Moonlight over Manhattan (From Manhattan with Love 6)

Daniel snapped the top off the beer and pulled a second one from the fridge. “It’s not a new way if you live in Greenland. It’s a way of life.”

“Do you ever stop being a lawyer?”

Daniel handed her a beer and took a mouthful of his own. “That’s not being a lawyer. That’s general knowledge.”

“You always have to lay out the facts!”

“Ah, in that case I definitely wasn’t being a lawyer. At best we lawyers are selective with our facts.” Ignoring the dogs, he tugged Molly against him and kissed her long and hard. She sank against him and for a moment they blended, a perfect unit.

Watching them, Harriet felt an ache behind her ribs.

Great.

Love was all around her. Or that was how it seemed.

She wasn’t going to be envious. She loved Daniel. She loved Molly. She was genuinely happy for them.

And jealous.

She was jealous. Jealous of her brother and jealous of her twin.

What did that say about her?

Annoyed with herself for not being the person she wanted to be, she dropped to her knees and hugged Valentine, Molly’s Dalmatian. “Who’s a gorgeous boy?” Valentine answered that with an enthusiastic wag of his tail and Brutus, Daniel’s German shepherd, head-butted Harriet, vying for her attention. Harriet lost her balance and thumped down on the floor. It seemed she wasn’t the only one who had a jealous streak. “You’re gorgeous too. Even when you knock me on my butt.”

Molly eased away from Daniel. “He’s not that gorgeous.” She dropped the backpack she was carrying and pulled off her coat, still balancing the beer in her hand. “He rolled in snow and he’s soaked. Sit, Brutus. So tell me what happened with that last guy you dated, Harriet. He sounded great. Are you seeing him again? How did the date end?”

With her climbing out of the window and spraining her ankle.

Harriet decided not to tell them that. Some things were best left unsaid. Molly was a psychologist and she had a tendency to try and analyze everything. Harriet didn’t want her analyzing this. “It didn’t pan out.”

“No? Shame. I had high hopes.” Molly dragged a towel out of her bag and rubbed Brutus’s fur. “So who is next? What’s new?”

What’s new was that she’d stammered. After years of not stammering, she’d stammered.

The feelings churned inside her, a toxic mix of panic and disappointment.

Dating had always been a challenge for her, but now it seemed as if she’d slipped back to the bottom of a mountain she’d been climbing. It felt huge, but so far she hadn’t had time to absorb it properly. How was she ever going to get to know someone if she couldn’t get past that first awkward meeting?

She could have talked to Molly, and Molly would have known exactly the right thing to say. But she wasn’t ready to talk about that with anyone yet.

“I’m taking a break from dating.” To change the subject, she looked at her brother’s suit. “You’ve been in court?”

“I have. Custody hearing.”

“I hate that you’re so busy.”

Daniel raised his eyebrows. “This is my livelihood.”

“I know, but whenever I talk to you I get the feeling everyone is in a miserable relationship.”

“Don’t listen to him.” Molly rubbed Valentine’s paws with a towel. “Talking to Daniel is like watching the news. You come away thinking the world is ending. It distorts your view of reality, which is that every day, all over the world, people are doing good things for other people and those things are never made public.”

Daniel finished his beer. “You have an almost ridiculous faith in human nature. How are we even together?”

“Because you can’t care for your dog without my help.”

Harriet bent to stroke Brutus, who she’d fostered for a short while until Daniel had given him a home. “Don’t start or I’ll worry about you both.”