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Then she decided to dig deeper, because it was obvious Victor hadn’t shared everything from his conversation with Dean. Typical man. Always leaving out key points.

“What baggage?” she asked.

“What?”

“You said Dean was carrying around baggage,” she reminded him.

“Oh yeah. The guy’s still beating himself up for not being there for McKenna. I get the impression he thinks that takes him out of contention for future relationships.”

Vivian leaned back, letting those words soak in.

Unfortunately, Victor didn’t give her long to chew them over. He rose from the couch, offering a hand to help her up as well. “Give me your keys. I’ll drive us to your place. We can get soup delivered from Panera Bread for dinner. Pip likes chicken noodle soup when she’s sick.”

“Can I get one of those big kitchen sink cookies?” she asked, trying to push her sadness aside for now. Victor was offering her a distraction from her heartache, and for tonight, she was going to take it, going to latch on to it with both hands. There would be plenty of time for devastation tomorrow, and the next day, and…

Victor nodded. “Sure.”

“Do I have to share it?” she asked, channeling her inner Pip.

Victor laughed. “Nope.”

“Can I get a French baguette too?”

“All for yourself?” he clarified.

She raised her eyebrows in a “what do you think” way.

Victor opened the front door as they stepped out onto the front porch. “Got it. Yes. You can have all the bread and cookies you want.”

“I wish Panera delivered ice cream too,” she murmured under her breath.

Victor chuckled, then locked the door behind him, tucking her underneath his arm again as she snuggled against him. “I’ll run out for Ben and Jerry’s Chocolate Fudge Brownie later.”

Aw. He always remembered her favorites. “You’re the best big brother ever.”

Victor placed a soft kiss on the top of her head when they reached the car. “Love you, Viv.”

While Vivian had never—ever—doubted her brother’s unwavering love for her, he wasn’t the type to use those three little words very often, so her eyes instantly filled with tears once more.

“Love you too,” she said, climbing into the passenger’s seat. While she didn’t feel better, she didn’t feel alone.

And for right now…that would have to be enough.

Chapter Eleven

Dean took a deep, steadying breath, aware he couldn’t stall any longer. Reaching for the knob, he opened the door before McKenna could knock a second time.

“Hey, you two,” he said, looking from her to Tank, working overtime to paint a smile on his face. McKenna had texted him earlier, asking if she and Tank could stop by with dinner. If he hadn’t known why she wanted to see him, he probably would have come up with some excuse. He was not going to be good company tonight.

He’d gone home from Pat’s Pub yesterday after breaking things off with Vivian and put one hell of a dent in a bottle of bourbon. As a result, he’d woken up today with a killer headache in addition to the unbearable pain in his chest.

Okay—his heart.

Work had been an experiment in torture as he’d run the team through a series of situational drills. Adulting really did suck, because today was one of those when he would have loved to shut down his alarm, roll back over, and blow off the whole fucking day.

However, thanks to his eavesdropping yesterday, he suspected this visit was so that McKenna could share her happy news with him, so he’d said yes to dinner.

McKenna held up a bag from his favorite Thai place. “Pad Kra Pao and Thai fried rice. Hope you’re hungry.”