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Not far-fetched, I’ll give her that.
“It’s fine,” I reassure her, despite not feeling particularly social. “The more the merrier, right?”
Riley makes a face, unconvinced. “Right . . .”
She opens the door, and before she can say anything, a mass of curly blond fur jumps all over me.
“Happy, it’s good to see you too.” I crouch down and bury my head in the goldendoodle’s neck. I’m rewarded with three loud barks.
“Happy!” a deep voice booms from the living room. Miles. “Come here, boy.”
Riley offers me an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry.” She thrusts out her hand to help me get back up.
I take it, then dust off my pants. “It’s fine. You know I love that dog. More than you or my brother-in-law sometimes, for that matter.”
“Oh, I know.”
The smell of Moroccan spices lures me from the doorway and into the living room, where Happy stands at Miles’s feet. A young couple in their thirties sits comfortably on the couch with a baby in the woman’s lap. They look familiar, although I’ve never encountered them before.
“It’s good to see you, Charlee,” Miles says as he brings me to his gigantically broad chest.
I hug him right back.
Riley knows I was kidding earlier. I love them both so much. The broken and empty shell my sister was a few years ago pales in comparison to the woman she is now. And although she put in the work on her own, I can’t pretend Miles didn’t play a big part in helping my sister regain the confidence she lost with her ex-husband. Everything he does, he does with her in mind. With him, it’s always been Riley first, Miles second. I can’t recall someone ever being that attuned to my sister’s every need.
It’s actually quite fascinating, when you pay closer attention to it, how his demeanor changes when he’s around her. It’s as if his body becomes aware of her presence and can’t help but be drawn to her orbit. Scientists should study this shit.
“I’m sorry about the last-minute schedule change,” Miles starts, turning toward the couple sitting on their couch. “My sister and her husband decided to make a pit stop here before flying to New York City this weekend.”
“Very sorry to disturb your evening,” the woman says as she stands, offering the baby to her husband before she walks toward me like a goddamn vision. Long brown waves frame her face and float around her shoulders, eyelashes to die for, hips I would spend nights dreaming about, and legs for days. I see that Miles’s charm runs in the family. The woman pauses in front of me before leaning in and hugging me briefly.
“It’s nice to meet you, Charlee. I’m Avery, Miles’s sister, and this is Josh, my husband.” She points to the man waving at me as he presses a kiss on the baby’s cheek. Wavy brown hair, high cheekbones, and a sexy smile. Damn, where are these people coming from? “And this little nugget is our daughter, Margaux.”
“I’ve heard a lot about you guys,” I tell her. “It’s nice to finally put some faces to names. What brings you to the East Coast?”
Josh rises, Margaux in his arms. “My beautiful and wildly talented wife is headlining a photography conference next week. She’s been invited to guest speak on several panels. Very much in demand, this one.” He grins at Avery, who blushes right away.
“Photography, huh? I’d love to see your work. I’m a wildlife reporter, so I’m around photographers all day, and I dabble in it too sometimes.”
“Oh, I work mostly with people.” Avery brushes her hair behind her ear. “Influencers and brands. Weddings, pregnancies. Landscapes aren’t my forte.”
I chuckle. “Well, props to you, then. I wouldn’t be able to handle people and their lists of demands all day.”
“Oh, we know that, Char,” Miles retorts teasingly, walking toward Josh. When he’s close enough, Margaux wiggles in her father’s arms, stretching her tiny palms toward her uncle. Miles beams, picking her up, and something happens right before my eyes. His whole face melts like a marshmallow over a campfire, his crinkling eyes so alive with every smile he gives the kid, one wider than the next. The room falls quiet as we all watch him so naturally rest her on his shoulder, as if she were the most precious angel on the planet. Meant to be is what comes to my mind watching those two.
I glance in my sister’s direction. She’s as transfixed at the sight of Margaux, so small in Miles’s arms, as everybody else, if not more. Riley shared with me how hard it’d been for Miles when he learned he couldn’t have kids, and even though he’s come to peace with it, even though my sister never wants children, I can still feel the outpouring of admiration and love she carries for him in this moment. It vibrates through her so fiercely, almost protectively.
As if feeling the weight of my attention, Riley snaps out of her daze and looks at me. She clears her throat. “Who’s hungry?” she asks, breaking the spell Miles and Margaux cast over the whole room. As if life and time had stood still for a while.
“Depends.” Josh’s smile turns feline. “Did you cook?”
“Ha ha. I, in fact, did not. It’s not like Miles would ever let me close to a knife again anyway.”
Miles looks at his wife like she just said the most absurd words in the world. “Love, you’ve managed to almost cut your fingers not once, not twice, but three times this year. Forgive me for not wanting to spend fifteen hours in an emergency room on a Thursday night.”
Riley rolls her eyes. “Ave, I’m sure you’ll appreciate what your brother cooked tonight.”
Avery pulls out a chair and sits down, gently unfolding her napkin on her knees. “Let me guess. By the smell of it, I’d say . . . something flavorful and full of spice . . . maybe a tagine?”
