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Her shoulders are back, and her chin is up. She’s looking directly at Beckett.

“And I’m the one who’s been stalking him.”

My heart thumps hard.

I’m so proud of her.

She’s telling the most important person in her life what she wants. Clearly. Directly.

I step in next to her and take her hand. Brewser goes from looking surprised to looking proud. He gives her an encouraging smile.

But I focus on Beckett. It clearly takes several seconds for what she said to sink in.

Then Beckett frowns. “What do you mean you’ve been stalking Lawson?”

“I’m the one who’s been taking casseroles over there,” she says.

“It started innocently,” Brewser offers. “I’ve been diagnosed with Parkinson’s.” He lets that hang in the air for a moment, now officially announcing it to everyone and not just his little group of friends.

Beckett looks from Sutton to Brewser, his frown deepening.

“Damn, I’m really sorry Brewser,” he says, clearly distracted, but properly concerned.

“It’s okay. I’m going to be okay,” the older man tells him. “But Sutton and Lawson have known for a little while. And Sutton stepped up and was trying to help. She started bringing casseroles over. I told Lawson they were for him, because I was trying to cover up my own need for them with my friends.” He looks at Harley, Wilson, and Leo. “I’m sorry.”

Leo waves that off with a flip of his hand. Harley and Wilson simply shake their heads.

“It doesn’t matter how it started,” Sutton says, pulling Beckett’s attention back to her. “I continued it, very happily. And I turned it into more than casseroles. I had a really good time with it. And it turned into more than just a little fun.” She looks up at me. “I’m in love with Lawson. And…we’re together.”

“I’m in love with her too,” I say, meeting Beckett’s gaze directly. “It’s really important you know that.”

Beckett holds my gaze for a long moment, then looks back to his sister.

“So you’ve been lying to me,” Beckett says.

Sutton immediately protests, “No. Beckett, I’ve never flat-out said that Lawson and I are not dating. And you know how I’ve felt about him for a long time.”

But I understand what he means. And he’s right.

“You lied by omission,” he says. “You both knew that I didn’t want you together and that, even when you were spending time together, I believed that you weren’t involved, that Lawson was just helping you out with the dance studio.” He stops. Then says, his voice quieter. “That you were respecting my wishes.”

Fuck.

“I also believed that neither of you knew who his stalker was.” Beckett blows out a breath. “We had numerous conversations about the stalker.” He meets my gaze. “I thought we were becoming friends.”

I swallow hard. “We were. We are. We are friends, Beckett.”

“We were having this stupid competition, bonding over these stalkers.” He shakes his head. “I told you how I feel about…” He glances toward Andi, but just says, “...and the whole time it was actually my sister. And you knew it.”

“He didn’t,” Sutton says quickly. “Not for a long time. I kept it from him. And he did start helping with the dance studio because he’s my friend. There was nothing else at first.”

That’s not true. But this isn’t the time to say that. It doesn’t matter. I am her friend. In addition to everything else.

I get where Beckett is coming from. His sister and the guy he was starting to trust have kept information from him. It’s not technically lying, but it’s not upfront honesty either.

It’s not what he expected, or wanted, from us.

“I’m sorry, Beckett,” I finally say. It’s the truth. And it’s far easier and more sincere than trying to explain everything else.