“Doesn’t seem like practicing is helping all that much, my friend.”
Narrowing his eyes at me through his glasses, he picked up his beer and flipped me off. “Yeah, yeah, throw the damn thing.”
Chuckling, I took my turn. When I returned from dislodging the axe, Harrison didn’t waste any time getting to the other reason for bringing us here.
“I think I’m going to propose to Sophie. Well, actually, I know I am. I already bought the ring.”
“No, shit! Really?” I asked. They hadn’t been dating long, maybe a little over a year, but the news didn’t surprise me. She’d moved in with him after three months, and they were beyond perfect for each other.
He nodded, a goofy smile lighting his face.
“Congrats, man. That’s awesome news.” I smacked him on the back.
“Thanks, Arch. I don’t know when to do it.”
I spoke fast. “Not now. Definitely not now.” Harrison gave me a skeptical look. “One, no girl wants to get proposed to here, and two, if she says no she’s surrounded by weapons.”
Laughing he glanced over at Sophie. “Fair enough. Yeah, she’d kill me for sure if I did it here.”
“Wait. You don’t have the ring on you right now do you?” I grilled him in a hushed tone.
“I always have it on me. I’m too scared the right moment is going to pop up and I’m not going to have it!” A boyishexpression crossed his face, as if his explanation was the same as a child defending why Superman was better than Batman.
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Youmake the right moment, you idiot. What if you lose it? Or what if she sees it?”
“I’m very careful! I just want to be prepared!” he assured me.
Shaking my head, I laughed. “Whatever makes you happy, Harrison.”
“Speaking of . . .” He trailed off, sipping his beer. “You know you’re allowed to be happy too, right?”
“I told you I was.”
He pointed a finger at my chest. “No,youtrailed off.Isupplied the word, and you merely agreed with it.”
“Okay, fine. But I amhappy.”
His brown eyes leveled me with a knowing look, and sometimes I hated how much he knew about me, and how observant he was. “You know what I mean. If you want to let her in, then let her in.”
I huffed out a sigh, glancing over at Darcy. Her brown hair stuck out from underneath the beanie she wore, and you could see her baby bump despite the fact that she wore a sweater and a quilted vest. If L.L. Bean had a maternity line, she could model for it—I’d buy it all. “It’s complicated.”
Harrison scowled at me. “No, it’s really not. It’s scary, but it’s not complicated. You’ve faced far scarier shit and survived.”
“She hasn’t faced scary, though. And what if—”
He cut me off. “Have you ever hit someone?” At the look I gave him, he amended, “Who didn’t hit you first?”
“No.”
His tone gentled, his face growing serious. “You’re not going to hurt her, Arch. You’re not. Not her, and certainly not the baby. If you want to be with her, if you want to be a dad, then do it. There’s nothing stopping you, but you. Let yourself be happy.”
I stared at my friend, who had talked me off ledges not so dissimilar to this one before, and tried to imagine where I’d be without his counsel over the years. “You know, you’d make a great therapist.”
He scoffed. “No I wouldn’t. I barely made it through business school. But I’ll be sure to send you my bill since you think I’m so amazing.”
“I’ll be sure to send my check in the mail too.” We laughed, both of us knowing I’d never owned a checkbook in my life, then walked over to the girls.
“What’s so funny?” Sophie asked, looking at Harrison as he dropped his arm over her shoulders. How he managed to act so nonchalant while there was an engagement ring hidden somewhere on his person was beyond me. I was cool under most pressure, but something told me I’d be losing my mind if I was planning on proposing to Darcy. The fact that that thought had occurred to me had me panicking underneath my carefully crafted layer of casualness.
