Page 87 of The Honeymoon Hack

A shiver ran down my legs, and everything suddenly crystallized.

Will was right.Ihad decided it was a mistake.Ihad forced him to choose. He’d simply gone along with it becausehedidn’t want to loseme.

“I couldn’t bear to mess up the one constant thing in my life. Will’s the only thing that’s stayed the same. I can’t…”

I just couldn’t.

“Let me tell you a story.” Rav sat on the edge of his bed, resting his elbows on his knees. A hint of a smile curled his lips, but pain flickered in his eyes. “Years ago, I was on a deployment in the Middle East, as part of a protection detail for a scientific contingent. I became close with one of the scientists, and we crossed a few lines, too.”

His confession was a surprise. There was the before-the-military Rav we’d grown up with, then the after-the-military Rav who came to work with Reynolds. He never spoke about the time in between. At least, not to me.

“I won’t bore you with the details, but things ended badly. A year later, she reached out.”

“And?”

“I didn’t answer,” he said, his jaw tightening. “I was too scared to find out what she wanted to say. Too afraid of opening old wounds.”

“You?” The word slipped out. “Afraid?”

“Everyone’s afraid of something, Brie.” A bitter smile touched his lips. “I’ve done a lot of things in my life that haunt me, but not picking up the phone to talk to her again? That’s my greatest regret. Nothing comes close.”

“Are you saying I should?—”

“I’m saying,” he interrupted gently, “that some risks are worth taking.”

I swallowed hard against the tightness in my throat. “Your situation was obviously different.”

“Perhaps.” He shrugged. “But answer me this: How did you feel when Will was in London? When you were apart for a year?”

“I was fine,” I said automatically.

“Really?” The skepticism in his voice was unmistakable. “You looked miserable every time I saw you outside work.”

I shifted uncomfortably in the chair, the comment hitting too close to home. “I was fine until Shawn and I broke up. That’s probably what you’re thinking of.”

“Why did you break up?” Rav’s direct gaze pinned me in place. He sounded so confident. Had Scarlett told him the truth?

Probably.

“He said I was never fully present. That it was like I was always waiting for something else.” I drew a shaky breath. Yeah, I definitely should have found a closet to hide in instead of calling Rav. “He hated how much time I spent talking to Will. Accused me of being more excited for those calls than to spend time with him.”

“Was he wrong?”

Memories crashed over me. Of Will patiently sitting in the passenger seat while I practiced parallel parking, laughing whenI missed the spot for the millionth time. Will dancing with me at Scarlett’s graduation party, spinning me until we were both dizzy. Will holding me while I cried about my father a few nights ago, his presence more comforting than anyone else’s had ever been.

Every important moment in my life, he’d been there. Every joy, every sorrow, every triumph and failure—he’d stood by me through all of it. And every time I’d tried to imagine my future, he’d been in it.

“No,” I whispered, the truth breaking free. “He wasn’t wrong.”

Every relationship I’d ever had paled in comparison to what I felt when I was with Will. Every boyfriend had eventually grown frustrated with the space I kept reserved for my best friend, the part of my heart that belonged entirely to him.

Because itdidbelong to him. All of it.

And it always had.

“Oh shit,” I breathed, my hand flying to my chest as if it were about to burst open. “I’m in love with him. I’m in love with Will.”

Rav smiled, nudging my chair with his foot again. “So why are you still sitting here?”