Page 61 of Hang the Moon
“Brendon deserves the best,” Darcy plowed on. “But I’m biased. I’m also pretty sure there’s not a person on this planet better than you, so...” Darcy cracked a smile. “Consider me biased on both fronts.”
Her sinuses tingled, her eyes flooding.Fuck.“Warn me before you say something like that.” Annie sniffed hard, blotting at the corners of her eyes. “Jesus.”
She’d missed this. Missedclickingwith someone the way she did with Darcy.
“I also think you aren’t giving my brother the credit he’s due,” Darcy said. “I’m confident he’d be deeply committed. He just needs to find the right girl to commit to.”
“Yeah, well.” She shrugged. “That can’t be me.”
Even though, after the last week, and last night in particular, she’d started to wonder what it would be like if that girl were her. A what-if. Nothing more. She couldn’t help what thoughts popped into her brain and wouldn’t leave. She had zero control over that sort of thing.
Darcy pursed her lips and stood, wandering off toward herkitchen. She opened the fridge and grabbed the bottle of wine inside the door. “Hmm.”
Not this again. “Darcy. Cut it out.”
She snagged two glasses and carried them into the living room, filling both and passing one to Annie. “I think you and my brother both want the same thing. Only, you have wildly different ways of reacting to not getting it.”
Annie gripped the stem of her glass and stared. “Uh, yeah, that makes no sense.”
“It makesperfectsense,” Darcy said, sitting down. “You’re clearly disenchanted with the people you’ve been dating because they haven’t lived up to your expectations. You’ve been let down.”
“I never said—”
“A lot of little disappointments,” Darcy said, mimicking her, head teetering from side to side.
Annie bit her tongue.
“And Brendon’s looking for someone who will live up tohisexpectations,” Darcy said, swirling her wine. “Neither of you have found what you’re looking for, but he’s thrown himself into dating headfirst, searching high and low, upping the ante. You’ve pumped the brakes. He’s got high hopes. You’ve lowered your expectations.”
Annie scoffed. “Wow. Who needs therapy when you have a best friend who thinks they know everything? Runs in your family.”
Darcy offered her a tiny smile. “Am I wrong?”
Annie said nothing.
“Look, you want to know why I wound up giving Elle achance? Giving myfeelingsa chance? It’s because of what you told me.Carpe diem.” Darcy sipped her wine, studying Annie over the rim of her glass. “Maybe you should take your own advice.”
They were good words, words to live by. Or they had been. Somewhere along the way, Annie had gotten tired of being the only one doing the seizing. The only one trying. The only one who cared.
“There will be noseizingwhen it comes to your brother,” Annie said crisply. “In fact, I did some thinking on the drive back from Port Townsend.”
Darcy cocked her head.
If Annie couldn’t control her thoughts around Brendon, she’d simply have to see less of him. A lot less of him. “As much as I appreciate his offer to show me around, I think it would be in both our best interests if we... saw a little less of each other.”
Alotless of each other.
“Sure.” Darcy smirked. “You can start by seeing a lot less of each other tomorrow at game night.”
Annie shut her eyes.Damn it.
“Carpe diem,” Darcy taunted.
Annie let loose the closest thing to a growl that had ever passed her lips, because this wassonot going according to plan. “It is a moot point. I’m moving to London. I can’t exactly give Brendon a chance from five thousand miles away.”
“You’re not five thousand miles away yet.” Darcy reached out, covering Annie’s hand. “You’re here. He’s here. And if my brother wants to try to give you a reason to stay? You’ll have to excuse me if I’m not exactly keen on discouraging him.”
Chapter Thirteen
