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Emily looped her arm through Alfie’s. “Let me go introduce you to everybody.”
He cast a questioning look at me. I nodded, and she dragged him off.
Mulaney didn’t even give me a second to gather my thoughts. “Why’d you do it?”
I let out a long sigh. She never was one to beat around the bush.
“That’s none of your business.”
She drank from a Mason jar and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “Actually, it is. When somebody hurts my brother—”
“Ever consider he hurt me?”
She tilted her head to the side. I immediately regretted the confession. What happened with me and Mitch was mostly my fault, but we both could’ve handled it better.
“Why didn’t you tell him as soon as you found out?”
I reached for something to steady me at her softened tone. Mulaney had two speeds: bulldozer and wrecking ball. Gentle was something new.
“I couldn’t think of how to do it without letting him down. Moving in together meant so much to him. He’d have tried to talk me out of it.”
“For being with my brother for so long, you don’t really know him, do you?” She propped her elbow on the bed of the closest truck.
“We didn’t work out, okay?” My voice rose. “Just leave it.”
“So that’s it? You’re giving up?”
“Don’t act like you ever thought I was good enough for him.”
She set the jar on the metal ledge of the truck. “Who do you think convinced him to finally ask you out?”
“What are you talking about?”
Her smile was surreptitious. “I know how to make my brothers do what I want. All I did was give him the little nudge he needed.”
“You forced him into it?” I thought he finally stepped out of the friend zone because he loved me.
“I told him George King liked you, was planning on asking you out.”
“He was?”
“I have no idea. Sometimes people just need a little push.” She winked at me.
“Don’t meddle. We’re done.”
“What’s the deal with you and that one?” She pointed her head toward Alfie.
“There is no deal.” I folded my arms over my chest, refusing to explain the relationship that was none of her concern.
“Whatever you say. But if Mitch thinks there is, you just might be able to get him back.”
“Who said I wanted him back?” I muttered.
She held up both her hands in surrender. “All right, all right. I get it. I’ll stay out of it.”
Then she just walked away. That was way too easy. I’d known her since we were kids. She won arguments, even when she was wrong, just because she wouldn’t let it go.
Emily came up behind me and slung her arm around my shoulder. “You survived.”
