Page 63 of Love Me Tomorrow

“Looks like you and Owen have something in common, except that I didn’t ask you to fly to Europe and you did so anyway.” After a small pause, she adds, “I hadn’t planned to show you this because you’d clearly made a decision by sending him home, but . . . Look at that screenshot, big sis, and then let me know if you think I should be mad about a man who will do anything to be with the most important person in my life. ’Cuz, from the way I’m looking at it, the both of you should be kissing my feet for even bringing him into our lives. Name y’all’s first kid after me, will you?”

And then, before I can say anything else, the video chat screen goes blank as she logs off.

Down by my feet, Pablo meows plaintively, pawing me in the shin.

His five minutes of cuddle time per day.

After patting my lap, he jumps up and curls in a ball. When he lays his little head on my knee, I nearly coo out loud. He’s cute as heck. Not even close to being Satan incarnate.

No one ever sees him the way I do.

Stroking a hand over his gray-spotted fur, I tap my phone, bringing it back to life. Immediately, my gaze stops on the name at the top of the screenshot:The Harv Man.

Leave it to my sister to give Owen a weird name in her phone. I’m listed asSavannah Banana,and that was only after I begged her to change it fromSav The Van.

Heart stampeding in my chest, I read the back-and-forth between them:

Amelie: Did the casting director call you?

The Harv Man: Martin Quell? Yeah, just got off the phone with him. Tell me I’m not making the biggest mistake of my life.

Amelie: My sister is not a mistake, Harvey.

The Harv Man: Never said she was.

The Harv Man: Now going on a reality TV show to win over a girl? Different story. This isn’t me, Amelie. I don’t do this sort of shit.

Amelie: It’s called being romantic. Did I or did I not tell you that the grand gesture is the way to go?

The Harv Man: You did.

Amelie: You’re panicking. I can tell you’re panicking.

The Harv Man: I’m double-fisting whiskey and considering a cigar when I don’t even smoke. The time for panicking is already in my rearview mirror.

Amelie: And texting me at the same time? You’re a modern-day superhero! Now, stop.

Amelie: I practically got you on the show. All you had to do was not sound like a complete idiot when Quell called. I’m sorry you chose the stubborn Rose sister, who won’t back out of a contract, but you ARE going to go show up in LA, and you ARE going to make your big ol’ grand gesture and it is going to be MAGICAL.

The Harv Man: Likelihood of her shooting me down? Ballpark percentage.

Amelie: I know she’s hard to read, Owen. I know she puts up a front. She was raised that way (the parentals failed with me, in case you were wondering), but I promise you . . . you are going to walk away with the girl.

The Harv Man: I owe you one. Seriously.

Amelie: Don’t break her heart, Harvey, and we’ll call it even.

Except that he didn’t break my heart.

I did that all on my own.And then I stomped all over his in the process, too.

All these months, I always wondered how he got on the show in the first place. How, in the thousands of submitted applications, he managed to show up that night and steal my breath away simply by stepping out of that limo. And now I know the answer:

The one person I’ve always protected, the one person who I’ve always supported, no matter where her dreams led . . . my little sister.

19

Owen

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