We both turn to find him making funny faces with Claud, leaning back, not a care in the world.
His brown hair is haphazardly swept to the side, easily sipping his wine in between his fun.
“When I was dropping off Claud one day, I heard him yelling. I thought maybe it was a one-off, but then I overheard employees say he’s a hard-ass when I was in the elevator.”
I nod with force. “He is. He’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”
“You know, I can hear you two.”
“We don’t care,” I say, then go on to Juliette about how he made a guy cry last week. “Leo is one of the smartest people I know. He doesn’t take incompetence lightly, and I understand that. If he’s putting in one hundred and ten percent, he expects his employees to do the same.”
“Heyyy.” Nate playfully pulls my ponytail. “I’m the smartest guy you know.”
My wine almost spurts out of my mouth. “Don’t make me say it. I’m not a liar.”
Harrison barks out a laugh. “Nate’s always been so touchy over this.”
My shoulder lifts. “I only speak the truth.” I lean over and kiss Nate’s cheek. “You should have tried harder in school,” I mutter and wink.
It always killed him that Leo and I scored higher than he did on all our tests, but to say Nate is not smart would be a lie.
He was just not in the top two in his class like Leo and I were.
“Was it always like this with you guys?” Juliette asks.
She doesn’t need to elaborate; I know exactly what she means.
“Always. The three of us were inseparable. We had a blast in college. It was the only time in my life I had a six-pack; I was constantly cracking up.” I duck my head, for a moment, thinking of Camila, and I’m done hiding away from my feelings. “But it was even better when we came to New York to see Camila.”
Nate smiles softly and nods. “Until she tried to make you break the rules.”
“Don’t remind me. She gave me a heart attack every other day.”
“I was driving you to the airport when she told you she was going skydiving,” Harrison adds. “I thought you were going to throw up.”
“I tried to talk her out of that one. It didn’t work.”
Juliette’s head bounces between us all, smiling fondly.
“Maddie is a rule follower, goody two-shoes,” Leo adds. “So being friends with our sister never made sense. She lived to push the boundaries.”
Chuckling, I agree. “This is why we were more like sisters than anything else. This is so cliché, but I swear we clicked from the second we met. For me, that just never happened. When I was younger, I was much shyer but even more reserved and cautious. I grew up in a small town where my brother was king?—”
“So you didn’t know who was genuine or not?” Juliette asks lightly.
“Bingo. Then Camila came barreling into my life, barely one word out of her mouth before she was hugging me, telling me Nate loved me and she wanted to be my sister-in-law.” The last words get caught in my throat.
“She really was so aggressive.” Harrison laughs, then adds, “With the kindest, most thoughtful heart.”
Juliette glances at Claud, who is listening to all of us with the biggest smile on her face. “Sounds like you had the best mom in the world.”
“I know,” she singsongs, and we all chuckle. “But now I’m the luckiest, because I have two best mommies.”
Juliette, clearly not expecting that, covers her face and starts to cry. Harrison drags her chair closer to him, pulling her close to his body, rubbing a soothing hand down her back.
“I’m sorry, it’s all the hormones.” She holds out her arms. “Come here, sugar plum.” She plants kisses all over Claud’s face, telling her how much she loves her.
Everyone at the table is taking it in except Seb, whose head is hung.
