Page 79 of Always You (A Lilac Bay Novel)

“Fine, I’ll get it organized. If nothing else I’m sure Eddie and David will help.”

“You know,” his father said from a few seats down—I jumped a little, not having realized that he was listening to us—“It would be pretty easy to get some help if you were in charge of one of my crews.”

Andrew’s entire body went tense next to me and I wanted to kick myself for bringing it up. Frank Powell Jr. owned the largest construction company on the island. For years he had been trying to convince Andrew and Edward to come and work for him, to help him run the company. Eddie had managed to get off the hook by re-opening the family restaurant. Which meant all the pressure to go to work for the family had shifted to Andrew.

“You’re right, Dad,” Andrew said. “I should totally switch careers just so it’s easier to help build the stage for the Lilac Festival.”

Frank’s face went from teasing to serious in a split second. “You should switch careers so that you’re actually doing something productive and worthwhile with your life, Andrew. Instead of sitting around in an office playing solitaire on your computer half the day.”

Andrew’s eyes flashed, and I knew this was about to turn into an all-out fight—one of many that I had witnessed between the two. Luckily, Rose was listening in.

“That’s enough of that, Frank,” she said firmly. “This is a nice night for Eddie and Zane and we’re not spending it arguing.”

“Sure, Mom,” he said, visibly relaxing as he patted her hand. But Andrew remained tense next to me.

“Speaking of a nice night for me and Zane,” Edward said, standing up at the head of the table. “We have an announcement.”

“Oh my God!” Posey squealed, slapping her hands over her mouth.

Edward grinned down at his boyfriend. “I asked Zane to marry me last night. And he agreed.”

The entire table exploded, everyone jumping up, offering hugs and congratulations, Posey squealing and jumping up and down.

My eyes went to Andrew. He was still sitting at the table, looking more than a little shell-shocked at the news. My heart squeezed painfully for him. I knew he loved Zane, knew he wanted his brother to be happy. But I also knew that neither of those two facts necessarily made something like this easier. His identical twin was getting married. That was a huge change.

But then he got up and went around the table to hug his brother. They embraced for a long moment, Andrew saying something to his twin in a quiet voice. When he let go, Eddie’s eyes were wet. I felt a lump come to my own throat and happened to catch Rose’s eye. She smiled at me, and I knew she’d noticed the exchange as well.

The rest of the evening was even more of a celebration as Zane broke out several bottles of the restaurant’s most expensive champagne. Andrew laughed and joked right along with his cousins and brother, but I thought he looked pensive during the quieter moments.

When it was time to go home, I asked him if he would walk me, figuring he might want to talk about it.

But as Andrew and I walked home, the silence stretched between us.

“How are you holding up?” I finally asked him. He jumped a little, like he had forgotten I was there.

“I’m fine,” he said quickly. Too quickly.

“You sure?”

“Of course I’m sure. Why wouldn’t I be fine?”

“You just looked a little bit down back there, that’s all,” I told him. “After Eddie and Zane shared their news.”

“Why would I be down about that?” he asked, and he genuinely sounded shocked. “We all love Zane. Eddie’s never been happier.”

“Of course you’re happy for them,” I said, choosing my words carefully. “But things are going to change now, you know? I think it’s normal to have kind of mixed feeling about it.”

“I don’t have mixed feelings.”

“He’s your twin brother, Andrew. The person you’re closest with in the entire world. And now he’s going to have a husband and his own family.”

“Are you trying to make me feel bad about it?” he asked, laughing. “You make it sound so grim.”

I pushed on his arm. “I’m not saying it’s grim. I’m just saying it might feel different. And it’s fine if you feel a little sad about that.”

“I really don’t, Riley,” he said, his voice sure. He was quiet for a minute, and I decided to stop pushing it if he obviously didn’t want to talk about it. So I was surprised when he was the one that came back to the topic a moment later.

“You know, it was a little weird when they first got together. Neither of us had ever had a really serious relationship before, so it felt strange to not have him around as much.”