Page 27 of A Match Made In Fall

“And I’m about to make your day even better,” he continues.

Hmm…this should be interesting. “How are you going to do that?”

He clears his throat. “By asking you to be a best man in my wedding.”

Suddenly a rush of emotions washes over me. I guess these are the feelings you get when your brother is asking you to be his best man.

“Wow,” I say, my voice shaking slightly. “Yes. I’d be honored.”

“Thanks. Of course you will be sharing the role with your second favorite brother.”

“You are my second favorite brother,” I tell him.

“Yeah right. I’m talking about Brendan.”

I laugh. Our brother Brendan is the true baby of the family. He’s currently in medical school and in his own world.

“I’ll be happy to share the best man role,” I tell him.

“Thanks.”

“We haven’t set a date, but it will be next summer, so it’ll be after the season is over.”

Hearing this is a relief. The demands of my job can interfere with big events like this.

“Good. I don’t want to miss such an important day. I miss enough stuff.”

I often feel a lot of guilt about this, but thankfully my family has always been understanding.

“We know,” he assures me. “And with my big day being in the summer, that’s plenty of time for you to find a plus-one.”

I chuckle. “Oh yeah. But what if my best man duties have me too busy. Would that really be fair to a plus-one?”

“They won’t,” he says. “And there will be two of you, so sharing the responsibilities will allow plenty of time to dance the night away with your date.”

Dancing? Admittedly this makes my brain shift to Isabella. And to the fact that I’m not a very good dancer. Maybe she could teach me…

“Austin?” he calls, dragging me out of my thoughts.

“Sorry, I’m here. I was daydreaming?”

“About my wedding? Are there any prospects on the horizon?”

A grin spreads across my face. “Funny you should ask…”

“Really? Have you been holding out on me? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Well, I don’t know. Maybe it’s because you were talking about your engagement and asking me to be your best man.”

“So? Who is she, and where did you meet? How long have you been dating?

He’s firing off questions so quickly it takes me a second to even get a word in.

“We aren’t dating,” I say finally. “We’re going out for the first time tonight. And we will be with Nick, his fiancée, and a few other friends.”

“So you’re getting set up? Have you even met her yet?”

I tell him about how I met Isabella after the game and the few conversations we’ve had.