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“Couldn’t you…” Dalton shakes his head. “Never mind.”
I don’t want to ask him what he has in mind. If he’s suggesting I go ahead and ask Claire to marry me for real, I’ll have to explain how she doesn’t want it. Dalton’s a good friend. I know he wouldn’t want me to suffer unnecessarily, but I can’t know for sure if he values my friendship more than he values his cousin’s happiness and security.
I push to my feet and leave, suddenly too awkward to sit there with the hard truth that I’ll never be good enough for Claire, not even when pretending it all.
Outside, I shake my head and glower at the sidewalk, heading back to my truck in a dejected daze.
I bump into someone, and as I look up to apologize for not paying attention and looking where I was going, I snort in surprise.
It’s Kevin. We never talk much, already distant because of how Dad never favored him and how we couldn’t ever connect with mutual interests, but our differences over Gina back in high school served as the final nail in the coffin of our brotherhood.
“Sawyer?” He frowns at me. “What’s wrong?”
I’m annoyed he can so easily tell something is wrong. I shake my head, too exhausted with life and heartache to explain.
Why can’t she just love me? Why?
“Nothing.” I move to pass him, but he dodges my escape, blocking me.
“Whoa. No. Even I can tell something’s not right.” We seldom cross paths, and when we do speak, it’s in limited, dry and curt exchanges. But he’s quick to be alert now, of all times.
“It’s…” I groan. I want to say it’s nothing, but he’ll persist.
“Something happened with Claire?” he guesses.
I furrow my brow. “How did you know I was seeing her?”
“You mean engaged to her?” He laughs. “Aubrey. At work. Besides, I met her at the bar when they all went out a while back.”
I hang my head and sigh.
“Come on.” He pats my back and tips his head. “Come over, and we’ll talk. After all, this isn’t the first time I’ve seen you like this.”
I narrow my eyes at the back of his head and follow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
He smirks at me. “Uh, Gina? Back in high school?”
I roll my eyes and walk with him. “We were dumb back then.”
“Of course. Who isn’t? But I know what I said back then still hits you now.”
I don’t reply, not wanting to have former hurts mixed with the current.
“I gave you shit about Gina. She was two-timing us, and I took advantage of it when she complained about you sometimes. She was a fancier girl, higher maintenance, and I tried to win her over by being the opposite of the outdoorsy guy you were.”
“I don’t need a reminder.”
“But maybe you do,” he says as we reach his apartment door and head up the steps. “Because if I’m not mistaken, Claire seems like another high-maintenance girl.”
“Yeah,” I grouse. “Another beautiful woman out of my league who will see me as a convenient man to sleep with for fun but never to get serious with.”
He lets me into his apartment, laughing, and I debate hitting him.
“If we’re being serious, you’re already engaged.”
Not for real. And even that fake crap won’t be for long.
“People change, Sawyer, and wherever Gina ended up is the best for us. Claire, though…” He pulls out a chair at his kitchen table for me and sits in another. “She’s not Gina.”
