He leans back against his booth seat and undoes the buttons of his jacket. “I’ll be honest. I felt intimidated by your friendship with Lia and of course your success with your brothers, and I went about it in all the wrong ways. I’m sorry about that.”
Huh . . .
This is, well, this is not what I anticipated. I expected him to maybe place blame on me, or say nothing was wrong, or even pick a fight, but this . . . yeah, I don’t know how to handle such honesty.
I grip the back of my neck. “Thank you for the apology. That, uh, that means a lot, man.”
“Yeah, I should have done it a while ago, maybe things wouldn’t have been so awkward between us and we could have hung out more, but pride is a funny thing.”
“I get that. I probably should have approached you earlier too.”
“Why are you approaching me now? Besides the wedding coming in close.”
I shrug. “Just thought that maybe it would be best for everyone. I think Lia sensed the tension between us, and she’s already stressed, so I didn’t want to stress her out even more. I thought if I could remove a stressor for her, it might ease her mind.” I want to say ease her apprehension, but fuck would that open a door I don’t want to walk through with Brian.
“Thoughtful,” he says with an edge. Now that was the kind of tone I was expecting, not the happy-go-lucky guy I was just talking to. In seconds, I watch his posture stiffen, his expression grow hard, and the smooth edges of his jaw become jagged.
Sound the alarm . . . the man is on alert and ready to strike.
And here I thought he was going to be mature.
*Mentally rubs hands* This is what I was waiting for.
Keeping an easy-breezy tone, I say, “And with you guys getting married, I don’t want to lose her. I know things will change because she will be your wife, and I’m going to respect that. I won’t be able to drop in all the time as I do now, and I know our friend dates will be few and far between. I just don’t want any awkwardness to get between us.”
Brian nods. “I can understand that.”
It’s all he says.
He doesn’t reassure me.
He doesn’t offer up a plan that could solve my anxieties over losing Lia.
Just a simple understanding. My suspicions were correct. Once they get married, it’s going to be hell on earth to hang out with Lia. And let’s be honest. If I were in his shoes, I wouldn’t want the best friend to crowd my marriage either. Especially if I was marrying Lia—which would be weird—but I wouldn’t let him near her.
Our drinks and salads are delivered at the same time, and as we set our napkins on our laps and pose our forks, I can’t help but wonder why he’s so defensive about my relationship with Lia. We’ve never, and I mean NEVER, given him a reason for concern. So why the fuck does he hate me so much?
“You know, I’ve always admired your friendship with Lia.” He looks up at me. “That’s all it’s ever been, right?”
Jesus . . .
Okay, so that’s why he hates me.
“Yes,” I say, looking him dead in the eyes. “She’s my best friend, that’s it, nothing more. You don’t need to worry about anything other than us just being friends.”
He slowly nods. “Well, if that’s the case, I’m supposed to have Lia all to myself this weekend, but I would love to go out on a double date with you.”
“Oh, that would be cool, but I’m not seeing anyone at the moment, so your double date would sort of be a third wheel situation.”
“I’m aware of your dating status. That’s why I have the perfect person for you.”
Errrr . . . what?
“You have someone for me to go out on a date with?”
Brian nods. “Yeah. Her name is Birdy. She is my buddy’s sister, and she’s been having a hard time finding a genuine guy. He was telling me about it last night, and I thought, you know, I might have the perfect person for her. And since, you know, you don’t have any romantic feelings for anyone else, this might be the perfect chance to meet someone new.”
Any romantic feelings for anyone else? That’s a specific way to say that.
