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“Apparently,” she goes on, “one of her bridesmaids is a close friend of Quinn’s. And that cake Quinn made the night we all met herwasexceptional. But I told Megan I should run it by you. Since she’s your ex and all. So? What do you think?”

I hear the grouchy sound that comes out of me, but I don’t look up. “That it would be a good idea for my ex-lover to design my brother’s wedding cake? No.”

Savannah helps herself to one of the uncomfortable-on-purpose chairs in my sitting area, which means this conversation isn’t going to end nearly as quickly as I’d like it to.

I press my hand to my thigh under the desk, and my fingertip starts doing its thing as she talks, spelling one word over and over; for some reason, the word my mind decides to fixate on isWEDDING.

“You know, you remind me of Scrooge, hiding behind his piles of gold coins.”

“What the hell are you talking about? I’m not hiding.”

“What are you so afraid of?”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“Well, you’ve been even more closed-off, grumpy, secretive, and distrustful than ever lately. Way worse off than you were before you completed your challenge, correct?”

“And your point would be?”

“Was the challenge really that difficult? You had to let us in, just an inch, by introducing us to a woman you had a fling with, a woman you were severing ties with anyway, and that was so distasteful to you that now you’ve locked the door in our faces and tossed away the key?”

I look up at her over my screen. Is that how it seems?

Is that what I did?

“What do you want from me, Savi? An open door policy on my soul?”

She gets to her feet, studies me thoughtfully for a moment, then sighs quietly. “I don’t want anythingfromyou, Harlan. I just want you to be happy. But I guess that’s always been a tall order.”

“I’m fine.”

“Yeah. You seem fine.” She heads for the door, apparently deciding I’m beyond help, or whatever it is she thought her goal was in coming here. “You’re invited to dinner at Graysen’s tonight. I’ll tell him you’ll be there.”

“Don’t.”

She gives me a disapproving look.

I sit back after she leaves, and replay what she just said.

I don’t like that she seems to see things that I don’t tell anyone. How does she know I’m worse off now than before I introduced them to Darla?

She’s right. But it disturbs me that she can tell.

I fucking hate it whenever one of my siblings seems to know me better than I think I know myself. It’s invasive and uncomfortable, like an itch I need to scratch at, but can’t.

I straighten my phone, and the screen lights up with a text from a member of my security team, Lincoln.

I open it, and my heart kicks. I call Quinn immediately. “What’s happening?” I demand when she answers. “Where are you?”

“I’m fine,” she says calmly. “Just calm down.”

“You can’t just skip out on Lincoln like that. I’ve assigned him to you full-time. It’s his job to drive you.”

“Yeah, well, Dani’s dropping us off.”

“Where?”

She sighs. “It’s just a doctor’s appointment. Don’t freak out.”