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“So it would suck dating someone who’s out of town all the time.”
Courtney rolls her eyes. “That’s a lame excuse. How often is he even out of town? What does he do?”
“Um…” I squirm in my seat. God, I hate this so much.
“What? Does he have a weird job or something?”
“No, he…” Fuck. I can’t do this. I can’t lie to my best friend. Even lying by omission is eating me up inside. “Court, I have to tell you something.”
The amusement vanishes from her face. “What’s going on, Rose?”
“I slept with Evan.” My cheeks burn harder as the words spill out of my mouth. “It happened in Hawaii. I didn’t plan on doing it. I mean, yes, I had a crush on him back in high school, but—”
“You didwhat?” Courtney’s eyes go wider than I’ve ever seen them go before. “When?!”
I swallow hard. “The night of your wedding.”
Courtney covers her mouth with her hand. She mumbles something, but the words are too muffled for me to understand.
“Look, Court, I know I messed up. I know your brother is the last person I should have hooked up with. If I could go back in time and undo it, believe me, I would.”
She shakes her head in disbelief. I brace myself for the berating I know I’m about to get from her. All those warnings she gave me over the years, and I let my stupid horny desire override my common sense…
But all Courtney does is keep staring wide-eyed at me.
Finally, she drops her mouth from her hand. “Okay. Uh…to be clear, I donotwant to know how the sex was with my brother.” She shudders. “But do you want to do it again?”
I gape at her. “Do I want todo it again? Aren’t you pissed that I did it the first time?”
“Pissed?” She shakes her head. “No. Why would I be pissed?”
“I mean…” I blink, trying to absorb the fact that she isn’t freaking out. “He’s your brother. There’s an unspoken rule that he’s off-limits. Besides, you’ve always said stuff about how he’s such a player.”
She laughs a little. “He’s notactuallyone, though, Rose. I just like to give him shit because he’s a musician and girls are always flinging themselves at him. That’s all. If I’d known you were taking that seriously…” She shakes her head. “God. This is crazy. You’ve seriously had a crush on him sincehigh school?”
I nod.
“Argh! That makes so much sense now why you always wanted to have sleepovers at my house instead of yours.” She breaks out in a grin. “You little sneak. You probably hoped to bump into him in the middle of the night on the way to the bathroom or something, didn’t you?”
“Wait, Court…tell me the truth. Is Evan truly a good guy?”
“He is. He’s agreatguy.”
“What about all his groupies, though? What about all the ‘little Evans running around’?”
“I was just kidding about that, Rose.”
“No, I know you were kidding around, but…isn’t there also a grain of truth in every joke?”
She shrugs. “In this case, there’s not. Seriously, Rose. He’s not like that atall. If I ever made him out to be a sex-crazed rock star, I sincerely apologize for giving you that impression.”
“Oh,” I say, letting it all sink in.
“The truth is, I really look up to my brother. He’s talented, kind, funny, sweet…” She makes a face as she picks up her martini glass again. “Don’t tell Evan I said that, though. The dude will never let me hear the end of it.”
Later,after I part ways with Courtney, I pull out my phone and scroll through the texts Evan has sent me over the past two weeks. Regret fills my chest as I think about all the time Evan and I could have been spending together if I’d just talked to Courtney sooner. Or if I’d trusted Evan more.
But there’s no point in wallowing in regret.
