I shake my head and hold back another smile. She keeps surprising me. “I’m not like all the other doctors.”
“Right,” she says, biting her lip. “Because they’re all so quirky and awkward.”
“Geniuses usually are,” I declare, and she smirks. I stare at her until I notice the crowd gathering over near my sister and Blake, and I pull Daisy forward to get a better look.
“Well, shit,” I curse under my breath when I realize Blake is down on one knee. I guess I didn’t think he’d really go through with it, certainly not this soon.
“So … ah, will you? Marry me?” he asks tentatively, holding up a ring in front of her. He isn’t wearing his trademark cocky, arrogant expression either. He looks … well, terrified.
Hell, is hecrying?
“Oh, uh, yeah, sure,” Loren answers after a while, her tone uncertain, and I almost feel sorry for him.
“Sure?” he repeats.
“I mean, of course I will,” she says a little more convincingly before everyone applauds. But I can’t tell whether she’s cringing or smiling as he slips the ring onto her finger and wraps her up in a hug.
That son of a …
He’s guilting her into marrying him because of the babies. There’s no way Loren wants this, if her expression is any indication. He’s probably using her to fix his reputation so he can get ahead politically. I’m sure that’s why he’s proposing now, while the assistant district attorney and his wife are here. I’m barely holding back a growl when I feel Daisy’s hand on my arm.
“Landry?” she whispers.
I watch helplessly as Blake ushers Loren into the house. “I have to?—”
“No, you don’t,” she tells me, tugging me back when I instinctively move to follow them inside.
“Lo needs me to?—”
“Nope,” she cuts me off again. “She doesn’t need anything from you except your love and support, right?”
I pout. “But she clearly didn’t want to say yes,” I point out.
Daisy sighs, her eyes darting around nervously when I say it loudly enough for someone to overhear. “Look, I don’t know enough about your relationship with Loren to make a whole lot of assumptions, but I’m pretty sure your skepticism is the last thing she wants to hear right now,” she explains quietly. “Not to mention, she doesn’t seem to be the one who just got her heart broken in front of everyone.”
I take a step back and blink at her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
She tilts her head to the side in a gesture, and I follow her to the edge of the lawn. “Landry, I know you’re worried about Loren, but Blake is obviously head over heels for her while she’s, well …” She pauses to sigh before she continues. “I get the impression she’s been testing his loyalty.”
“She’s having his babies. I think that’s fair.”
“You’re right, and she shouldn’t be forced to marry him if she doesn’t want to. But I don’t think he’s proposing just because she’s pregnant, which means he’s going to be devastated if she tells him she doesn’t feel the same.”
I purse my lips as I reconcile Daisy’s take on their relationship with my own observations over the years. “Are you saying my sister’s the asshole here?”
She stifles a smile. “I’m saying she’s capable of looking out for herself. And she and Blake probably need to talk this out … without your help.”
I think back on the last serious conversation I had with Blake when he asked me to be more supportive of their relationship because Loren couldn’t seem to get over our parents’ failed marriage. And the way he’s repeatedly stood up to me on her behalf does sort of track with the idea of him having been in love with her all this time.
But then again, there’s no way Loren or anyone else could possibly believe the Blake Bourgeois I knew throughout college could ever be trustworthy, not after all the women I’ve seen him go through.
I’m still mulling it over when I catch JD and Tenley walking into the house. “Wait a minute, why do they get to go inside?” I demand, gesturing in their direction.
“Because she’s Loren’s best friend. And he’s Blake’s,” Daisy says plainly. She looks me in the eyes again. “Get over it, Landry. If you really love your sister, you’ll back off and let her make up her own mind. All she needs is your love and support, remember?”
I growl under my breath. “Fine. But don’t blame me for saying ‘I told you so’ when this blows up later.”
She pats my arm. “You know,ifthis does indeed blow up, we’re both out of a home. Maybe you should think twice about your allegiance here.”
