“Yeah,” he says, and then he turns to look at me. “So, things are good with you and Aviva?”
“Real good,” I admit.
“I thought being on the road would be hard for you. Usually you’d already have been through a few girls by now.”
I would have. It’s how I handle being on the road and losing, or hell, even winning. I love sex, but I guess it’s different now. I don’t want to jeopardize what I have at home. “Don’t need them when I have my baby at home.”
Chandler seems impressed. “That’s awesome, dude. You seem happy.”
“I am. Really.”
He nods as he looks away. “Listen, I need to talk to you.”
I sit up, crossing my legs. “Yeah?”
“We both know how much I love Amelia,” he starts, and I just give him a dry look.
“No! You love her? I’d never suspect that.”
He snorts, and I grin over at him. “Yeah, and I know we were waiting to get married so that we can have a huge shindig. But last night, we were talking on FaceTime, and I was watching her with the babies, holding them, and just looking like an angel. I decided I didn’t want to wait.”
“No?”
“No. So I told her I want to get married. Now.”
I jerk my head back. “Did you marry her without telling anyone?”
He laughs. “No, but we decided that during our little game break, we’re gonna have a small wedding on the beach.”
My heart warms. “No shit.”
“Yeah, and I want you to be my best man.”
I swallow hard. I know I should just say yes, but I find I’m starting to sweat. I’ll have to stand with no gear on in front of how many people? I know they’ll probably only be looking at Amelia and Chandler, but I’ll be up there. “It’ll be small?”
“Yeah, my family, hers, you. Fifteen people max,” he promises. “Everyone who will be there will be people you know.”
He thought this through, and I swear, I don’t know what I would do without this man. He’s my brother, and my love for him is soul-deep. Just acknowledging that brings the guilt back. I should tell him. Right now, right here—tell him the truth. He loves me, cares for me, yet I can’t. “Yeah, of course.”
He cups my shoulder. “Awesome, but just a heads-up, Shelli will be there. With Aiden.”
I wait for something. A feeling. Sadness, anger, resentment—anything. But nothing comes. I shrug. “That’s fine. Can I bring Aviva and Callie?”
He nods eagerly. “Absolutely.”
“Awesome. Yeah, I’m there for you, bro.”
“Fantastic. I was worried. I know you don’t do crowds.”
I slowly nod as I bite my lip. “Yeah, but I’ll do this crowd to watch my two favorite people tie that knot.”
Chandler is excited; it’s radiating off him. “We’re gonna head to Barcelona after the wedding for a few days just as a mini-honeymoon.”
I laugh. “No shit. Callie wants to go there.”
“Really? Barcelona? That’s weird.”
“Has something to do with some Ed Sheeran song. I don’t know. But she really wants to go. I said I’d take them in the summer. But shit, since you’re going, you should take her.”
He gives me a deadpan expression. “I’m gonna be banging my brand-new wife the whole time we’re there, not caring for a sixteen-year-old.”
I chuckle. “I didn’t think of that. Maybe I’ll take her since I can’t get Aviva to shut the shop down.”
“She won’t let you.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s her sister, and you are the boyfriend. People don’t just hand over their sisters to their boyfriends of a few months to go to foreign countries.”
I shrug. “You’re probably right. She’s a helicopter sister, for sure,” I laugh, and he smiles.
“Hey, after everything they’ve been through, can you blame her?”
I can’t. I actually support it. I couldn’t imagine. Losing her mom, having the gene for the same cancer that killed her mom and then could kill her sister. It terrifies me just thinking about it. “Maybe I can get her to go too. Share a plane.”
He shoots me a look. “I wanted to bang my wife on the plane too.”
“Who said you couldn’t do it in the bathroom?”
He flashes me a smirk. “I forget who I’m talking to.”
He holds out his hand, and I slap it, but before I can pull away, he holds it. “This look looks great on you.”
“What look?”
“Relationship look.”
“I gotta keep up with my brother.”
He grins. “I hear that.”
But I don’t think he does. I don’t think he knows how much he has inspired me. How much I have learned from him and how much he means to me. Which is why the guilt is eating at me from the inside for not telling him. He meets my gaze, and then he brings in his brows. “What’s up? You look like you’ve let a puck in. And by the way, those goals weren’t your fault.”