The Favor

Jen nodded. “Ah, it’s your way of apologizing to her family for eloping.”

“No,” said Dane. “I have no regrets about eloping, and I feel no need to apologize for making Vienna mine so fast.” He tightened his arm around me as he snared my gaze with his. “I want the reception because I want to celebrate the most important day of our lives.”

“We celebrated it plenty, as I recall,” I said with a suggestive note in my tone.

His mouth hiked up at the corner. “But I know you would have wanted a reception. Would have wanted the dress and the flowers and to share the day with the people you love. So I’m giving that to you. It’s important to me that you’re happy.”

Oh, he was so smooth and believable I almost bought it. “Thank you for being so kind and thoughtful.”

“I’m not kind or thoughtful. And you’re the only person who has ever implied differently.”

“Well, you’re nice to me. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone else. I wouldn’t dare shoot your badass rep to shit.”

“Good. Then I won’t tell people you bite your toenails.”

I gaped in horror. “I never bite my toenails.” I didn’t even like feet.

“I didn’t say you do it. But I will say that if you go around telling people I’m kind and thoughtful.”

I gasped. “You wouldn’t.”

“Wouldn’t I?”

“Probably,” I muttered. “Maybe you’re not so kind after all.”

“Glad we understand each other.” Dane cut his gaze back to his brother. “What’s the other reason you came?”

“I have to write a speech for a presentation I’m making next week,” replied Kent. “I was hoping you could read over it and give me a second opinion. Something about it is annoying me, but I can’t quite figure out what it is. I need a fresh pair of eyes.”

“I’ll take a look.”

“I have it on my phone.”

“You can read it to me while I make drinks. Coffee?” he asked me.

I shook my head. “I’m good, thanks.”

He lifted a brow at Jen in question.

She smiled. “Coffee would be great. Two sugars, no milk.”

Dane dropped a kiss on my mouth. “I’ll just be a minute.” He left the room with his brother.

I retook my seat on the sofa, which placed me across from Jen, who sat with her back so straight I would bet it ached.

Crossing one leg over the other, she pasted a smile on her face that didn’t reach her eyes. “Your family seems very nice.”

“They are. I’m lucky.”

She cleared her throat. “I asked your wedding planners if there was any way I could help with the preparations for the reception. They said to ask you.”

“The planners have it all covered, but it’s nice of you to offer.”

She squinted, watching me closely. “You don’t trust me not to sabotage anything,” she guessed.

“No, I don’t.” I saw no need to deny it. I wasn’t being a bitch; I just wasn’t going to insult my intelligence or hers by drumming up silly excuses.

“I suppose I can understand that. But I’m asking you to give me a chance. I just want to make up for what I did and said.”

“Why bother?” I asked without heat. “Let’s be honest here, or we’re not going to get past this. You don’t like me at all. I can feel it in every interaction we have, so why offer to help with the reception plans?”

“Dane isn’t just my brother-in-law, he’s my friend—he has been for a long time. He matters to me. He’s never been angry with me before. Now that he’s giving me the cold shoulder, everything feels … off.”

“You can’t really blame him for being mad at you.”

“I don’t blame him at all. This mess is on me, and I want to fix it. I want my friend back.”

“I don’t see that happening unless you shake off how determined you are to dislike me. It’s not really an issue for me, but it is for Dane. Put yourself in his position. I doubt you’d want to be around someone who so strongly disapproved of Kent.” Then again, maybe she wouldn’t care. In all the times I’d seen them together, they never behaved like a couple—there was no handholding or cuddling or even a tiny “spark,” but there was esteem there. Like they were close friends.

She frowned. “So I have to like you if I want him to forgive me? That’s hardly fair. We can’t always help who we do or don’t like.”

“We can if we’re finding reasons to dislike someone rather than giving them a chance,” I argued. “Look, you and I are never going to be BFFs. But we can at least be civil to each other. For his sake, if nothing else.”

“I can do ‘civil.’ Like I said, I want to fix my mess. But that can’t happen if you’re standing in the way.”