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“Hey,” I grab the box from Reeve, and push his feet off the coffee table. “Why are you still hanging around?”
“They’re going shopping,” he sighs, scruffy in his vintage Dodgers sweatshirt and jeans. “Girl time. Anyway, I’m taking you to lunch. You need a margarita.”
“It’s barely noon!” I protest. “And I’ve got work to do. My boss can be a real asshole,” I add sweetly.
Reeve grins. “I’m giving you a break. Come on.” He snaps his fingers, and points to the door. “Chips and guac. Since when have you ever turned them down?”
Good point.
“Fine,” I agree, grabbing my notebook. Because my brother doesn’t know the meaning of the word ‘break’. “But you’re buying.”
We walkover to my favorite hole-in-the-wall Mexican place, which is right next to my favorite coffee shop – just another reason I love this neighborhood. “Any word from Avery?” I ask as we stroll the quiet, leafy streets. “After the wedding was called off, she seemed to just disappear from view. Nobody’s seen or heard from her in weeks.”
Reeve shakes his head. “I know about as much as you – andUS Weekly.”
“The tabloids have been brutal,” I say with a wince. “I thought they’d let up by now and move on, but her disappearing act seems to just fuel the fire.”
“Sure, because who’s to say she isn’t at a convent in Tibet. Or living on an animal sanctuary in Peru.”
“The stories just don’t stop.” I sigh. “Well, wherever she is, I hope she’s having fun. Despite all the drama, she kind of grew on me, in the end,” I muse. “It can’t be easy, living in the spotlight like that.”
“Maybe they’re right, and she has quit the business forever.”
I think of Avery’s determined ambition. “I’m not so sure about that.”
We arrive at the café and grab a table on the sidewalk. Reeve insists on ordering those margaritas with our food, and when we’re settled in devouring the fresh guacamole, I begin to get an inkling of why.
“So…” he starts, fixing me with a look over the salted rims of our glasses. “Another weekend with lover-boy?”
“Yup.” I happily munch tortilla chips, unable to resist checking my phone again. “He’s stuck in court today, so he’ll catch the red-eye tonight.”
“That working out for you?” Reeve asks, quirking his eyebrow. “I feel like he barely arrives before it’s time to say goodbye.”
“I know.” I sigh. “It’s not ideal, but we live on opposite sides of the country. What else are we going to do?”
“Gee, I don’t know,” my brother chuckles. “Make a decision, and actually do this thing for real?”
I blink. “What do you mean?” I ask, frowning. “We are doing this.”
“Sure. Part-time. Long-distance.” Reeve corrects me, dunking chips into salsa. “Come on, it’s like the diet version of a relationship. Love-lite.”
“You and Ivy started out long-distance, too,” I point out, annoyed. “North Carolina’s nearly as far from here as New York.”
“Which is why I moved there.” Reeve says, as our tacos arrive. “She comes back here with me for meetings and work, but I won’t take a job now unless I know she wants to be there, too. They offered me the newChaos Teammovie,” he adds, offhand, and I gasp.
“What?” I exclaim, my jaw dropping at the mention of the mega-franchise. “That’s huge! Why didn’t you say?”
“Because I’m not taking it.” My brother – my ambitious, film-obsessed, camera-in-his-hand-since-he-was-in-grade-school – kicks back, drinking his margarita: perfectly at ease. “Ivy doesn’t want to spend six months freezing her butt off in Iceland during filming, and I’m not going to leave her. She’s working on a new book,” he adds. “So we’ll probably spend the summer bumming around in Europe.”
“You’re sure about that?” I ask, surprised.
“OK, bumming around the five-star hotels of Europe,” Reeve admits with a grin.
“No, I mean passing on directing theChaos Teammovie.” I frown. “You loved those comics, growing up.”
“I love being with Ivy more. And before you say anything,” he adds. “She didn’t tell me to turn it down. She said to go, that we’d do this long-haul flight nonsense you’re trying with Josh, but… I don’t want to be away from her. Not when it took me so damn long to find a woman like that.” He smiles, content and in love.
“I’m happy for you,” I say, feeling a wistful pang. Reeve didn’t hang back for a moment once he met Ivy: he was all-in, right from the start.
