Page 79 of It Happened Duo

Rex took Mom back to our apartment for the night, but the girls and I went to one of our favorite clubs. For a while, it was just us; the roommates back together, drinking, laughing, and dancing our asses off.

Time sped by, when all I wanted was to slow down, enjoy what few hours were left of the night with my sister, and to hold on to her tight. Finally, we took a break from dancing and refreshed our drinks, finding a table to rest a bit.

“I am happy, you know?” Maisy started. “I have people who love me, and I’m about to take off on a boat to explore the world, and that makes me really excited. Then I’ll be back for Christmas for your wedding and look forward to that. But I think there’s one thing Dad missed in his equation.”

“What’d he miss?” I cocked my head.

“Loving someone special. I don’t have that, not yet. But you have it with Rex. You’re so lucky.” She slurred her wordsa little, pointing at me with her drink in hand. “I just don’t want to be lonely for the next year, and that’s my greatest fear. Not that the ship will break down or sink in the middle of the ocean. But the loneliness. That’s the one thing I don’t look forward to.”

“Maisy, there’ll be an entire crew to befriend. I’m sure you’ll be fine,” I started to say when, suddenly, three men I recognized surrounded us and stunned me. “Rex? Archer and Brooks? What are you all doing here?”

“Brooks!” A mostly drunk Maisy threw her arms around him and dragged him off to the dance floor before I could react and hold her back. Sophie took Archer away, too, leaving me with Rex, whose face looked guilty as sin.

“Youbrought him? But why?” I groaned, and glared at him through slits. How could he do this to my sister? I had a horrible feeling the night could end badly.

Rex stopped me with his hands up. “Brooks just wanted to say goodbye to her, and not leave things the way they did, that’s all.”

“I should be furious at you for butting in like this.”

“Come on, don’t be like that.” He pulled me to him and I lodged perfectly between his chin and collarbone. “Maybe they’ll work something out for when she comes back.”

“But didn’t you have a wager going with your friends about them? I thought your bet was theywouldn’tstay together? In that case, why would you bring him here and potentially lose?”

“Sweet Chelsea. You have the biggest heart.” His chest vibrated with a chortle. “What can I say? You’re rubbingoff on me. Now that I have the love of a good woman, I want all my friends to find the same. Is that such a crime?”

“I guess not,” I relented. At least his heart was in the right place, pinning two people together at the same time in the same place in the hopes they’d work out their differences before it was too late. Whatever came of it, I hoped Maisy would find her own happiness in her own time.

46

BARGAIN FOR A TUXEDO

REX

“Gents,here’s to our man of the hour, my little brother Rex Maximillion Buchanan. Cheers to the groom!” Richard hailed, holding up a glass of Macallan fifty-year-old single malt Scotch whisky—and smelling as though he’d already downed a bottle on his way to the custom fitting today.

He generously poured a glass for each of us from one of the finest bottles in Dad’s old collection. Mom allowed us to indulge a bottle from it on special occasions.

“Cheers,” Sam Astor said. I hadn’t interacted with my mother’s husband much the past year as he’d been dealing with some business affairs of his in Singapore, often away for weeks at a time. The arrangement seemed to suit Miriam fine, what with their ages and their own interests to attend to. Besides, we all knew she wore the pants in the family.

Several years after Dad passed away, they’d met one New Year’s night at a fundraising gala, right after Miriam had admitted to Richard and me how lonely she waswithout Dad. Sam proved exactly what she needed at the right time, and I held no resentment toward him at all. In many ways, he kept her life busy enough to stay out of ours.

“Salut,” the other groomsmen chimed in.

“Down the hatch.” Brody added with his usual charm that helped him build his successful real estate empire, much like mine, but he dove more into rental property than I did.

“Thanks, everyone. Through the years, you’ve all been there for me, so it means a lot to have you be a part of my wedding day.” All the men standing in the middle of renowned David Irwin’s Custom Tailor shop—my brother as my best man, Gage, Xander, Ford, and Brody as my four groomsmen, Brooks and Archer as ushers—had yet to be tied down. Safe to say I was breaking new ground among the group.

“As the first among us to take that trip down the aisle, I commend your bravery,” Ford guffawed, with a hint of his Aussie accent to it. In our college days, his accent gained him plenty of attention from the ladies.

“Hope I’m a good example for you?—”

“Better than I was,” Richard interrupted me with a snort, tipping his glass, emptying it and reaching for more.

“Slow down, man. It’s mid-afternoon. You’ll crash before we get to Jamison’s for poker and barbecue.” I slapped his back and warned him, right as India and her filming crew stepped inside.

“Don’t talk to me like I’m a child. If I have to sit here and watch you bask in pre-wedding bliss, then I’ll do itdrunk,” he seethed, albeit with slurred words, and the cameraman quickly tried to get it all on camera.

“Trouble in the family, Rex?” India shoved the microphone my way.

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