Tessa turned to look at Gabriel. “You sent a woman a color-coded spreadsheet?”
“It was efficient.”
“It was insane,” Knox said. “She thought you were a serial killer.”
“I was being organized.”
“You were being yourself. Same thing.”
A car door slammed somewhere around the front of the house. They all paused. Footsteps crunched along the side path. Lucy Wang appeared at the edge of the yard, arms full of bakery boxes, expression murderous.
“You didn’t tell me Knox was coming,” she said to Devney.
“I didn’t think it mattered.”
“It matters.”
Knox glanced toward the driveway. “I can head out if this is awkward.”
“It’s not awkward.” Lucy stepped past him, bakery boxes stacked high. “I’m here for Tessa and Devney.”
“You’re here because Devney needed dessert.”
“And I brought it.”
“Overachiever.”
“Always.”
They held each other’s gaze for a beat before Lucy continued toward the porch.
Gabriel leaned toward Tessa. “I’m sensing tension.”
“He rubs her the wrong way.”
“That seems mutual.”
“Probably.”
Dinner was chaos in the best way.
Ronan had grilled steaks to perfection. Devney had made three different salads despite Ronan’s objections. Lucy had set a cake on the sideboard that was almost offensively beautiful, off-limits until later. Knox had complained about everything while eating second helpings of the rest.
Gabriel sat at the table and let himself relax. Tessa sat at his side, laughing at Devney’s stories. Knox argued with Lucy about whether brownies should have nuts. Ronan caught his eye across the table with a look that saidyou did good.He had. Against all odds, against all his own defenses, he had done good.
After dinner, Lucy commandeered the cake, cutting and plating it while Knox stationed himself as far from her as possible. Devney and Ronan disappeared for a walk on the beach. Gabriel found himself on the porch with Tessa, watching the stars appear over the water.
He stepped closer, and his hand found the small of her back.
She didn’t know any of it. Not the pact he had signed in college. Not the framed copy in his desk drawer. Not that he had fed her a marketing line at dinner three weeks ago to keep all of it tucked away. Knox didn’t know the full version either—that Gabriel had wanted out for years, and that Ronan’s exit had been the green light he hadn’t taken. If Gabriel walked away now, Knox was alone with a promise Gabriel had asked him to make. Fourteen years of friendship against six weeks of falling in love with the woman he should never have lost.
He had to tell her. Before this got bigger. BeforeI love youturned into something he had only half-said.
“I like them.”
“My friends?”
“All of them. Even Knox.”
