Page 51 of Luck of the Draw

His mouth tugged in a sheepish smile. “Well, I hope between that and this evening and our plans for tomorrow, I’m able to make up for the fact that I was an asshole.”

The car pulled away from the curb and began to bump its way down the old street, and Skye was still smiling at her very generous host.

“You know, Brennan,” she couldn’t help saying. “If all of this is what you do when you feel like you’ve upset a total stranger, I would love to be a fly on the wall when you’ve pissed off a girlfriend.”

He shook his head. “I don’t do girlfriends, so there’d be nothing to see.”

She squinted at him. “You don’tdo girlfriends,” she prompted. “What does that mean?”

“Well.” He cocked his head. “I had a girlfriend in high school. I loved her a lot. It didn’t work out. Other times I’ve—” He shifted his mouth to one side. “I’m just kind of a repellent for things like that working out, so I avoid them.”

“What do you mean?”

He took a deep, silent breath. “I can easily care about a person,” he said vaguely, “a person cannot easily reciprocate my affection. So, I just don’t bother.”

“So you had a bad break-up in high school. That seems normal. Not like a very good reason to swear off relationships all together. Or did you just never find anyone else that you connected with enough to give it another shot?” She nudged his ribs playfully, and he smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“I connected with someone again eventually. It was an impossible situation. So nothing happened.”

“What kind of impossible situation?”

He lifted one shoulder. “She just wasn’t meant for me.”

Skye narrowed her eyes skeptically. “That sounds like you gave up on her for no good reason.”

“It was actually a very good reason. Her heart belongs to someone else. It always has. It always will. They’re married now, and I’m happy for them.”

Brennan paused. His expression looked like he was fighting tooth and nail to avoid looking emotional, but there was totally a sheen on his eyes. He wouldn’t meet her gaze for a second. His dark, distinguished brows were subtly drawn together. It was a little bit painful to see, and a pang for his obvious heartbreak reverberated in her chest.

“I think things of the heart have a mind of their own sometimes,” he went on after a few seconds. “Even though I knew she was meant to be with this other guy, my stupid heart went places it didn’t have any business going. So, I just kept it to myself. I know she’s happy, he loves her and treats her like a queen, and that’s good enough for me.”

“Was that recent?” If he was still that hurt over it, it either had to be super recent, or justreallyfucking devastating.

Brennan hesitated for a stretch. “Yes.”

Skye winced. “Do you still see her around?”

“Oh yeah.” A sardonic laugh shook out of him. “I see her all the time.” He hitched one shoulder. “It’s fine. We’re good friends, and I like getting to see her so happy. It makes me happy.”

Now this shit was just gettingjuicy. It was almost like an actual, real-life love triangle, like the kind in books or movies, except that it sounded completely wholesome. But still. The closest Skye had gotten to something like this was knowing of men who slept around on their wives or girlfriends. The idea of Brennan being secretly in love with a happily married woman seemed like a far more captivating secret scandal.

A secret scandal of theheartin which Brennan had put aside his hopes and dreams in favor of his friend snagging the man she really wanted in life, and him being perfectly content just letting her be happy even though it broke his heart.

Sojuicy. Sowholesome.

“You’re still friends,” Skye repeated. “Are you friends with the guy she married?”

“I am. That’s how I know he treats her so well.”

“Wow,” was all Skye could think to say in response. She absently skimmed her gaze across the window, briefly taking in the dusk-darkened sights that slid past the car. “Does that get awkward between you guys? Like, does your friend know that you were basically in love with his wife?”

Brennan gave a haphazard shake of his head. “Nah. He’s mentioned things in the past like he probably had a hunch about it, but then he dropped the topic because it wasn’t a big deal, and he just knows he can trust me. That I’d never do anything shitty and two-faced to him. Other than that, it’s just never come up. She doesn’t have any idea how I felt.” He gave a light laugh. “She’s probably always thought that I just see her as a sister type. Never once did I…you know, hit on her, or do anything that tipped her off to how I feel. I’m just their friend, and it’s just not a thing, you know? It’s just something I felt and went through that nobody knew about and therefore nobody cares about.”

For another stretch of seconds, Skye just stared at him as she tried to process what he was saying. “So, you werein lovewith this friend of yours, and you just let her go because your other friend loved her, too.”

“He loved herfirst. She lovedhimfirst. Way before I was in the picture. They belong together. And when I see them and all the awesome stuff going on with them, all this happy life stuff…” He hitched a shoulder, clasping the knot of his tie and giving it a tug. “It makes me happy. That’s enough for me. Getting to be part of their life is enough. I can live vicariously through their happiness.”

The phrase happy life stuff caused an idea to surface in her mind.

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