I barreled into her, hugging her tightly enough to make her laugh.“Fiancée!”
“Oh, good,” she said softly as we embraced. “I’m a hugger too.”
“You smell like apricots,” I said as we pulled apart, because I wasn’t sure how else to express my amazement at the goddess my brother had scored.
“Andyouare stunning,” she said, still gripping my arms. She beamed at Wes. “I see the resemblance.”
I grabbed her hand. “The ring! Oh my god, it’s incredible.”
It was a dream of a thing, a gleaming, nearly dime-sized diamond on a silvery band.
“It’s good, right?” Wes boasted.
Claudia giggled.
“Beyond,” I said, bringing it closer to my eyes to admire it.
The ring on my surprise sister-in-law-to-be woke me up to a logistical issue.
“Wait a minute... the two of you... in my shitty little apartment? You should get a hotel!”
“Absolutely not,” Claudia said with authority, glancing at Wes for backup. “We agreed that since this is a whirlwind introduction, we should sop up every last second of togetherness. It’ll be like a kid sleepover. I have five siblings. I’m used to waiting in line for the loo.” She paused to frown. “As long as your roommate doesn’t mind.”
“God no, Meredith is very much a ‘more the merrier’ type of person. Plus she’s closing at work tonight, so she won’t be home until late.”
“We should stop by and annoy her after dinner,” Wes suggested.
I knew Meredith would love the chance to study the clan while she mixed cocktails.
“Well, this changes my agenda for the day,” I said, my heart sinking a little at the realization. “I guess we’re skipping pickleball?”
“Fuck no,” Wes said adamantly. “You playing a sport ishuge. I need to see it with my own eyes. And Claudia plays with me all the time; she’s really good.”
“I’m merely decent,” she added. “But I do love it.”
“Don’t you guys want to tour the city?” I pushed. “Claudia, have you been to New York before?”
“Oh, Ilivedin New York when I first started out,” she said with a smile. “No need to cart us to the Empire State Building or Macy’s. Being here feels like coming home.”
“Claudia’s a model,” Wes explained, as if it weren’t obvious by her lush, otherworldly features and willowy build.
“Of course you are.” I beamed at her.
Wes eyeballed a man cradling pantyhose stuffed with what looked like birdseed ambling past us. “Can we get out of here? I’m verging on overload.”
“Yup, I just need to send a quick text,” I said as I pulled out my phone.
So far, we were on track for our game at CPA this afternoon, but I wanted to let Owen know that we no longer needed a fourth. Claudia joining us felt like a leveling of the matchup, unless she was a sniper being modest about her skills.
But now it felt like a double date.
I was so busy obsessing about the optics that I didn’t notice the little boy working his way over to Wes until my brother was kneeling to chat with him.
“You know me from the video game? Is that so?” I heard Wes gently ask the boy. He looked up at the man accompanying the child to acknowledge him with a smile, then shifted his attention back. “Do the two of you playFIFAtogether?”
The boy bobbed his head eagerly, finally breaking into a smile.
It had only taken about ten minutes for one of the many video game–obsessed kids to identify my brother from his avatar player status.
