Page 132 of The Love Losers

My heart beats a little faster, but I can’t get ahead of myself. My brother is a man who has never shown any serious intentions toward anything but a crappy car or a bottle of Jameson, andEmma made it clear she no longer believes in love and marriage when she tried to talk me out of marrying her brother. Still. If having a hot, rude sister-in-law does it for him, I’m not above adding it to myget Seamus to stayplaybook.

Sue me. I’m a woman who wants to keep my family together.

“To my little sister, Rosie,” Seamus says, lifting the glass. “If I had to guess which of us would meet and a marry a person within the same month, it would be you.”

I roll my eyes. “I technically met him a few months ago, when he was supposed to marry someone else.”

“I don’t think that’s better,” he says, then winks at me and hoists his glass. “Slainte.”

We all drink, the warmth filling me up, and I’m happy. So happy my heart feels like a balloon, but I’m keeping it trapped, because I know what balloons like to do.

“It’s time,” Declan says, nudging Seamus’s arm.

“You both better hug me before you go,” I say, feeling tears wanting to spill.

“No tears,” Lainey yelps. “Think shrewish thoughts.”

“Think about Nina,” Emma puts in. “That should do it.”

I blink them back, then gesture to my brothers. Declan hugs me as if I’m an egg, and he’s worried he’ll crack me. “I’m not messing around with that dress,” he mutters in answer to my teasing look.

Then Seamus hugs me, and I’m reminded, for about the fifteen thousandth time since he arrived, of how much I’ve missed him. “Stay,” I tell him in an undertone. “It’s my wedding wish.”

“I have a lease in New York,” he says as he pulls back, giving me a wry,Oh Rosielook.

“Break it. You love breaking things. I’ve seen you sledgehammer cars.”

“Broken ones.”

“Stay.”

He bops me on the nose. “I’ll think about it.

“Less thinking, more doing,” I say, which is basically his life motto.

He salutes me and leaves with Declan—because they’re groomsmen, just like Jake, Anthony’s best man, and Dom, who edged out Gene after they played for it in our competitive game of paintball on Saturday morning.

“God, I love my stupid brothers,” I say with a sigh.

Claire laughs. “I love them too. And we’re definitely joining forces to try to get my dad and Seamus to move here.”

“What if they moved in together?” Emma asks, a slight smile on her lips. “That would be amusing.”

“Hey, age-gap besties is nothing to laugh at,” I say, getting up, ditching the towel and hugging Joy. My best lady. My matron with the mostest.

“There is something invigorating about spending time with the young,” she agrees.

“That’s what my old boss said,” Emma interjects with a smirk.

Lainey bursts out laughing, spraying some of her whiskey.

“Not toward me, not toward me!” I shout.

She holds up a hand, laughing. “Sorry. So, I know this is Rosie’s big day, but Jake and I have some news too.” Her eyes shining, she says, “His brother has resurfaced.”

“No, shit,” Claire says, setting her whiskey glass down on the coffee table with a clack, “and you’re only telling me this now?”

She grins. “We found out last night, and you’d just gotten engaged, and—”

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