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Squeezing my eyes shut, I buried my face in the top of her head, inhaling her cupcake and Daisy scent. I hadn’t let myself be close to her like this since that night by the lake. I’d missed the feel of her on a bone-deep level.
“Thank you, Cupcake.”
She rubbed slow circles in the center of my back. “Don’t worry, I told my family it’s your one-year anniversary of going to the gym. I don’t know if they bought it, but they wanted to celebrate you anyway.”
I held her tighter for keeping my privacy, and for having a family who thought enough of me, they wanted to celebrate my accomplishments.
“I don’t have words.”
She pulled back from my embrace, still grinning. “You don’t have to have words. Have a balloon.” She shoved the ribbon attached to the “1” into my hand. “Now, let me take a picture.”
Humoring her, I stood with my balloon, smiling at the camera. She got one in before Saoirse and Luca crowded around me. Then little Hazel threw herself in front of us, cheesing like we were all here for her. Landry tried to drag her away, but we told her to stay, so then Edie needed to be in it too.
By the time Daisy took the final picture, everyone she’d invited was surrounding me. Even Reed had shuffled into the frame. Flipping the camera around, she held it in front of her and took a selfie with all of us.
The whole thing was so damn wholesome and sweet, it felt like watching someone else’s life. Then Kit handed me Joey, who screeched and slapped my cheeks, Luca threw his arm around me, telling me the cat ruse had been his idea, and Edie started rubbing her tummy and patting her head.
I looked up, my eyes landing on Weston. He was watching it all, a bemused expression taking over his face.
“You still manage to be the life of the party,” he quipped.
“Can’t help it. They’re moths to my flame.”
Elliot breezed by, plucking his daughter from my arms. “Congratulations, Miles. Doing anything for a year straight is difficult. Changing a lifetime of habit isn’t for the weak.”
I blinked at him. “I—thanks.”
He nodded once, then went to find his wife, who he was even more protective of now that she had another bun baking in her oven.
I swiveled to Weston. “Did you see that? Elliot said something nice to me.”
He chuckled. “He’s capable. I’m pretty sure he’s been playing into the same nemesis schtick you have for the last decade. Is it time to give it a rest?”
I scratched the side of my head. No way Weston believed all the tension between Elliot and me had been a schtick. Maybe it was now. Maybe we were all right.
“Nah. Why start now?”
“Good. I would have been alarmed if you and Elliot had started being nice to each other.”
I pretended to gag. “Don’t say it.”
Weston put his hand on my shoulder and sighed. “I get I failed you.”
“You didn’t.”
“I did. I saw you at least once a week over the last year and didn’t notice you were sober.” He scrunched his eyes…his whole face. “I always have this idea of you. My wild, crazy kid brother. The creative, the irresponsible. But that idea isn’t you. You’re not a series of adjectives. It’s my fault for being focused on what is right in front of me and not what’s always been beside me. I’m sorry for that, Miles. I see you now.”
What I’d always wanted. Why I’d acted out, had made a spectacle of myself, misbehaved, ruined dinners and furniture, just so Weston would see me. It had only taken me completely turning my life around and no longer begging him for a crumb of attention to finally have it.
It was as good as I’d always thought it would be.
“Shit, West. Don’t make me cry. I’m not going to be a public crier.” I scrubbed my face with my hand. “I get I haven’t given you a reason to believe I’d follow through on my promises. But the stakes are higher for me now. I’ve got Peak Strategies, my house—”
“Daisy,” he added. “Me and Elise. I wasn’t there for you like I should’ve been growing up, but I’m here now. You get that, Miles? I’m here, even if there are times you’re not at your best. I’m still going to be here.”
Oh hell. That had done it. I hung my head, nodding. “I get it,” I replied thickly. “Thank you.”
He pulled me into a tight hug. This was only one of a handful he’d given me since I was a kid, and it was one for the ages. Made me feel cared for and secure that my big brother had my back.
