He lifts a shoulder. “I saw you in here with Archer, and I didn’t want to interrupt. I went downstairs until he came down.”
“Was that hard?” I ask, my voice guarded.
“You have no idea.”
I press my lips together.
“It’s been hard my entire life, Tatum. It’s always been you for me, but I resigned myself to the fact that it wasn’t me for you. Except…now it is. It’s happening, and my heart wants to believe it’s real, but my brain keeps telling me that if you had the chance, you’d go back to him.” He’s quiet as he waits for my response to that, and again, I’m at a loss for words.
“Say something,” he says softly. “Are you going back to him?”
I clutch his hand in mine. “I told you once that he and I had our problems. It wasn’t perfect, but now he wants me back. He wants to try again. I think maybe it’s losing your mom…realizing life is short and unpredictable. I don’t know.”
“Or it’s just you, Tate. Your stunning beauty, your kind heart, your perfect chaos. There’s something about you that we both fell in love with.”
My chest hurts. I thought I already made this decision, but it feels like he’s asking me to make it again.
“And I love you both, too.” In very different ways.
I love Archer as the man I was with for the last eight years—give or take, on and off—and as the man I had a crush on for four years before we ever even got together. He makes up nearly half of my life’s history.
But Ford is my best friend. He’s been there to pick me up when I fall more times than I can count. He’s my business partner, too. He’s home. And I think he’s my future.
I knew it would be tough coming here, that seeing Archer would dredge up old feelings. But what I didn’t expect was to see him and be so sure that what I’m building with Ford is actually what I want out of life.
I thought it would be different.
I lean my forehead to Ford’s, and then I say the words softly. “But you’re the one I want a future with.”
I hear a soft exhale, and then I feel his lips as they collide with mine.
We both hear the doorbell, and he pulls back.
It’s brief. Too brief. I want to lean into him, to feel him. For ten days to pass in a flash so we can get married and ride into the sunset toward a future together—a future I never expected and never knew I wanted until I experienced the last month and a half with a man who wants to give me everything.
“Come on,” he says, and he grabs my hand to lead me downstairs to greet whoever’s at the door.
I take a deep breath in the front hall as he opens the door, and for just a split second that belongs only to me, I take it all in. This entry, this mansion, this family. The legacy here in the walls, the memories that even I have here that I don’t want to let go.
It’s not my mansion to make those decisions with, but it seems like Ford is the only one of the Bradley siblings who actually wants to sell it.
Everleigh’s best friend, Penny, is at the door with bags of takeout. Ford grabs the bags from her hands, and we all head into the kitchen only to find the rest of the Vegas residents of the Bradley family standing around the large counter. It’smore hugs hello, this time with Dex, his wife Ainsley, and his son Jack, along with Everleigh and Maverick.
We unpack the food—salads, a few different types of pasta, and garlic bread—as Everleigh gathers plates and silverware. It’s chaos as the eleven of us in here (discounting the baby who just turned one) reach for food to fill our plates.
“Where’s Archer?” Ivy asks, and everyone glances around, but no one knows.
I notice Mr. Bradley is also missing, and I can’t help but worry what he’ll try roping Archer into next. And if Archer feels like he’s left out in the cold, I worry that he’ll sign more papers that’ll only get him into more trouble.
We all take our plates filled with food to the dining room, the place with the table big enough to accommodate all of us, the place where we always gathered for the famous Bradley Monday night dinners.
Eventually Archer, Mr. Bradley, and another man I don’t know walk into the room with food on their plates, too. They sit at the far end of the table, and a beat of quiet passes.
Dex breaks the silence by belting out “Sweet Caroline,” Neil Diamond’s most popular song, and the rest of the family follows with “Bah-bah-bah!”
Everyone laughs, and it breaks the awkward spell. I glance across the table at Archer, and even he has a small smile playing at his lips.
“God, I miss this,” Everleigh says. “All of us together, here in this place. How long has it been?”
