Page 11 of The Best Friend Power Play

There's nothing weird about that, is there?

He shakes his head. "It's more than that. I've been spending some more time with her at the flower shop and?—"

"Yeah. About that."

His eyes widen. "What? Are you jealous? That's good, man. Lean into that feeling. If it triggers any possessiveness, that's even better. Is my face looking very punchable right about now?"

"It is, but not for the reason you may be thinking." I narrow my eyes. "I'm not jealous, but I am mad at you."

"What did I do?"

I start tapping away on my phone.

He looks at me, and after a few moments, says, "Dude, your phone isn't even on. What are you doing?"

"I'm sending you a petition signed by every man of legal age in Comfort Bay. We're all mad at you."

"Why?"

"Uh, how about because you bought your girlfriend a hockey stadium and two junior teams."

He folds his arms across his chest. "So?"

"So? So how the ever-loving heck are the rest of us mere mortals meant to compete with that? You've set the bar impossibly high. We're all doomed to fail."

"You're exaggerating, man. I'm sure no one's even heard about it, and if they have, I doubt they care."

"Hello. Earth to Fraser. This is Comfort Bay. Everyone knows, and everyone cares. Nonna called to say there's been a line-up outside the bakery for special edition hockey cupcakes. Three days in a row. The Comfort Bay Facebook page?—"

"Comfort Bay has a Facebook page?"

"It does, and you'd know this if you weren't the only twenty-something in the world not on social media."

He shrugs. "Social media sucks."

"It does, especially when it's filled with posts gushing over what you did for Evie. And apparently you can't walk a few feet in town without overhearing someone—a female someone—swooning over what's now being referred to as the granddaddy of grand gestures."

"I'm…sorry?" The corner of his mouth curls into a smirk, and he looks like he's about to make some crack about it, but noticing my less-than-impressed expression, he pivots. "Look, I didn't do what I did because I wanted to impress everyone in town or for it to be known as…whatever people are calling it. And I definitely didn't intend to make it hard for anyone else to live up to. I did it because it felt like the right thing to do for the girl I love. It's as simple as that."

A moment of silence passes.

"Yeah. I know," I mutter begrudgingly.

There's a reason he's one of my two best friends, and that's because he's a decent, genuine guy with a good heart and zero bad intentions. Even if he is closed-off and guarded and more defensive than a goalie during a shootout.

"You could buy Hannah one flower or a thousand," he says. "As long as it comes from the heart and means something, she'll love it."

"She's a florist, so I hardly think buying her flowers is going to have much of an impact," I reply, and then when I see him grinning like an idiot, add, "Not that I'd ever buy Hannah flowers, anyway. At least not for romantic reasons—because there is, for the eleventy millionth time, nothing going on between us."

There can't be.

It's as simple as that.

Hannah is, hands down, the best person I know. She deserves to be with a great guy. No. The best, most terrific guy.

And that guy isn't me.

My life is a mess.

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