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you, right? Tell him he needs to get out of the car and open your door. Good men treat their girlfriends
with respect.” The dual certainty in his voice, that he knows what’s right, and that her boyfriend isn’t
meeting the standard, is clear.
Janey flinches, and her face flattens. “Yes, I suppose you’re right. Good men do.” She nods her
goodbyes and makes her way through the crowd to the coat check. Jonas’s eyes are locked on her the
whole way. Zach and I are locked on Jonas. The muscles in his shoulders are bunched, tension
radiating off of him.
“Brother,” Zach says softly. Jonas tips his head but doesn’t move until Janey is out of sight. Then
he spins to us, a fierce look on his face.
“I don’t like this. He isn’t treating her right. I should follow her and make sure she’s safe.” He
takes a step away, fists clenched again.
“Stop!” I yell. He freezes and turns to me. “Don’t do that. She is having a rough time, and I think it
would be better for her if you just let her go for right now.”
“But she needs to be safe,” he insists.
“She’ll be ok. She’s smart and will keep an eye out for danger. But if you go after her right now,
I’m afraid that…”
He takes a few steps toward me and crouches down in front of me. “What?” He asks quietly,
completely focused on me, like the answer I give him may change everything. And maybe it will.
“She broke up with him,” I say, cataloging the minute changes in his features. The widening eyes,
the flaring nostrils. His muscles bunch like he’s about to bolt after her. “If you go after her right now,
when she’s hurting, you might damage your friendship.”
“I don’t want to be her friend,” he says flatly. “I want to be her husband.”
I choke a little at that, and glance at Zach, who’s sitting stiff and silent beside me. There’s no
surprise on his face.
“Wow. Okay,” I lick my lips, trying to gather just the right words to explain to him. “If you care
about her that much, then you’ll have to be careful. But can I just point out…if you want to be her
husband, then being the best friend she’s ever had is the best place to start. Because if she can’t trust
you…if she thinks you don’t respect her, then I can’t ever imagine she’d be willing to marry you.
Hypothetically I mean since there’s a long way to go between here and marriage.”
“But I waited, and I think this is my moment,” he insists.
