“Don’t tell me what I feel.” Cole’s fists tighten at his sides. “God help me, no, I don’t want that. I’ve always said you needed a proper rtionship in your life, but I never expected you to choose my sister for that.”


    I reach up to run a hand over the back of my neck. “I’m not sure I really chose anything,” I mutter.


    Surprisingly, Cole’s lips twitch. “I remember the feeling,” he says. “I can’t believe I’m talking you into this. But for some godforsaken reason, my sister wants you. And I want her to be happy. And even though I’m furious at you right now, I want you to be happy. So fix it, Nick.”


    The order rankles me. He can see that it does, and the smile blossoms into a full one, savagely amused. Part of his revenge. “Do it,” he says.


    I don’t know how to respond.


    “You didn’t react like I expected you to,” I say. I’m pushing my luck by pointing this out, but that seems to have be a habit by now.


    “Yes, well, don’t give me a reason to change my mind.” Cole shakes his head, stepping toward the door. “Make it right for both of your sakes. And for mine, because I’m forced to spend time with both of you.”


    And then he’s leaving, and I’m alone with his words and my own thoughts, spiraling in every which way. And beneath it, a deep, yawning fear that I’ve pushed ir too far this time. That had been my goal, after all. Push her away to avoid disappointing her. Stop this all from spinning out of control.


    But I’d never had control when it came to her.


    And maybe… maybe that wasn’t such a terrifying thing. Maybe it might even lead to something good, if I was brave enough to try.


    Nick and Cole aren’t talking.


    Skye informs me about it over brunch, a week after the horrible fall party and the showdown in my brother’s study. She tells me while Cole’s busy letting the puppy out into the garden to y, and with a careful nce in his direction.


    That look tells me more than her words ever could. So whatever discussion they’d had hadn’t gone down well.


    I look down at my buttery croissant and swallow a rising tide of despair. Cole and Nick are unlikely friends, but they’re true ones. Both of them need each other. Competitive and type-As and hard-working.


    And I’vee in between them, and for what? Nick and I aren’t anything now. We’re just two people who once used to spend time together. We were never even friends, not really.


    “Oh, ir, I’m sorry.” Skye’s handnds on top of mine. “I shouldn’t have said anything.”


    “No, I’m d you did,” I reassure her. “I want to know. Even if…”


    Even if it hurts.


    Skye nods, her eyes more understanding than I have any right to. It’s my mess, this. y with fire and you get burned. Hadn’t I always known that in regards to Nichs Park? And still, I’d poked and prodded, ignoring his attempts to distance himself. Was this what he feared? That he’d lose his best friend?


    And I’d made ite true.


    Cole returns to the table. His cable-knit sweater is frayed at the cor, and I make a mental note to buy him a new one for Christmas. “Strike is out,” he says. “He’s more obedient by the day.”


    “Because you’re the one training him,” Skye notes. “I’m not half as good at that.”


    “It’s because you’re not consistent.” Cole drapes an arm around the back of her chair.


    “Strike? You named him?”


    “Timmy did,” Cole exins. “We went over a list of baseball terms and settled on Strike.”


    “It suits him,” I say. Next mental note: get them a cor with Strike’s name emzoned on it. I’m a Christmas gift queen.


    Cole raises a finger at me. “Now, you told me you had more information about yourpany. Will you finally tell me theunch n?”


    I look through my bag for the papers I’d printed. It’s massive, what I’ve nned. A tight time schedule. It’ll be like throwing myself out of a ne window without knowing if the parachute works. But that’s business, right? Not to mention life. You can stay at home, hiding under the nkets, but that’s not what you were put on this Earth to do.


    “Here it is.” I push the timeline over the table. “I’ve nned theunch for February next year. Promotional packages will be sent out to a range of influencers and YouTube personalities. I’ll pull every favor I can to build hype about it.”


    “And you’ve hired the marketing consultant I suggested?”


    “Yes. She starts next week.”


    Cole sinks into the papers like I’ve given him the unreleased script to a Hollywood blockbuster. His interest and support for this makes my chest warm. Why had I been afraid to share this with him for years? Cole hadn’t been an overnight sess, either. My brother has worked for everything he has, and so will I.


    A small part of me wants to hear Nick’s thoughts on this. His business sense is acute, especially knowing when to cut your losses and run. What would he say?


    I push the thought away.


    Nick doesn’t want to be in my life. It’s better if you go back to hating me, ir.


    Well, I’d be damned if I’d let him get his way there, too. For all of my sadness… I refuse to hate him. I doubt I ever really did.


    Ie home to a giant package outside my front door.


    And by giant, I mean massive. Cardboard and heavy packing tape. It can’t possibly be for me-I haven’t ordered anything-but the name on the package is mine.


    I wrestle the giant package into my living room. I’m sweating by the time I finally grab a pair of scissors from the kitchen and begin opening it.


    To find the giant thing surrounded in bubble wrap.


    “Is this a joke?”This text is ? N?velDrama/.Org.


    No one answers, of course, as I put the scissors to merciless use. By the time I have the thing uncovered, my living-room floor looks like World War Three has taken ce and it was exclusively fought in packaging materials.


    I take a step back to inspect it.


    It’s the quote from my study, the one I have printed up and taped to the wall above my desk. Work in silence, let sess be your noise.


    But it’s carved into beautiful wood, the finishing smooth and polished, the letters highlighted with color. It’s gorgeous.


    Had he known it would arrive today, right as I’de home from going through mypany’sunch n? I look through my purse in search of my phone, to call Cole and say thank you. That he’d remembered and thought about this.


    It’s beyond thoughtful.


    The buzzer of my inte rings, but I’m not expecting anyone. Hesitantly, I press down the button to answer. “Hello?”


    “Did you get my gift?”


    It’s not Cole’s voice on the other line, not even Skye’s. It’s Nick’s.