He chuckled. “I get it. I was just in your shoes, like, two months ago, remember? Snap at me all you like, but I’m not going anywhere. Clearly, you need someone to talk to about this, so I’ll ask again, why her?”
“Well, for starters, she answered my ad, which makes her my only real choice right now, but it’s not just that. She’s…”
“Different?” he suggested knowingly.
I shrugged. “Yeah, she is. She’s also got a kid. Apparently, that’s a deal-breaker for most men, which is why she answered the ad, but I just…” Trailing off again, I roamed through the words rattling around my brain and finally looked back at him. “I honestly don’t care. In fact, I feel like it would probably make things easier with Mom. Two daughters-in-law pregnant and she’s still acting like the grandkid quota hasn’t been met yet. Maisie’s little boy would be a point on my side of the balance sheet.”
Jameson gave me a long look, the kind that made it clear he was dissecting every word and every pause, but then heshrugged, seeming completely unfazed. “If it shuts Dad up, go for it. Better you than me, though. I’m not sure I’d be able to raise someone else’s kid.”
I snorted. That was Jameson in a nutshell, always cool, always appearing to be nonchalant, and rarely rattled. Sterling carried the weight of being the oldest while Harrison reveled in being the baby, but me? I’d always been the one in the middle.
Technically, Jamie was in the middle too, but I was youngest middle. Somehow, that seemed to have made me the true middle child.
He stretched out in the chair, lacing his hands behind his head like he didn’t have a single care in the world. “Are you ready for that?” he asked. “Stepping in to be someone’s dad?”
“Are you?” I retorted.
He laughed. “No, I’m not, but I have a few months left to prepare for it and I’m seeing them grow. I’m part of the process. You’d just be getting dumped in the deep end.”
“The kid’s out of diapers,” I countered. “I won’t be doing the pajama drill for feeding or changing, and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t scream bloody murder in the middle of the night for reasons no one can figure out.”
“Touche.” He grinned. “On the other hand, the kid’s out of diapers and you won’t be doing the pajama drill or comforting him in the middle of the night. There’s something to be said for all that, I’ve heard. You also still haven’t answered me. Are you ready?”
Fuck, he has me there.
It was easy for him, though. For Sterling too. They were golden sons. They carried the most weight and they always faced the pressure first, but that also meant they’d always been the ones in the family’s spotlight.
My whole life, I’d known how the future was laid out. Sterling would inherit the company as CEO, Jameson would become theCFO, and I’d get whatever scraps were left. A trust fund, sure. There was also a tidy inheritance waiting for me—if I played by the rules.
But the legacy? The mansion? The Westwood Estate itself?
Not a chance.
Maybe that was why I’d been such a shithead growing up. I wasn’t blind. I knew where I ranked in the family pecking order. If I couldn’t be first in line, then I’d damn well make sure I was loud enough, reckless enough, troublesome enough that they couldn’t just ignore me. Every suspension from school, every fight, every time I’d pushed too far?
That had been me essentially waving my arms, yelling,look at me, damn it!
It was different for Harrison, too. The baby. Though I didn’t know yet where he was going to fit into the company.
At least I had my corner office now, but I headed up a department I’d built from scratch. Knowing I would never occupy one of the top spots, and that I could run circles around half the marketing executives in this town, I’d convinced Dad to stop outsourcing and give me a chance.
I could close deals in my sleep, but at the end of the day, I still wasn’t Sterling. I wasn’t Jameson. I’d had to build my department and earn my title while they’d been born into theirs.
“No, I don’t think I am ready,” I finally admitted. “I’m honestly not sure anyone is, but that doesn’t make much of a difference, does it?”
I was still getting married. While I would’ve liked it to be for love, one day when I was sure I really was ready for it, this wasn’t that.
Sterling, Jameson, and I had all been pushed into it for appearances’ sake. For convenience. In my case, however, it was mostly for the inheritance clause in my father’s will. He’d made it perfectly clear that if I wasn’t married and if I didn’t showsome damn stability, everything I would’ve inherited would be secured out of my reach until I eventually met those conditions.
If I played ball though, the payout would be more than enough to allow me to buy a big house and an even bigger boat somewhere tropical. Sterling’s motivation had been the company, his seat as CEO. Jameson’s had been his seat at the big boys’ table as CFO.
It was all cold calculation and yet, underneath it all, the truth scratched at my insides like a feral cat fighting to get out of a bag. What I really wanted, even though I would never admit it out loud, was for my parents to be proud of me.
I wanted them to look at me like someone they respected rather than just the loud-mouthed middle kid they tolerated. Maybe marrying Maisie, of all people, probably wouldn’t fix any of that, but it sure as hell couldn’t hurt.
Besides, she needed help with that kid and he reminded me so damn much of myself that I had a feeling he and I could be good for each other. That didn’t hurt either.
Jameson leaned back, another smirk on his lips. He inclined his chin at me. “I suppose you’re not wrong. None of us thought we were ready for marriage, yet here we are. None of us have any clue what’s in store for us as parents, but we’re all staring that down the barrel too. I just never would’ve thought you’d beat us to it.”
