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“How does any of this sound appealing to me?”
“Oh, come on, I’m joking,” he says.
I don’t believe him, but it would be awesome if we played together. “I could mention something to Issy but no guarantees,” I tell him.
“Thanks, I appreciate it.”
“Wait, what about Collette? She works for your team,” I tell my brother.
“Shit.”
“We could add Collette as part of the deal, too, unless she wants to stay,” Harper adds.
“Can you text her and find out? I don’t think she would want to stay but I can’t make that call for her,” Pierre says.
“Of course,” Harper says as she furiously types out a message to my sister.
“Thanks,” he says.
“You would seriously move back to New York?” I ask him.
“It’s close to Mom and an easier commute to see Joelle.”
“And Issy?”
“Don’t start. She is not the reason I want to be in New York.” He points his finger at me.
“Collette is into jumping ship,” Harper says.
Pierre looks relieved. “You’re not looking to hire people, are you?” he asks Harper.
“Me?”
“Just a thought,” Pierre adds.
“Hadn’t thought about it, but she’s sports marketing, right?” she asks. We both nod. “My agency doesn’t deal with a lot of sports, but maybe I could talk to Issy for you.”
“Would you?” my brother asks.
“Yeah. Look, it’s going to be delicate, but I’ll try,” Harper tells him.
“Thanks, again.”
Pierre’s fallenasleep after dinner exhausted from the day. Harper is furiously working away.
“Thanks for all this, I owe you,” I tell her.
She looks up from her phone and gives me a bright smile. “Is it wrong of me to say I love all this because it’s very sad but exciting?”
This makes me laugh. “I get it.” She puts all her things down, slides over into my lap, and wraps her arms around me. “Sorry, we had to cut our holiday short. I was looking forward to fucking you in Italy.”
“Me too,” she says, hugging me tightly.
“Things with my family are about to go to shit, so I don’t know what that means for us,” I confess to her.
“I’ll be here for you, whatever you need,” she says.
I stroke my hand down her hair. “Thanks, you’ve already done so much for me and my family.”