Page 39 of Yours to Keep

She laughed, that same light, breathy sound she’d had since she was a kid, and nudged my arm. “Guests can tell when something has been rushed. I want it to feel personal.”

“You know we could have hired someone to do this, right?” I said. “A whole team of someones.”

“I know.” She shrugged, already reaching for another card. “These matter to me, though. I want them to have a personal touch.”

I sighed but did my best to make my L curlier. Whatever the fuck that meant. Because this was the thing about Liana. She cared deeply, about details, people, and how things felt instead of how they looked on paper.

It made her brilliant at some things and dangerously forgiving at others. Her fiancé, for example, was supposed to have been here helping. Instead, he was attending to yet another work emergency.

When I’d asked her where he was, she’d explained it lightly, breezily, like it didn’t sting, but it did. I knew that because I’d noticed everything she didn’t want me to. How thin she’d gotten these last few weeks. How her excitement was jittery instead of happy. How she kept smiling like she was afraid if she stopped, the doubts might slip out.

Frankly, she’d been trying too hard to be cheerful, positive, and normal, but I could tell it was forced.

“You don’t have to do all this tonight,” I said, gesturing at the mountain of bags and ribbons that were waiting for the cards we were writing. “We can finish in the morning.”

“No,” she said immediately, but the words came out much too fast. “If I don’t do it now, I’ll start panicking.”

“Panicking?” I paused, my pen hovering over the card as I looked up. “About what?”

She hesitated, then waved a hand and smiled, trying to play it off. “It’s nothing. Okay, actually, it’s everything, but it’s just normal wedding jitters. Nothing to be concerned about.”

I didn’t push, but I wanted to. I wanted to so damn badly, but she was an adult. She was also my little sister, which meant that naturally I was biased against the guy because no one would ever be good enough for her, but she was still a woman who got to make her own choices, even if I didn’t like them.

And I didn’t like this one at all.

It’d been the same pattern for a while now. Ever since she’d moved here, actually. There had been so many missed dinners, canceled weekends, and unanswered phone calls. It was always work, always urgent, and always more important than her.

I understood ambition. I respected it. Hell, I’d built my life around it, but there was a difference between being busy and being absent—and this guy was coming down hard on the wrong side for a man who was getting married this weekend.

Swallowing the urge to say something I couldn’t take back, I held my sister’s gaze and said the only thing that really mattered right now anyway. “I’ll support you no matter what. You know that, right?”

Her eyes suddenly became shiny. “I know.”

“I mean it,” I said firmly. “If you wake up tomorrow and decide you don’t want this⁠—”

“Don’t,” she said softly. “Please don’t say it out loud.”

I nodded. “That’s fair.”

She smiled again as she reached for another card, but it was smaller this time. “Thanks, Sullivan. I just don’t want you to think I’m doubting him. Or us. Because I’m not. It’s just been a long few weeks, you know?”

I arched both my eyebrows at her. “You’re telling me. Shit, I think this has been the longest two years of my life and it’s actually only been a month.”

She breathed out a gentle laugh, but as delicate as it was, I liked hearing the sound. It meant she wasn’t completely freaking out. “Well, you have had about twenty-four months of problems shoved into the one month here, so that makes sense.”

I paused for a beat before I shrugged. “We both knew it wouldn’t be easy, the move. The takeover. You and Neil finally being in the same city.”

“Yeah, I know.” She raked her fingers through the end of her ponytail, bringing it forward to study her hair. “I guess I just thought it would be different, you know? Finally being able to see each other after work or grab a quick lunch.”

“Neither of which has been happening?” I guessed, even though she’d never actually told me this part before.

She glanced up at me again. “He’s just⁠—”

“Busy,” I finished for her, nodding before I exhaled a harsh breath. “Look, I know he’s got a demanding job, but so do you. Yours might even be more demanding. You’re the Head of Accounting for one of the foremost medical technology companies in the country right now. All I’m saying is that once you’re married, maybe you should sit him down and explain that he needs to learn how to respect your time.”

After holding my gaze for a beat, she dropped her chin in a curt nod. “Maybe we should’ve waited a bit longer before we got married. I don’t know. Maybe we both just needed a little more time to settle in after the move.”

I didn’t tell her she still had time to call it off, because I knew she wouldn’t do it and she didn’t need to feel like I was pressuring her into anything, but shit. This was the first time she’d expressed any doubt whatsoever about getting married, and I couldn’t really say anything without sounding like a biased dick.