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The rest of the guys had turned their attention to the football game on TV, and Will was busy pouring three pints of beer from the large pitcher.
Don’t say anything stupid.
Think before you speak.
Don’t make an ass out of yourself.
“It’s, um, really good to meet you, Jamie.”
I tried to cover my shock behind a smile. There were so many thoughts and questions rushing through my head, but almost none of them were exactly appropriate to ask someone I’d only known for about ten seconds.
There was one I could ask, though. “How long have you and Will been, um, engaged?”
“Not long,” Jamie turned to Will. “What’s it been, babe? Three months? Four?”
“Two, actually,” Will said, his smile dimming slightly. “Together for eight months, engaged for two.”
“Wow, so—” I clamped my mouth shut and swallowed back the words I’d been about to say.
Was it rude to point out that slow, deliberate Will hadnevermoved that fast with anyone else in his life? Or at least he hadn’t back when I had known him.
“Congratulations,” I said instead. “You two seem really happy.”
“We are,” Will said. “I mean, any relationship has its ups and—”
“We’re really happy,” Jamie said, cutting him off and taking Will’s hand in her own. “Super happy.”
I could feel the slight undercurrent of tension that ran between Jamie and Will, but I was still too caught up in my own thoughts to try and make sense of it.
“That’s awesome,” I said, gratefully accepting the glass of beer from Will, then taking a long, slow drink.
How could I have missed the signs that Will was in love?Hadthere been any signs?
I thought back to our meeting at the bank.
Nope. There really hadn’t been any clues that I could remember.
Sure, Will hadn’t dated much in high school, but he’d been busy with sports. Plus, he had always worked after school and during the summer. I had always just assumed he hadn’t had time to do much else.
No, if I hadn’t just met Jamie—just seen her with my own two eyes—I never would’ve guessed that Will in a relationship.
Looking down the table at my old friends, I wondered briefly if any of them would feel the same kind of shock and surprise if they found out I was in a relationship, too. I wondered if they’d be as accepting as they apparently had been with Will and Jamie.
It was really a moot point, though.It wasn’t like I really had any prospects for settling down with a girl.
Well, not really.
The one woman Iwasinterested in certainly wasn’t going to beat a path to my door… not with everything that currently stood between us.
“Brady,” Will elbowed me in the side. “Raise your glass, buddy. They’re talking aboutyou.”
I had been so wrapped up in my thoughts that I hadn’t even heard Ben start to make a toast.
“—a toast to old times and thank God for keeping you safe all those years,” Ben was saying. “To good friends, and cold beer. To all the shit we’ve been through together and all the fun we’ve had. And to the next ten years being just as great.”
“Cheers.”
I raised my glass and nodded to my friends with a smile, then took another long drink.
