Page 2 of The Best Friend's Billionaire Brother
“I’m so happy for you.” Gabby smiled and went in search of a box to pack her things.
Carrie giggled. “Yeah, the letter came yesterday. I knew he’d taken it, but it was a huge surprise when he asked me. He set up a huge celebration with the whole family. Well, as whole as we could get it. He’d promised to ask me as soon as he passed, and he said he wanted to keep his promise.”
“I’m sorry I was working late.” If she’d known last night that she was getting fired, she wouldn’t have silenced her phone and missed her best friend’s engagement.
“It’s okay. I understand.”
Gabby peeked inside the office two doors down from her. A small box filled with reams of paper sat in the corner. She pulled the paper out, figuring if they didn’t want her swiping a box, they shouldn’t have fired her. “I’m deliriously happy for you.”
“We want to get married New Year’s Eve.”
New Year’s Eve? Gabby stopped at her desk. “That fast? Holy cow. You’ve always wanted a huge wedding. You can’t—” Gabby stopped short. Yeah, they could because money talked, and they had enough Benjamin Franklins to make up an entire choir. “Well, I guess you can now.”
A year ago, the West siblings had won the lottery, and now they were billionaires. The whole thing was still unreal to Gabby, but that was mostly because they didn’t act any different. They were good people, sweet and hard-working. If anyone deserved to win that kind of money, they did.
Laughing, Carrie said, “Things have changed quite a bit since then. Wyatt—”
“Nope. Don’t want to hear it.”
“But I need—”
“No, Carrie Anne. I left Caprock Canyon to get away from him, and I don’t want to know anything about him. I know he’s your brother, but I can’t. The only reason I’m coming to Thanksgiving this year is because you told me he wasn’t going to be there.” Gabby shook her head as she crammed almost five years’ worth of accumulated junk into the box. “We talked about this, remember?”
For a second, Gabby thought Carrie Anne would fight her, but instead, she replied, “Yes, I remember.”
The very reason she’d stayed close to Caprock Canyon and pursued her journalism degree at Texas Tech after graduating high school was the hope that Wyatt would finally notice her.
It was a crush she wished she’d never had. Pining for a man that would never see her as more than his little sister’s best friend was stupid. A reality that hit her when Wyatt proposed to Lori Edwards—his on-again, off-again girlfriend he’d met on a rodeo tour. Instead of noticing Gabby, one night while she was home on fall break, their families were eating together and the next thing she knew, Wyatt was getting on one knee.
Her heart had shattered that night five years ago, watching him pull out a ring and ask someone else to marry him. It had been Gabby’s wake-up call, a nail in the coffin for her. So, she’d returned to her sophomore year of college and applied for a transfer to the College of Charleston, along with an internship at the Charleston Uptown Gazette. She’d been talking about doing it since she couldn’t handle watching Wyatt and Lori together, but after the proposal, she didn’t hesitate.
Finding out she was accepted to both the college and internship was her sign that she’d made the right call. That spring, she’d packed up, leaving her heartbreak and everything she knew behind.
Her parents and sister had wondered why she had the sudden urge to get out of Texas, and she’d told them that Charleston had a better program for journalism. They hadn’t seemed very convinced but let it be.
“Gabby…” Carrie Anne sighed. “Okay, I won’t say anything more. I’m sorry. I know how you feel about him.”
“Felt. It’s over. Crush, then crushed, and I’ve moved on.” Gabby’s meddling radar blared. Carrie Anne had given up way too easily. “You did tell me Wyatt was going to be out of town while I’m there, right?” She didn’t want to chance running into him at the Thanksgiving dinner. She’d successfully avoided all chances of seeing him since she’d left home, including all holidays.
“If you’re over him, then it shouldn’t matter.”
“So, Wyatt is going to be home.”
Carrie Anne groaned. “As far as I know, he isn’t. I’m just saying if you were really over him, Wyatt being here wouldn’t be a big deal.”
Gabby paused as she picked up a picture of her and Carrie Anne. “Iamover him.” She put the picture in the box. It was no secret Carrie Anne wanted Gabby to be an official member of their family, so to thwart her best friend meddling, she added, “In fact, I’m dating someone.”
A small gasp answered. “You are? Why didn’t you tell me? Who is it?”
“Yep, it just started, and he’s a coworker.” Wow, a double lie in one sentence. There was no dating, and she was no longer employed. It would take a while for the second part of that thought to sink in.
“What’s his name?”
A name? Shoot. She should have thought this through a little better before opening her big fat trap. “Tim Redmane. He’s a great guy, but like I said, it’s still early.”
“Ohhh! I’m so happy for you. If that Tim guy is smart, he’ll sweep you off your feet, and before you know it, you’ll be married too.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, you hopeless romantic.”
