“Why wouldn’t he love you?” Emma demanded.

“Of course he loves me. He loves all of us. It’s different with me now, but it’s not ...” God, it was lowering, she realized, even among her closest friends. “It’s hard loving someone more than they love you, and it’s something I have to deal with. My feelings, my responsibility.”

“I understand that.” Mac reached over, squeezed Laurel’s hand. “I let Carter feel that way. I didn’t want to be in love, I didn’t want to take that dive, that jump, so I kept holding back. I know it hurt him.”

“I’m not hurting. Or maybe a little, but that could just be pride. I’m happy where we are. I know I may not be happy later, but this is more than I expected to have.”

“I’m surprised your expectations would be so low,” Parker commented. “You’ve always aimed high.”

“When it’s something I can work for or compete at. But you can’t win love, can you? Not like an award or a game. We played at Wedding Day. Now we work at it. But when it comes to our own, it’s not a game or a job. I don’t need the dress or the ring, or the fonts,” she added with a smile for Mac. “But I guess I need to know I’m the one. I can’t work my way into being the one for him. I just have to be the one.”

“That’s really smart,” Emma murmured.

“No one else has been the one for him,” Parker told her. “I’d know.”

“Not even Cherise McConnelly?”

“Oh God.” Parker gave a mock shudder. “What was he thinking? Besides that,” she added at Laurel’s cocked brow.

“Considering Cherise, I’d say his taste has improved considerably with me.” Laurel took another slice. “So, there’s hope for the man.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

EVEN AS JACK AND DEL SETTLED ON STOOLS AT THE BAR AT THE Willows, the bartender stepped over. “Looks like I hit the daily double.”

“How’s it going, Angie?”

“No complaints, which is more than I can say for half the people who plop down on those stools. What can I get you?”

“Pellegrino,” Del ordered.

“I’ll have a Sam Adams.”

“Gotcha covered. Just in for a drink?” she asked while she put a pint glass under the tap and added ice to a water goblet.

“I am,” Jack told him. “This one’s got a date.”

“Yeah? Who’s the lucky lady tonight?”

“I’m having dinner with Laurel.”

“McBane?” Mild surprise showed in Angie’s eyes. “A date-date?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s a switch.” Knowing Del’s preferences, she added a slice of lime to the sparkling water, then put both glasses on the bar. “I heard some speculation about that, but I just put it down to talk.”

“Oh, why?”

“Because you’ve known Laurel for a couple of decades, and never dated her before. I haven’t seen her in here for a while, but I hear business is booming on her front.”

“Booming’s the word.”

“I’ve been to a couple of weddings there. First class. But that’s your sister, isn’t it?” Angle added as she wiped the bar with her white cloth. “First class all the way.We still miss Laurel around here. Best damn pastry chef we’ve ever had. So, Jack, how’s Emma—and the wedding plans?”

“She’s great. Found her dress, which is apparently the keys to the kingdom.”

“You can take that to the bank. Maybe something’s in the water over there. First Mac, then Emma.” She winked at Del, tapped the side of his glass with a finger. “Be careful what you drink.” She moved down the bar to wait on another customer as Jack laughed.

“Don’t look so surprised, bro.” Jack tipped his glass in Del’s direction. “It’s a pretty natural progression.”

“We’ve been dating what, a month, and wedding plans are a natural progression?”

Jack shrugged. “Mac to Emma to Laurel. It’s like a marriage triple play.”

“Laurel doesn’t think that way.” Hadn’t it been pointed out he’d known her for a couple decades? “Weddings are a business. She’s a businesswoman. A serious, ambitious businesswoman.”

“So are the rest of them. Serious, ambitious people get married all the time.” He studied Del over the rim of his glass. “This really never occurred to you?”

“Occurred is a wide word,” Del evaded. “We’re still adjusting to the change in our relationship. I’m not opposed to marriage. In fact, a big fan of the institution here. I just haven’t given it any serious personal thought.”

“Maybe it’s time for a little role reversal with you and me, considering the blast I got from you when Emma and I got together. Just what are your intentions toward my surrogate sister?”

“I intend to have dinner with her.”

“And do you intend to get lucky later?”

“I’d be a fool not to. We’re enjoying this new phase. It’s ... new,” he decided. “For both of us. She matters, always has.You know that. She just matters differently now. But I’m not thinking of hiring my sister to plan the wedding.”

“Ever, or yet?”

“Jesus, Jack.” Because his throat was suddenly dry, Del took a long drink of water.

“It’s a fair question.”

“You’ve got weddings on the brain,” Del muttered. “Maybe there is something in the water over there. Anyway, I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it, really. And now I can’t think about anything else. Look, I know Laurel. She’s not thinking about getting married, and certainly not just because Mac and Emma are. This is the girl who went off to New York and Paris on her own to study. Hell, she seriously considered moving to Paris, was working here to save up the money for it when ...”

“Yeah, I know.”The teasing light winked out of Jack’s eyes. “All that changed when your parents died.”

“She put her Paris plans on hold then.” He hadn’t forgotten that; would never forget that. “She wouldn’t have left Parker. And I guess, now that I think about it, she stayed for me, too. Then Parker’s brainstorm took all of them over.”