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“Just waiting for you, my consistently late friend,” he answers, his face beaming with joy.
“You know I’d never stand you up,” I joke, taking my seat and ordering a cappuccino when the server stops by to check on us.
“Yeah, lucky me,” Andries quips, and I can’t help but laugh. He’s never so easygoing!
As I look at him more closely, he’s got a nice color on his cheeks, and a very unusually cheerful demeanor. “So, how is itgoing, Mr. Commitment? Do you love being shackled down to one woman for all time during the prime of your life?”
“Adore it, actually,” he drawls. “Looking back, I’m even more sure that I made the right choice in proposing. It was the most enjoyable trip of my life.”
I shake my head, trying hard not to chuckle. “Paris is overrated. You must be more sheltered than I thought.”
“It’s not about Paris, Dan. It’s because Roxie was with me. Even if we had never left the suite, it’d have been perfect.”
I grimace exaggeratedly. “Gross. Moving on from your sex fest in France, how are things going with the two of you? Are you still living in separate places?”
The server walks over, putting my cappuccino in front of my place setting, while Andries takes a sip of his espresso to cover his frown. Did I hit a nerve with my question or what? “Actually, I’ve been living with Roxanne for a while now. Her penthouse is amazing. And I don’t want to spend any night without her, so it just makes sense.”
My eyes widen in surprise and I can’t help but wonder why he never told me about it before. “Your parents must be apoplectic.” I chuckle, taking a swig of my cappuccino and reaching for one of the scones in the middle of the table. “Oh, uh, speaking of your overly stuffy family, I talked to Elise last night.” I don’t mention that by talk, I actually mean “had dinner and drinks with.”
This seems to be enough to give him pause. “For someone who doesn’t like my nosy sister, you spend an awful amount of time with her,” he points out, his tone suspicious, but I wave him off.
“Only because the both of us have to keep an eye on you. Honestly, you should be thankful, because Elise would be able to meddle in your affairs quite a bit more if I wasn’t there to buffer her enthusiasm.”
Andries raises his eyebrows. “Actually, yeah, that is true. So what did she have to say?”
With his interest piqued, I take this moment to lean back in my chair, reveling in it. “You’re so lucky to have a friend like me, you know? She had a meeting with your dad yesterday that had quite a bit to do with your engagement.”
Andries throws his croissant on his plate, suddenly annoyed. “Of course it fucking did. I’d be fine with him never speaking to me again if it meant he’d get over this obsession he has with me. And now he’s continually dragging Elise into it.”
For some reason, I feel slightly defensive at his statement. “Hey, she apparently doesn’t want to be a part of it, but he doesn’t give her much choice.”
“She might not want to be involved in messing with my engagement, but she certainly wants to be involved in the company and take over Dad’s position once he retires.” He picks up his cup, clutching it but not drinking. “How far she’ll go to get what she wants is yet to be seen.”
“I hate to admit it, but you’re right.” In fact, I did hate to agree. I don’t want to think that Elise would go to such huge lengths to advance in her career, but even if I had some out-of-place affection for her, I wasn’t a fool. I know that she’s capable of anything, including—if her dad insists—trying to break the engagement between her brother and Roxanne. She was definitely not the biggest fan of the former escort, even on a normal basis, and her distaste for the whole affair might just be enough to push her over the edge and into doing her father’s bidding.
“It doesn’t matter, anyway. My sister can pull whatever tricks she wants. Nothing in this world could change my mind about marrying Roxanne.” Andries meets my eyes, and in his gaze is such a tremendous love for his fiancée that it makes my hearthurt. What must it be like to feel so strongly about someone that you’d have no doubts about moving heaven and earth for them?
I lean forward, resting my forearms on the table, and lowering my voice, I say, “You know, after your breakup, I never thought you would get back together and get engaged so quickly.”
“Me either,” he admits, a small smile forming at the corner of his lips. “But she is the only thing that makes life worth it.”
I try to picture myself in his situation, completely smitten and dedicated to one person. It seems like an impossible feat… like something I could never do. Even though I’m five years older than him, the simple thought of marrying someone and waking up to her every morning makes me feel nothing but emptiness. I try to picture Jessica, which has been my longest hookup so far, but it feels just as wrong. That is, until Jessica’s face flickers and then, lying next to me in my imagination, is Elise, her face bare of any artifice and beautiful beyond measure. With her there, there is no emptiness. There is something else…something massive and indescribable.
No. No. And fuck no! I can’t think like that. I shouldn’t, especially sitting next to her fucking brother. What’s wrong with me?
“I’m genuinely happy for you,” I tell him, shutting down all my previous thoughts. “I’m happy I could be part of this with you, and that you didn’t give up when it felt difficult.”
His smile keeps growing until it displays perfectly aligned white teeth. “I hope to return the favor one day.”
“Mm, that’s unlikely.” I try to sound amused, but in the back of my mind I’m thinking,I never will have that connection with someone, since the only person I could imagine being with for that long you made me swear off forever.
Brushing away the grudging feeling I’m starting to have for my best friend, I change the subject, desperate to get Elise off my mind.
“Anyway…what’s the plan for the engagement party?”
Andries exhales, running a hand through his hair. “Hell if I know. Traditionally we’d have it at my estate, but with my parents being so stubborn about the whole thing…”
“Just have it at my parents’ then,” I tell him with a shrug. “You’re family. It makes sense.”
