“You do.”
“Shut up.”
I gave her back a few awkward pats. “June, I missed you too, but you have to let me go. This hug has gone past normal sister behavior.”
She squeezed me tighter. “Fuck normal sisters.”
There was a tremor and thickness to her tone that bleeped my big-sister radar.
“Oh my God, are you crying?” I had to shove on her shoulders to meet her glistening brown eyes. “Peanut, what the hell?”
“I’m fine,” she insisted. Her chin dimpled, and she swiped under her eyes with her ring fingers. Her engagement ring sparkled—I would never get used to seeing it. “I’m just stressed, I think. Mom is driving me nuts, and Dad is doing that thing where he’s trying to make everyone happy and that’s pissing merightoff. And Mike’s mom is...being so sweet but also, you know—"
“—A needy pain in the ass, got it,” I interrupted, earning the smallest smile from June.
“Don’t say that, especially not in earshot of any of them.” Her shoulders sagged. “She’s not that bad. I don’t know, you’ll get it when you meet her. She’s a lot, but she is also like, sweet, and generous, and really charming. You’ll get it.”
“I’m sure I will,” I said, but I had my suspicions. “Is that it, or do I have to bust someone else?”
“You don’t have to bust anyone, but while I’m bitching I might as well keep going.”
“Might as well.”
“Gene, Mike’s brother, won’t be here untillatetomorrow. We kinda need him here to get their mom to chill.”
I smacked my hand to my chest in mock shock. “Am I here before everyone’s favorite sibling? Am I more reliable than Mike’s incredible, wonderful,perfectbrother?”
“This time you get the best big sibling award.” Her smile almost reached her eyes. “He got hung up at work. It’s fine.”
“Especially since the best sibling is here.” Gripping my luggage handle, I swept my free arm toward the row of exits. “I’m ready if you are.”
Chapter 2
Sadie
Isquinted out the windshield at the reflection of the sun on the ocean. Docked boats bobbed on the water of the bay. Palm trees lined the road, and what looked like aloe vera filled the medians. It was a far cry from the gray skies and barely sprouting tulips I’d just left behind in Chicago.
I shifted in my seat to consider my sister’s profile as she changed lanes. “Can I say something really stupid?”
She grinned. “I would expect nothing else from you.”
Completely disregarding her asshattery, I said, “I know this is the same country I have lived in my entire life, but...isit?”
“Because the climate and fauna are completely different?”
“Yeah, like, I’m still wearing my winter coat back home.”
“I know. It’s so weird, right?”
“So weird,” I agreed. “Are you still happy you did this? Is the Bellwether everything you wanted it to be?”
June had idolized the hotel since we were kids, after she’d watchedHotter than Broadwaystarring Nadine Prescott. The old romance of the building, mixed with classic Hollywood had created a lifelong obsession that was only intensified when she read through every Belle Wether book ever published. The hotel was a huge expense, and she had limited her guest list to keep the cost down, but it was still more than my parents had set aside for her. I’d offered for them to use whatever money they had planned for my wedding to make this dream come true for June.
It wasn’t like there was a promising romantic future on the horizon for me, anyway. I didn’t think there was a man on earth who could make me trust in love, and none of them seemed to want to prove its existence.
I accepted the disappointment.
But the idea of the place not living up to her expectations would break my heart.
