wasn’t even sure he dated. He was insanely private about his personal life. Maybe he talked to Zachor one of the others about it, but he sure as hell had never talked to me.
For all I knew, he spent every weekend in a cave, digging up archaeological sites or pretending to be a wolf. As I watched, his gaze drifted over to Alex and Jane, who were standing near the oven, working together to get the food on the table.
“Yeah,” he finally said. “We’ve done it a few times, but we’re not nearly as committed to the idea as the Westwoods. Maybe if my dad wasn’t in prison, there would’ve been more noise about it from the family, but as things are, it’s only my mom and she’s not too bothered.”
“So you’re not thinking about it?”
He chuckled and brought his gaze back to mine. “Actually, I am.”
“What?”
“Yeah, I’ve been considering having Jane and Alex set me up.”
My jaw practically unhinged itself. “Are you serious?”
Colin laughed. “Yeah, man. Of course.”
I frowned. “Why?”
“Look around,” he said, still chuckling. “It’s a good system, Theo. It works. Look how happy they all are. Everyone here fell hopelessly in love with their arranged spouse. Why couldn’t we?”
I didn’t even have to look around to know that he was right. Every last one of my siblings was deliriously happy and all of their relationships had started because of that insane tradition. Proof that the system worked was all around us.
Colin probably had a real good shot at it working for him too, but not me. I was already in love and I already knew I’d never feel this way about anyone else. Raquel simply didn’t check the right boxes.
I didn’t say that, though. Instead, I just quietly submitted to the future that’d been mapped out for me, resigned to sacrificing my heart for the sake of my family.
“Yeah,” I said finally. “You’re probably right. I really hope it works out for you.”
CHAPTER 36
RAQUEL
Ispent the better part of the morning trying not to overhear Avery on the phone, fighting for his life against the bank representative he was begging for a loan. Usually, the shop was my favorite place in the world, but lately, it’d been feeling more and more like a sinking ship.
