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“The purse? Yes. The champagne? No, but I had a feeling if anyone could pull something like this off, it would be Brooke.”
“Hey.” Deacon sounded hurt. “Why her and not me?”
Aubrey sighed and shrugged. “Because sometimes you’re kind of dumb.”
Deacon stuck his tongue out at her.
I grabbed his hand and pulled him back to stand closer to us. “Dumb, but really pretty.”
“That’s true,” Adam said.
Deacon huffed. “Not sure if I’m offended or not.”
Evie raised her brows. “You’re not sure if you’d rather be pretty or smart? Seriously?”
“Let’s eat, drink, and celebrate the amazing news and the business this is bringing in.” Sebastian grabbed the bottle from Aubrey.
The party moved into full swing. I fieldedthank yousfrom most everyone as the night went on. Deacon or Adam or both of them were by my side most of the night, and it became apparent Aubrey was avoiding one of us.
She approached me when I found myself alone. “Thank you for making this possible,” she said.
“I had to. You all deserve it.” I’d been saying a variation on the same thing most of the night and I still meant it.
Aubrey shifted her weight to her other foot and started to turn away, but turned back to me again. “You’re lucky, you know.”
“In a lot of ways.”
“I mean to have Deacon. And I’m glad someone good is going to take care of him.”
I wasn’t sure how to respond to that besidesI know, and that didn’t seem like the right answer. “Screw that. He’d better take care of me. I’m old.” I hid a wince at the self-depreciation.
“You’re not old,” Aubrey said.
A pair of hands slid around my waist and I knew without looking that Adam had appeared out of nowhere. “She’s right, you’re not.”
“Not what?” Deacon had joined us too.
Aubrey’s expression shifted toward blank, but she didn’t leave. “Not old.”
“Definitely not.” He grasped my fingertips.
We’d spent the night acting like the three of us were together, but it hadn’t hit me how little we’d done to hide it until Aubrey’s gaze dropped to my hand in Deacon’s. The three of us, Adam, Deacon, and I were official, and the more I thought about it, the more I loved it.
When more people were yawning than talking, we sent everyone home, shut off the lights, and agreed to clean up the pizza boxes and plastic cups around the trash can in the morning.
The three of us headed upstairs. I should go home at some point, but Bryan and Paige had promised they were okay alone for another night.
I was just glad they were talking again.
“What’s on your mind?” Adam asked softly.
So many things, I wasn’t sure I could put them all into words. But I was willing to try. “When I moved here years ago, it was to get away from everything that reminded me of my husband, and because I wanted the twins to grow up somewhere sane. In a close-knit community. Except, I didn’t find the kind of closeness I was looking for—not as it applied to me, anyway. I stuck it out for them, and there were so many days I wondered if I was doing the right thing.”
“They turned out pretty good, so I’d sayyes.” Deacon’s voice was soft and kind.
“So did you,” Adam added.
Deacon shook his head. “I disagree.”
