Peyton
The next morning,I was surprised by a knock on my condo door. It wasn’t unusual for Noah to walk down the stairs that separated our places, sometimes for a cup of coffee before we both headed to the office. After not hearing from him the night before, though, I assumed I just wouldn’t see him that day, either.
“Hey,” I said, then stepped back. “Come on in. Happy birthday.”
Noah was already dressed for the day, in a nice pair of gray slacks and a casual white shirt that had three little buttons at the top. He slid past me, not quite making eye contact. “Morning.”
I patted my sweatpants, then gestured toward the kitchen. “I wasn’t expecting to see you. Do you want some birthday coffee, or…” I’d already apologized for my error of judgment at the office several times, but I still considered doing it again.
My friend frowned, and the irritation on his face bothered me. Noah and I had a lot in common, but there were times when that meant that I saw my own worst qualities reflected back to me through my friend. Noah had built a life of control and stability, and despite finding comfort in that, it didn’t always serve him.
It was a lesson I’d learned about myself through Jet.
“I can’t stay,” he told me, then sighed and finally met my eyes. “Are you still available for dinner later?”
I rubbed my hand over my beard. “I thought you were spending the day with your parents?”
“I am,” he sighed. “And I understand that it will be awkward. But they need to see my business partner in a better light.”
“Yesterday wasn’t the first time we’d met. College graduation, that Christmas they came to Philly, once on Skype.”
“Let’s remind them of that guy. Luckily, they prefer to never discuss uncomfortable subjects, so you can just try to pretend the whole thing never happened.”
My jaw felt tight. “But you’re not inviting your brother?”
“None of them want to see each other, trust me.”
He was right, but that didn’t actually make him right. “You don’t even like your parents,” I grumbled.
“Excuse me?”
“They’re not good to you, Noah. You’ve considered going no contact twice, they’re that bad. And they lied to you about Jet when you were kids. Isn’t it time you consider, I don’t know, caring a little bit more about the brother who really wants to be good to you and a little less about the parents who treat you like crap?”
A chill went across my skin when I heard my own words. Noah and I had a deep friendship, and we shared just about everything with each other, but we never argued, not like this.
He squeezed the bridge of his nose. “Peyton, come on. I already have enough on my plate, after Jet convinced you to hook up in the office.”
“That was me,” I insisted. “My idea. I surprised him!”
Noah turned away, not wanting to hear it.
Anyway, none of that was what I actually wanted to say, which was that I was falling for Jet, so Noah better get used to us being together. But I’d already shot my mouth off about his family business, and I was so worked up that I wasn’t thinking clearly. “Noah, I’m sorry, but…” My voice came out stern, stronger than I intended. “I don’t feel comfortable going to dinner with your parents.”
He blinked. “Seriously?” he asked softly.
Was I risking our friendship, the firm? Had I just put my entire life on the line?
All for Jet, I realized. I felt the choice deep in my bones, and in the middle of all the other confusion, I finally had clarity.
“Maybe we should talk once they’re out of town,” I told Noah. “Once you have more space.”
He gave me a pained look, twisted with disbelief, like I had just betrayed our friendship. We’d been there for each other, steadily and happily building our careers, focused on the field that we loved. Noah was just about the most reliable thing in my life, and I was the same for him.
I hated this, but he wasn’t leaving me a choice.
“Fine,” he said, breaking the moment. “I’ll talk to you later.”
Noah pulled the door shut behind him, and I let out a breath. That wasn’t at all how I had hoped the conversation would go, and it didn’t bode well for the future. But it was over, and now that I had seen my friend face to face, it was clear what I had to do.
