AllFreeNovel
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He’s wearing jeans paired with a button-down, collared shirt that has neon geometric shapes. It reminds me of something out of the nineties.
I’ve said it plenty of times before. I try to go for the quiet elegance of looking put together without really trying all that hard, while my brother here is all about statement pieces.
This Saved by the Bell shirt is better than the purple velour tracksuit, I guess.
“Brochacho!” I yell after I take in his clothes.
“Broski!” he yells back, and our hands meet in the middle before we share a quick bro-hug complete with a slap on the back.
“You’re early,” I say as I let him into my apartment.
He glances around. “I’m at the mercy of the airline.”
“Did you bring a bag?”
He shakes his head. “Just my phone and AirPods. By the way, I’ll need to charge this in your car.” He holds up his phone, and I can’t help a laugh.
We head to the parking garage, and he slips into the passenger seat of my car.
“So what’s all this about?” he asks.
“Buckle up,” I say, and I’m not sure if I’m telling him to physically buckle his seatbelt or figuratively prepare for my story. Both, I guess.
I draw in a deep breath, set my GPS, and start from the beginning with the night I met the Newman sisters. He knew about the wedding in Vegas, but he wasn’t as clear on the fact that I actually did fall in love with Grace somewhere in the middle of all of it.
By the time I get to the end of the story, we’re only ten minutes from the vineyard. “And now I need to find out who this Theodore Monroe guy is so I can help Grace get both the Cedar Creek and the Temecula vineyards.”
“Can’t you just set a trap to catch Amelia?” he asks.
I shrug. “I’m not there. It’s not that simple, you know? I’ve got practice and workouts and meetings. Events and endorsements. You know how it goes, and I’m not sure how to present all this to Grace. I want her to have her vineyard, but I feel like it’s sort of at the expense of whatever this is between the two of us.”
“I do know how it goes,” he says with a nod. “And when something feels important enough, I make the time.” He waves a hand between us. “Like this. You never call me out of the blue like this, so I knew something was up. And you know what, Spencer? For being the smart one, you’re sure being a dumbass.”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me,” he mutters.
“How am I being a dumbass?”
“You’re trying to deal with this whole thing like you deal with everything. You’re letting logic lead the way, but if I’ve learned anything from Gray and Linc…well, it’s that love isn’t always very logical. My man Grayson ended up with his best friend’s little sister. Old Bro Lincoln waited around twenty fucking years for his woman. And hearing what you have to say…what you have with Grace is most definitely love, my friend.”
“How am I leading with logic?” I ask, ignoring the rest of everything he just said.
“Jesus, you’re even dumber than I first thought. You really don’t see this?” He leans back in his seat and folds his arms across his chest.
I shake my head.
He sighs. “Dude, you’re protecting yourself. You’re putting a stop to things before you’re even giving it a chance to work, and I think it’s because of Mom and Dad.”
“Because of Mom and Dad?” I ask, not sure where that came from.
“It affected all of us in different ways. Their divorce, I mean.” He shrugs. “For me, it made me not want commitment. For you, you’re scared because you jumped too fast into a commitment, and now you’re backing slowly away.”
When the fuck did Asher get a psychology degree?
“I get it,” he says, holding up both hands before I can ask that question. “You don’t want to be with Amelia, and Grace did a few things that reminded you of Amelia. But guess the fuck what? You proposed to Amelia, too, so there was something about her that you loved. But then you married her sister. Not very logical for my man of logic, is it? As an outsider, here’s what I can gather. You chose the wrong sister first. You’ve been in love with Grace since the night you met her, and it was inevitable you’d end up with her, but there’s something in your brain telling you that you can’t be with her. So fix whatever that is and stop stepping in your own goddamn way so you can wear that same sloppy, drunk in love, dumbass smile Grayson and Lincoln have.”
I can’t help but burst out laughing at the end of his tirade. “What about you?”
