“Well, I’m hungry,” I said, trying my best to keep my tone light.

I didn’t miss the side look Boogie shot me as I slid out from under Zac’s arm like a fish, flashing him a brief smile before we headed inside the chain restaurant. The place was small, and we’d been there together a bunch of times in the past. The hostess didn’t do much more than glance at my cousin in his work clothes, Zac in his dark jeans and plain white T-shirt, and me before leading us toward a booth. I slid in to one side first, Boogie following, and Zac taking a seat across from us.

I could do this.

And Zac, fortunately, decided to pick on my cousin as he opened his menu and asked, “What’s that dumb look on your face for, Boog?”

I glanced over. He did have a weird expression on his face as he took in the menu like he wasn’t going to order the same thing he did every time. Was he looking weird because I was being weird? There’d been something in his eyes when we’d been outside….

My cousin didn’t glance up as he shot his best friend the middle finger.

Zac snickered.

Worried it was me causing him to make that strange expression, I nudged Boogie. “I like that dumb look on your face.”

And one of my favorite people in the world nudged me back in a way I was pretty sure said I wasn’t causing anything before lifting his other hand and shooting yet another middle finger at the man across from us.

And that made Zac laugh, the sound rich and familiar still. Like old times. But not like old times.

Focusing down at my menu, I reminded myself again that this was all fine, that I wasn’t going to stare at Zac’s face or, much less, bring up anything from the past. I wasn’t going to ruin dinner with my cousin. I was going to go about the rest of my day and my week and—

“I was going to wait until after we finished eating, but the dumb look on my face is because I was planning on asking you two to be in my wedding, and I wasn’t sure how to ask.”

Yeah, both of our elbows dropped off the edge of the table—mine and Zac’s—and for whatever freaking reason, we looked right at each other. Light blue to my very dark blue. Just like in the past when we’d be on the verge of ragging on Boogie over something.

And that was when he raised his head.

Busted.

His facial expression wasn’t a hurt one or even a sad one. He still had too much of a babyface to really be good at mean-mugging, but it was more… resigned. He knew us both well enough to have an idea of what we were thinking. Which was: you want to marry her? Of all the people in the world… of all the women he’d dated over the years... her?

But he didn’t say anything. He didn’t explain or apologize. He’d made a decision, and everybody else had to live with it.

My cousin—the man who was basically my brother, who had been there for me more often than my own dad—was going to get married.

To someone who didn’t deserve him.

Shit.

“Congratulations?” I said, trying not to let it sound like a question and failing because… well, because I still couldn’t believe he was going to get married, period, much less to someone I didn’t like. If I’d ever fantasized about it, I’d figured he’d marry someone I liked as much as I did my sister’s husband.

“Congrats,” Zac said, sounding only slightly more convincing than me.

At least it wasn’t just Connie and me who hated Boogie’s girlfriend. Future wife. Whatever she was now. It made me feel a little more justified in my dislike to see Zac didn’t seem all that stoked about it either.

“Thank you,” Boogie replied.

I scratched my nose, and Zac just sat there. Neither one of us had the balls to make a face, probably because we were both being watched.

Boogie’s tongue poked at the inside of his cheek, and he continued making constant and complete eye contact with one of us the whole time as he kept on talking. “I’m doing this, and you’re both going to be in the wedding, bitchfacing or not,” Boogie let us know before bringing the menu back up to his face and hiding most of it. From the other side, he said, “We’re planning on doing it in February, on our anniversary. Mark it in your calendars.” He rattled off a specific date at the beginning of the month.

They’d already planned this far ahead? What the hell? And in February?

And I should’ve been surprised, but wasn’t, when Zac echoed, “February?”

“Yes, February. I haven’t told my mom yet, or anybody,” he ended, still focused on the menu.

And that got my thoughts to stop in their place.

As much as I disliked his girlfriend, well... Boogie was my favorite. Favorite cousin. Favorite male. Favorite Pictionary partner. He was my brother from another mother. And there was no way in hell he was going to be getting married without me close by.

Even if I thought he was about a million times too good for the woman he was marrying.

But most importantly, Boogie had been there for me from the moment my parents had moved into my abuela’s house and every second since.

Even if this was a mistake, it was his mistake to make. He’d let me make a handful of my own. It was just another reason why I couldn’t say anything to him about getting married.

Been there, done that, fucked it up, and regretted it.

Plus, more than anything, my cousin was a good man. One of the best. And I knew his heart. If he said he’d forgiven what’s-her-face, he really had. Down to his bones.

So, it was either isolating my cousin or rolling with it. If things didn’t work out… well, I was going to be there for that too. Through thick and thin. Like he’d always been with me. The little cousin he’d always treated better than a sister.

Just as I opened my mouth to tell Boogie I was in, Zac leaned forward across the table.

“Look, if you wanna marry Lauren, then I’ll be right there next to you.” The long man stretched his spine as he lifted an elbow and settled it on the back of the booth, spreading out across it. My God, when the hell had he grown those muscles on his chest? I didn’t remember seeing them so clearly before, even in the pictures he posted on Picturegram of himself at some beach around the world. I forced myself to focus on his Disney prince face though as he kept going. “You already know why I feel the way I feel, but you know I want the best for you.” Those blue eyes then slid toward me, and the tiny lines at the corners of them crinkled as he took in my face, slow and lingering on me in a way that made me wonder why he was taking so long looking at me. “We want the best for you because you are the best. Same as you’d want for us, right, Peewee?”

I felt my nostrils flare as I glanced back and forth between the two longtime best friends. Two nearly complete opposites in every physical way. Tall and not as tall. The athlete and the… whatever it was he did. He’d explained it to me a dozen times, and I still didn’t get it. Managing wealth, whatever the hell that meant.

Two people who loved and valued each other very much.

Who wanted the best for themselves and always had.

In a way, it was like me and Connie. We made no sense on paper but made total sense in person.

Because people who loved you really did want the best for you, and that was why I had supported Zac throughout the years even though he’d hurt me and had no idea I’d been rooting for him all along. So.