Page 76 of The Hook Up
“It’s wonderful,” she said, tucking a dark strand of hair behind one ear. “Thanks for working around my crazy schedule, too. You’re sure it’s okay to do this in your office?”
“Positive,” Ty said. “One of the upsides of being a partner.”
“I’m proud of you, big brother. You’ve come a long way.”
“We both have.”
She squeezed his hand, and something pinched tight in the center of his chest. Human contact was nice, even if it was his sister.
Ellie had emailed yesterday with a breezy note about finding a different space to rent for her after-hours parties.“Thanks for everything!”she’d signed off at the end, the finality of it making Ty ache all over.
“Seriously, Ty.” Anna took a sip of the kombucha he’d handed her, which made his throat squeeze the way it did every time he heard Ellie’s voice in those damn commercials. “Thanks for doing this. I can’t ever repay you.”
“Sure you can,” he said. “Save a dance for me at the wedding.”
“That I can do,” she said.
Ty leaned back in his chair grateful for his sister’s company. “Martin is a great guy.”
“I know. I’m lucky to be marrying him.”
“He’s the lucky one.” He hesitated, not sure it was his place to ask the question that was on his mind. “You think you’ll have kids?”
“Definitely! Actually, we’ve already been trying?—”
“Aaaah!” Ty held up his hands and pretended to cover his ears. “I don’t need details.”
She laughed and gave him a swat. “You’ll be a great uncle.”
Ty winced but tried to hide it. He couldn’t think of anything to say, so he turned back to his monitor and made a quick adjustment to the sound on the video.
“I keep meaning to thank you for the other thing you did.” Anna’s voice was softer now, and Ty could guess what she meant.
“The engagement photos?” He toggled to Photoshop and pulled up the series of images, unexpectedly uncomfortable with the change in conversation. “I’m not really a still photographer, but I think they turned out pretty nice. If you want, I’d be happy to?—”
“I was talking about Dad,” Anna said. “About heading him off so he wouldn’t show up on my doorstep.”
“Right.” Ty nodded, not sure what else to say.
“You have great instincts,” she said. “I probably would have let him waltz right back through the door and into my life. Hell, I would have invited the asshole to the wedding.”
The thought chilled Ty to the bone. “There was no way for you to know he planned to shake down your new husband for half-a-million bucks.”
“No, but you did. Well, not the specifics, but you were guarded enough to be suspicious.”
“Yeah,” Ty agreed, not sure that was necessarily a trait worth bragging about. “I just know you don’t deserve that sort of crap in your life.”
He looked back in time to see her smiling, her face bright and open and grateful. “Well,” she said, “I don’t know what I did to deserve you, but it must have been pretty good.”
Ty offered a hollow smile in return, not feeling much like the good guy. He cleared his throat, eager to change the subject. “I can do a little more editing on this last series of images. If we wanted it to be perfect, I’d just need to?—”
“I don’t want it to be perfect,” she interrupted. “That’s not what marriage is about. A few flaws give it character.”
“Character,” Ty repeated, not sure he understood. But she was the one getting married, not him. Clearly, she’d figured out something he hadn’t.
“So, you’re okay with next Tuesday for the tux fitting?” Anna asked.
“I can make that work.”
