Her lips pursed. “So what happens if he doesn’t show?”
I let out another humorless laugh. “I don’t know, but at this rate, I might have to be him all the way to the wedding.”
Kate sniffed and shook her head, her gaze intense on mine. “What happens then, Will? You marry her as Jesse? That’s not legal, or right. Or sane.”
“No,” I agreed quietly. “It’s not. I want out. I just don’t know how to say it. Especially to her.”
“Yeah,” she murmured. “That’s going to hurt.”
Before I could respond, the elevator dinged behind us and Nate motioned for Eliza to get out first. She laughed at something he’d said and the sound hit me square in the chest.
Kate shot me one last look.Get it together, Will. Now.
“Everything good?” Nate asked casually when they rejoined us, but the look he gave Kate was everything but casual.
“Perfect,” I said. “No mortal doom is predicted to hit W&S today.”
“Great,” he replied dryly. “Love that for us.”
Eliza stepped closer to me, her smile softening. “Your office isn’t boring, by the way.”
“Give it time,” I said. “It grows on you. Like mold.”
She laughed, and once again, I felt it in my chest. Everything in me settled at the sound, like I’d been missing a part of myself while she’d been gone.
Nate glanced between us, frowning slightly before he seemed to decide something. “Come over for dinner tonight. Our place. Does eight work?”
I sighed but nodded. “We’ll be there.”
They left us soon after that, and for the rest of the day, my conversation with Kate replayed itself in my mind. By the time we arrived at their house, Nate confirmed my suspicions that Kate had not only talked to him about everything I’d said, but that he’d put it together anyway.
While the girls talked after dinner about travel, books, and spa treatments that changed lives, my brother handed over another drink. “So, what’s the plan?”
I took a sip, buying myself a second. “Bold of you to assume I have one.”
Nate didn’t smile. “This is serious, Will.”
“It’s obvious, isn’t it?”
“That you and Eliza have feelings for each other?” he said. “Yeah. It’s not subtle.”
“Great,” I muttered. “I shouldn’t have enjoyed your misery so much. I feel like this is karma, biting me in the ass for it.”
He chuckled. “Maybe it is, but what are you going to do about it?”
I stared into my glass for a second. “I don’t know.”
“That’s not good enough.”
“I know what Iwantto do, but what I want is impossible.”
“Impossible?” Nate was quiet for a beat. “Why? Because of Jesse?”
“She doesn’t even know who I am, Nate. I’ve been lying to her from day one, and the second the truth comes out, this is over.We’reover.”
Nate followed my gaze when I looked at her across the room, his expression unreadable. “Maybe.”
I scoffed. “No. Not maybe. Definitely.”
