She smiled at me, but then squealed when she saw Gwen, another one of Laney’s friends, and raced over to her. Relieved that I wouldn’t have to make small talk, I saw Jameson hovering near the wine station, swirling a glass with that annoyingly precise posture of his and a smug grin on his face.
I went over and clapped him on the shoulder. “Finally, someone I can talk to without feeling like I’m under interrogation.”
He arched a brow, raising his glass to his lips but not taking a sip just yet. “Uh-huh. I guess you better tell me what you want to talk about, little brother. Your latest conquest? Your latest deal?”
I grinned. “Remember the client you gave me? I closed the deal. We had to up our offer, like I told you, but it went through without a single hiccup. I thought you might want to know your baby brother isn’t completely useless after all.”
“I never thought you were.” He chuckled. “That’s good, man. Congratulations. Maybe you have a head for business after all.”
“Maybe.” I leaned in slightly, lowering my voice. “Hey, uh, do you know anything about the Van Alens? Any family gossip?”
“Not really.” He shrugged, looking genuinely unconcerned. “Richard’s nice enough, but I don’t see him often. I’ve only met him with Dad a few times. Why?”
“Just curious,” I said lightly, trying to hide my sudden spike of anxiety, but I was on a mission to find out what my brothers knew and this was as good an opportunity as any. “Mom’s pretty weird about them, don’t you think?”
Jameson shook his head. “I can’t help you with that. Sorry. Why do you want to know, anyway? If Mom’s weird about it, she’s weird about it. It doesn’t have anything to do with us.”
“Fair enough. I just noticed it and I was wondering if you knew what happened between them.”
Laney waved me over from a corner of the living room, her hand resting over her bump. “Harrison, come meet someone!”
I drifted over to them, once again seeing Megan, who was all confidence and smiley energy, practically glowing in a fitted cocktail dress. Laney opened her mouth to introduce us, but I cut her off.
“We’ve met, actually. She thinks Claire is a pretty name.”
Laney beamed at her. “Thank you. It was a tough decision, but we’re both pretty excited about the name. When did you two meet?”
“Just after the toast,” I said, internally rolling my eyes when Laney nudged Megan closer to me. Her friend complied, sidling up to my side while I took a discreet step away.
Aurelia and I were engaged, and even though no one knew about it and there was no romance involved, I wasn’t about to flirt with other women. I saw Laney notice me putting some space between us, a frown flickering across her forehead, but she quickly smoothed it out with a smile.
“Megan does Pilates with me over at Gwen’s studio and she’s become one of my favorite people. I figured it was about time she met everyone.”
Sterling joined us then, sliding an arm around Laney’s shoulder and grinning at me. “When did you get here? I was starting to think you’d gotten a hotter invitation for tonight.”
“I wasn’tthatlate.” I groaned as I shook my head at him. “It was maybe thirty minutes and the traffic killed me.”
Megan nodded her agreement, widening her eyes at Laney and Sterling. “It was really bad earlier.”
She glanced at me. “You live in the city too?”
I nodded but quickly turned back to my brother and his wife, once again seeing Laney notice that I was making a point of not encouraging Megan’s interest at all. “You two have only been out here for less than a month. Surely, you still remember what traffic is.”
Laney laughed. “Of course, we do.”
Sterling shrugged. “You should’ve left earlier. Punctuality is important.”
I let out another groan. “Spare me the lecture,Dad.”
He smirked. “Well, Iamabout to be a father. I might as well get some practice with you.”
Laney elbowed him in the ribs. “He doesn’t need that from you right now. You’re not about to behisfather.”
“Hear hear.” I took a sip of my drink and wondered what it would take for him to stop thinking about me as the baby. Hopefully, the actual baby would do the trick.
In the meantime, however, Megan had finally moved a little bit farther away from me and she was now looking at Sterling with a suspicious kind of curiosity in her eyes. “You know, I’m actually glad I have the opportunity to talk to you tonight.”
He glanced at her. “You are? Okay, but I’m warning you in advance that I’m not very interesting.”
