27. Stephanie #2
“You fell into a hedge,” Harry said, patting his knee.
“AFTER I confessed my feelings.”
Kevin returned with four glasses of water nobody had asked for, distributing them with the grim focus of a man who needed a job to do, then sat back down.
“Hugo found me by the beach,” Harry explained. “It was the second night of the party, after you went to bed. He was drunk and I was tipsy and he just started talking.”
“Rambling,” Hugo corrected. “I was definitely rambling.”
“He told me he’d been in love with me for ten years.
That watching me date other men was the worst torture he’d ever experienced.
That he remembered every detail I’d ever told him in passing.
My favorite flower, which is ranunculus.
My coffee order, which changes seasonally.
The name of the stuffed rabbit I had as a child. ”
“Mr. Flopsworth,” Hugo said. “You told me about him when we were stuck in traffic seven years ago.”
“I don’t even remember telling him that.”
“I remember everything,” Hugo said simply. “Everything you’ve ever said to me. Everything that matters.”
Harry’s eyes were glistening now, and she blinked fast.
“He told me he was terrified he’d made the same mistake Kevin made. That he’d wasted years not telling me how he felt. He said he didn’t want me to slip through his fingers like SOMEONE let SOMEONE slip through theirs for being a stupid, selfish, uncaring asshole.”
Beside me, Kevin flinched.
“His words,” Harry added quickly. “Not mine.”
“They were accurate words,” Kevin said quietly. “I was all of those things.”
Hugo met his eyes, two men who’d been best friends before they were enemies.
“Past tense, man. You’ve done the work. Anyone can see that.”
The tension in the room shifted. Kevin nodded slowly.
“So he proposed?” I prompted, desperate to move past the heavy moment.
“He proposed.” Harry beamed, the tears tipping over now. “Right there on the beach, at two in the morning, while we were both still kind of drunk.”
“I got down on one knee and everything,” Hugo said proudly.
“You fell on one knee. There’s a difference.”
“The intention was the same.”
“Do you even have a ring?” Kevin asked.
Harry held up her left hand. A simple diamond sparkled on her finger, and I couldn’t believe I’d sat across a birthday table from it and never noticed.
“He had it in his pocket the whole time,” she said softly. “He’d been carrying it for months. Waiting for the right moment.”
I burst into tears.
“Steph!” Hugo looked alarmed, dumping Harry’s feet off his lap.
“No, I’m happy.” I wiped my face, laughing at myself. “I’m so happy. I just can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”
“We wanted to make sure it was real first,” Harry said. “We’ve spent so long pretending this wasn’t serious. We needed time to figure it out.”
I stood up and crossed to the couch, pulling them both into a hug. Harry laughed and Hugo groaned, but neither of them pulled away.
“I’m so damn happy for you,” I said into Harry’s hair. “Both of you. You deserve this.”
“Okay, okay.” Hugo patted my back, awkward and stiff. “Enough with the mushy stuff.”
I released them and stepped back, wiping my eyes.
Kevin was watching us with an expression I couldn’t fully read. Then he crossed the room and hugged his sister, tucking her head under his chin.
“I’m happy for you, Harry,” he said quietly. “I really am.”
“Even though I’m marrying Hugo?”
“Even then. God help me.”
He released her and turned to my brother. Hugo straightened off the couch, uncertain for the first time.
Kevin extended his hand.
Hugo looked at it for a long moment. Then Kevin closed the distance and pulled him into a hug instead.
I watched my brother go rigid, then slowly relax. His arms came up to hug Kevin back. Three years of anger, the grudge he’d carried on my behalf since the night I called him from a hospital bathroom, seemed to drain out of his shoulders.
“Aww.” Harry elbowed me. “They made up.”
The men pulled apart, both looking slightly embarrassed.
“Don’t make it weird,” Hugo said.
“You’re marrying my sister. It’s already weird.”
“Fair point.”
Harry turned to me, eyes sparkling. “SO.” She pointed a finger back and forth between Kevin and me. “You two? What’s the status?”
I cleared my throat and glanced at Kevin, who wore the smuggest smile I’d ever seen.
“Yeah,” I admitted. “HE begged me for another chance and I agreed. So, yeah. Here we are.”
“Begged?” Kevin raised an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t say begged.”
“You literally got on your knees.”
“That was a romantic gesture.”
“It was begging. I was there.”
Harry laughed. “I’m happy you figured it out. Finally.” She shot her brother a look sharp with mischief. “Has he shown you his little book?”
Kevin went pale. “Harry.”
“What book?” I asked, but a memory was already turning over in the back of my mind, a soft-cornered shape on a nightstand in a flooded-out weekend a lifetime ago.
“He has this notebook where he wrote down every single mistake he ever made in your relationship. Deep analysis of what he should have done better, how you must have felt, what he’d do differently.” Harry grinned wickedly. “It’s pretty cute. And funny.”
I turned to stare at Kevin. His face had gone from pale to bright red in the space of a breath.