“Does Luis know?”
“Luis?” Sebastian rolled his eyes, but there was a fond smile playing on his lips. “He makes me tell that storyallthe time. But then, I always ask him about that soap star he shagged and—”
Ari’s mouth fell open. “I have dinner with you and Luis like four times a week, and you two have never once dished the dirt on anyone famous. Instead, you’re always banging on about the newest low-carb diet you’re trying, while Luis is always complaining to me about that neighbour of yours who won’t cut her shrub back.”
“Patty.” Sebastian sneered. “And her rampant bush.”
Ari frowned. “I can’t help but feel a little cheated here, Sebastian.”
For a moment, Sebastian seemed to consider her. He inhaled on his cigarette, long and thoughtful, before blowing smoke into the air above them.
“If you want the truth, Ari, Luis and I... Well, we’re both a little uncomfortable talking about sex with you.”
Again, Ari’s mouth fell open. “Why?”
Sebastian shrugged. “Because, point one, you’re my sister and it’s a little icky. And point two, well...” he trailed off.
“Point two?” Ari pressed.
“Well, because you don’t have it, my darling.”
She paused, suddenly aware of the weight from the backpack on her shoulder. Uncomfortable, she shifted it, feeling colour flood her cheeks. “I have had sex, thank you very much,” she snapped.
“You have a daughter, so I figured that out for myself,” Sebastian retorted. “But recently?”
Ari coloured further. “Well, I don’t know how you definerecently—”
“You’re the perfect paradox, you know.” Sebastian shook his head. “A wedding planner — and one of the best in the business, I might add — who surrounds herself with magic and love and all things romance, and yet has remained consistently single for... What has it been now? Seven years?”
Eight,Ari’s head immediately supplied.Eight years.Instinctively, her hand reached into her jacket pocket — she traced her fingertip over the card that lay within.
“I’m not criticising you darling,” Sebastian carried on. “God knows, what you do in your private time is your own business. But Luis and I... Well, we worry about you. Sometimes we wonder if you aren’t more than a little... lonely.”
“How can I be lonely? I have my family,” Ari stuttered, and Sebastian gave her a kindly smile.
“Yes, of course you do.” He blew more smoke into the air. “But if you spent any more time with Luis and I you’d be living with us, Ari.”
“I’m not... I’m not at your houseallthe time.” Even she could hear the weakness in her voice.
Sebastian raised an eyebrow at her. “We plan our meals around you. Luis calls me from Borough Market every Saturday morning while we’re out on the wedding circuit, asking if you prefer Italian olives to Greek ones or Roquefort to Gorgonzola.”
Ari stared at him in horror, shifting her boots in the mud awkwardly. “You don’t have to plan meals around me.”
“I keep telling Luis that.” Sebastian rolled his eyes once more. “I keep telling him you’re like a gannet with hollow legs who eats everything but the plate her food is served upon — and even that is touch and go sometimes — but does he listen to me, oh no, he’s all, ‘She is your sister, Sebastian, and we feed our family well in my culture,’” Sebastian sighed, dragging on his cigarette tiredly. “God, I miss him.” He looked up at Ari worriedly. “Don’t tell him about the cigarettes, will you? You know what he’s like — well, of course you do, you’re with us all the time — he hates the smoking.”
“We all hate the smoking.” Ari worried her bottom lip between her teeth. “I won’t come around so often when we get home, okay?” she offered quietly, and Sebastian sighed, dredging through the mud to stand by her side.
“Yes, you will, because we adore you, and we adore Reine.” He pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. “Like I said, Luis and I... we just worry about you. We’re concerned that you’re going to waste your youth waiting for a man that might not—”
“Don’t say it,” Ari whispered, closing her eyes.
“—come back for you.” Sebastian gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze.
It was like a knife running down her spine, the jolt of pain Ari felt. She rubbed her fingers over the card in her pocket once more, then took a long, cleansing breath of fresh forest air.
“He’s coming back for me,” she said firmly. “He promised.”
“Darling, I—”
