AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Shit. Was that supposed to be private information?
“She’s moving in with him?” Dad asks, his quiet question echoing in the now-silent shop.
I nod slowly. “She is…”
He pauses for a long moment, his lips pursing together. Then his jaw clenches and his eyes go hard. Slowly, he reaches into his back pocket for his wallet. He pulls out a business card and hands it to me.
I stare down at the thick black card stock, reading the restaurant name printed across the front. “I already called this place,” I mumble. “They’re booked solid for the next three weeks.”
The Waterside Grill and Bar is a new place in town. It’s in high demand among the throngs of tourists who come to Honey Hill to recuperate after their wild adventures in Sin Valley. Even when I waved my football star status in hopes of getting a table this weekend, I was told that I don’t stand a chance at getting a reservation there on such short notice.
“Call again,” Dad tells me. “Mention my name. I…I have a reservation there for Saturday night. Looks like I won’t be needing it anymore.” He looks me in the eyes, clamping a heavy hand on my shoulder. “Do everything in your power to get things right with your wife the first time around, Harry. Because when you miss your shot, you’ve missed it. The world doesn’t give a damn that you’re sorry or that you’ve changed your mind.”
“Thanks, Dad,” I say, reading the card over.
On that, my father sulks off with his broom, head down and shoulders drooping.
As I watch him, the gravity of my date with Nadia hits me again. I won’t let myself waste this opportunity while I’ve got it. I don’t want to be in Dad’s shoes, regretting that I didn’t fight for the woman I love ten or twenty years down the line.
Minutes later, I’ve called the restaurant to confirm my reservation. Then, I send Nadia a flirty text message, informing her of our plans. She responds, telling me she can’t wait and that makes me smile.
I really can’t fuck this up. The stakes are too high. It has to be perfect.
33
HARRY
On Saturday night, I start getting readywaytoo early.
I shower and shave and I even scrub my face with this exfoliator thing Nicky insisted on getting me for Christmas. I’m excited, dammit. I need to look good for my wife tonight. The plan is to wine her and dine her and get her so hot for me over dinner that we’ll be taking dessert to go.
I know that she already said she’s mine but I want to cement her decision tonight. I want to show her that she made the right choice—I’m everything she’s ever wanted in a man.
I break out the iron to press my black button down shirt. That’s what I’m busy with when I get a call from my sister.
“What’s up, Nicky?” I answer, holding the phone between my shoulder and my ear as I continue to press my shirt.
“I’ll tell you what’s up, you fart brain,” she yells in my ear. “I hear you have a wife!”
“Oh.” Dammit. “And where’d you hear that from?”
“Does it matter where I heard it from? What matters is, I didn’t hear it fromyou!”
“Shit, Nicks. I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to keep anything from you. It’s all just kind of a mess.”
I can picture my sister pouting. I know that she’s mad, and Nicky isn’t someone you want to piss off. “A wife, Harry!? I didn’t want to believe it when I heard it. I thought we were the closest. That we tell each other everything. Can you imagine hearing that my favorite brother got married without even inviting me?”
Shit—she’s not mad. She’s hurt.
There’s a heavy throb in my chest. I don’t usually let her use the ‘favorite brother’ line to guilt-trip me. Us, guys know the deal. Nicky would wield that ‘favorite brother’ weapon against any one of us whenever it’s convenient for her. But today, I can tell that she genuinely feels betrayed by me.
I try to explain myself to her. “You know I love you, Nicks. I’ve just been stuck inside my head lately. This wasn’t like when Jasper and Emma eloped. It wasn’t planned or anything. It just…happened.”
“So it really was just a drunken mistake, like I heard?” She sounds disappointed.
“Well, weweredrunk.” I pull in a breath. “But it wasn’t a mistake. At least not now that I look back on it.”
“Wow—so, you really care about this woman…” I imagine her clutching a hand over her chest. ‘Cause she’s dramatic like that.
