Parking a few spaces away, I sprint for the door, ready to get this over with. Unaware if I am walking into battle or a treaty of peace. Yanking open one of the double doors, my eyes blink a few times, adjusting from the bright daylight into the dark space of the vacant restaurant. Harry is sitting at the bar with his back to the entrance.
As I get closer, he swivels in his chair, turning to face me. “What’s up, man?” I nod.
“Let’s get this over with,” he says.
I stand a few feet away, resting my elbow on the bar top. “Alright.”
“You don’t have a sister, so you have no idea what this is like for me,” he begins.
“I can imagine. And I’m sorry that this is hard for you, but we are all adults, Harry—” I start to say, but he aggressively leaps off the chair, cutting me off. “I’ve seen you with so many women over the years, dude. I know how you are, and I can’t let you hurt my little sister. She’s been through so much.”
The fact that he views me as the villain and someone who could cause harm to the two people I’ve grown to care so deeply about is another blow to the gut.
“I know she has. I am not going to stand here trying to convince you that I’m a good person, but you have been my friend for years, so I know you believe that I am a decent guy—” I continue.
“Yes, you are. But you are not good enough for Bailey,” Harry interrupts once again.
I let out a heavy sigh. “I’m aware of that too.”
“She has been through hell and back and has the scars to prove it. My sister is such a strong person, and she’s worked so hard to create a safe and healthy place for her and Luca. I can’t let you destroy that—or her.” His voice lowers at the end.
“I love your sister. I’m not going to hurt her.”
Harry clasped his hands behind his head. “This is so fucked, man. You’re my best friend, and you’re a good guy, or we wouldn’t have been friends this long but my sister? Anybody else but her, Mason. Shit.”
“It’s not like it was me pursuing her. I don’t even think I tried to come on to her once, it just happened. What we were doing was never meant to be serious. We both knew that, and Bailey wanted it to remain that way, probably more than I did. But I ended up falling in love with everything about her. And Luca, he just made it all the more real.” My voice cracks as I try to explain my deep feelings for a woman I love, but unfortunately, it’s his sister.
Harry’s face turns away from me while he starts nervously cracking his knuckles like he wants to tell me something but can’t find the words. “I saw her at my parents’ house this morning. She told me she loves you and basically told me to go fuck myself,” he tells me.
She does love me.
My face hurts as I try to hold back a smile, knowing she does love me and in combination with a sense of pride. “That’s my girl,” I mutter.
“It just really sucks. That’s the goddamn truth. Either way, I’m going to be in the middle of my best friend and my sister.”
“She is safe with me, Harry.”
Suddenly, he turns around and starts walking toward the entrance. “The way I see it, you two can have each other and live happily ever fucking after,” he yells, flipping me off on his way out.
Does that mean he accepts his sister and me being together? If Harry and I can move past this after Bailey admitted to him that she loves me, that means all I have to do is give her time to come around.
I stayed at the restaurant to get some work done. Enjoying the silence and solitude of being alone. I think I want Bailey and Luca to move into the new house with me. Although I may not have realized at the time how much her opinion on my new house would affect me, just knowing that she loved it provided me with an immense amount of satisfaction.
“What are you doing here so early?”
I startle at the sound of Travis’s voice behind me.
“Fuck, dude, you scared the shit out of me.”
He lumbers into the small office and falls into the black chair on the other end of the large corner desk. Laughing, he turns to me. “So, what’s up? Why are you here so early?”
I sigh, letting my palms fall to the rough fabric of my jeans. “I was meeting Harry this morning. He found out about Bailey and me after Luca’s birthday on Saturday.”
“Oh shit.”
“Yes, basically her whole family found out that she and I have been hooking up for the past couple of months. As to be expected, Harry lost his cool.”
Travis shifts in his seat, straightening his back but still slouching to one side. “I knew you two were messing around.” He chuckles. “So, how’d everyone else find out?”
