I stand up straighter. “When?”
Trevor’s eyebrows furrow. “At the wedding last year. He’s older than me, but not by much.”
“I’m the perfect boyfriend.”
“When you’re being paid,” Trevor argues like an asshole.
“Just because I don’t date much outside of the fake boyfriend thing doesn’t mean I can’t do it.”
Trevor groans. “Please don’t make this a competitive thing. Don’t you have to go back to Georgia by the end of the weekend anyway.”
“I don’t have to do anything.” I take a large bite out of the pumpkin scone I’d bought earlier. “I can be anywhere. I’m a free agent.”
Trevor hums but doesn’t comment. The two of us stand at the edge of the field, watching Eli and Benji dance among the sunflowers, glowing with the setting sun. Trevor and I have always been the more reserved boyfriends. Eli and Benji are the free spirits, the ones who get the johns wrapped around their fingers.
The festival wraps up slowly, with Beau and Colby rejoining the group towards the end. Time turns syrupy-slow, especially as we make the ride back to Colby and Eli’s place. I keep my eyes peeled for Harper as we make our way out of the crowd, but there’s no sight of him. Benji kicks me in the heel as he settles into the back seat of Colby’s Jeep. I aim a pointed glare at him, but Benji only rolls his eyes.
“Hey, so, Harper?” I ask into the silence of the car.
Colby’s blue eyes fly up to the rearview mirror. “What about him?”
Eli turns around in the passenger seat, look penetrating. “Harper?”
“He’s single, right?” I ask, gaze locked on Colby, hoping to see a hint of something on his face. But his gaze stays steely, carefully keeping Harper’s secrets. The only sign my question got to him are his knuckles going white as his hands tighten on the wheel.
“Yes, he’s single,” Colby confirms, teeth gritted.
Eli’s eyes flick from me to Colby, a frown inching across his face. “Is there something we should know?”
Colby’s smile is tight as he glances over at Eli. “Nope. Harper’s just really special to all of us. He’s single and doesn’t date much.”
“The service dog?” I question, because I’m too fucking curious for my own good.
Colby’s lip twitches at the corner. “Not my story to tell. Did Harper tell you why?”
I snort. “He said he has severe allergies, is allergic to bullshit, that Honey is his bullshit detector, and proceeded to sneeze and asked why I wanted to give him an anaphylactic reaction.”
Benji laughs loudly, hand gripping his stomach. “Oh my God, I’m in love with him. Do you think he’ll date me?”
I cut a glare his way. “Fuck off, Benji.”
A small chuckle escapes Colby as he pulls into the driveway of his property. I don’t miss the way Eli’s eyes twinkle at the sound of the laugh. They’re nauseatingly in love. Good for them. We’re all quiet as we climb out of the car, the gravel crackling underneath our feet as we head into Colby’s house. Benji and I have been crashing in the mother-in-law suite over the garage, and Eli’s been staying in the big house. Doesn’t seem like it’s much of a hardship for him.
The two of them should just get over it and live together already. But Eli is stubborn when he really wants to be. I glance over my shoulder in the direction of Beau’s house, sparing one final thought to Trevor for the night. We all gravitate to the back porch without a word.
I’d been a little hesitant about Colby when I’d first arrived. Eli is so pure, a bottle of sunshine, that I’d worried he’d been taken advantage of when he told us he fell in love with a john and promptly swept off his feet. But all I needed to see was the way Colby looks at him, like Eli is every wish he’s ever had fulfilled. Hard to deny love that looks like that.
“Beer?” Colby asks, blond head buried in the fridge.
Benji and Eli are already out on the porch, heads pressed together as they whisper about something on Benji’s phone. Curious.
“Sure.”
Colby pulls his head out of the fridge, hands me two beers, then tilts his head as he takes me in. I’m a little taller than Colby, but he’s got more bulk. My basketball days are long behind me. I don’t need the amount of muscle mass I used to require. But my height is something I can never escape.
“Harper is special to all of us,” Colby says, apropos of nothing.
“I get it.”
