"I know," I said. That was always the excuse. He'd been through a lot. "Anyway, I'll come to dinner."
"Awesome. Britt's making a roast, and I know how much you like her roasts."
"I like her everything," I said. "It's nice that you married someone who isn't completely useless in the kitchen."
Dan made an indignant noise. "Excuse you, I am not useless in the kitchen. I know how to cook plenty of things. It just so happens that she's better than me and has a wider palate or whatever."
"I'm going to tell her you said she had a wide palate."
"Oh my God, I hate you."
I laughed and shook my head, laying back on the couch. "No, you don't. I'm your favorite sister."
"You're my only sister. And thank fuck for that. I couldn't deal with two of you."
"No, you really couldn't. We'd overpower you every time. Anyway, I should go. Thanks for the invite."
"Of course. See you next week."
With all the work I had to do, the days flew by, and I found myself rushing home from a shoot so I could shower and change and head to Dan and Britt's only a few minutes late.
"Elise, you're fine," Britt said when I apologized. "We only just broke open the wine, and we haven't even all moved to the table yet." She smiled at me warmly, and I gave her a hug before following her into the dining room.
Their dinner parties were always well attended, but to my relief, Jason was not present. Logan was sitting at one end of the table, frowning at his phone, and Lydia and Deanna were there, both smiling and waving when I walked in.
The other three people were friends of theirs I hadn't met yet, and I introduced myself as I sat down, finding out they were Britt's friends from college, one of whom was just in town on business for the week.
I accepted a glass of wine, and leaned back in my chair comfortably, watching as Dan brought the food out from the kitchen and listening to the others make small talk while definitely not glancing down the table at Logan, who hadn't so much as looked up at me since I'd arrived.
Apparently playing it cool to him meant out right ignoring me. That was fine. I didn't want his attention anyway.
Once the food was out and dished up and everyone was seated, Britt turned to look at me with a smile. "I invited Jason, but he had to go on a trip for work and couldn’t make it."
I could feel my cheeks flushing as I debated how much to say. "That's alright," I settled on. "Dan told me he wouldn’t be here."
"It seemed like you two were hitting it off in Greece," she continued, and God, I was getting tired of that phrase. "Have you kept in touch?"
I shook my head. "No. I mean...it didn't really...go anywhere..."
I also hated being put on the spot like that. I didn't need everyone assembled to know my dating issues. And of course, now that we were talking about something uncomfortable, Logan was all ears, looking at me with an unreadable expression on his face.
I didn't give him the satisfaction of looking back.
"Oh," Britt said with a little frown. "Well, that's too bad. I thought maybe you two would get along."
"Why?" Logan spoke up, drawing attention to himself. "Because they were both single?"
"No," Britt replied. "Because they're both creative and passionate about things. I just thought it could be a good match." She looked self-conscious, and while Dan shot Logan a sharp look, I jumped in to defend her.
"He was nice," I said quickly. "We had a lot of good talks. I just wasn't really looking for anything while we were out there. I might give him a call or something, I don't know."
"Wait," one of Britt's friends said. Ashley, I think her name was. "Are we talking about Jason Pierce? Who works with Dan?"
"Yeah," Britt said. "You know him?"
She shook her head. "No. I mean, not personally, but he went out with one of my friends a couple months ago and was apparently a complete dick to her."
Britt leaned forward, looking concerned. "Jason was? How so?"
