He faced away from me and shucked his coat, T-shirt, and jeans, tossing them on the loveseat without folding them. Tugging a robe from the hook, he tied it around his waist and was gone, back into the studio without a word.

Sighing, I stripped out of my clothes and donned my own fluffy robe while praying we could make it through today in one piece.

Asher was sitting on a chair while Aria hovered over him, dabbing a cotton ball of something or other over his forehead. She spoke in a quiet voice, and her smile was just this side of flirty. Asher wasn’t responding, which was not like him. The day he didn’t notice a beautiful woman paying attention to him was the day the world ended.

I checked out the window, but the sun shone, and no earth-destroying meteors were in sight.

Aria was fast and efficient. Once she’d spent a few more minutes with my brother, it was my turn.

She asked me about school, and we chatted about the cold winter weather. She was from California but loved the cold and snow. She shared that she came north often for ski trips and other winter adventures.

I mumbled enough connecting words to make it seem like I was paying attention, but my focus was on Asher.

Charlotte had an arm around him and was talking and pointing and smiling away like our lives hadn’t taken a nosedive into the Grand Canyon last week.

When Aria finished with me, I approached them, hesitant to intervene on their privacy. Charlotte was motherly in a way. She was soft-spoken and always had a smile for us. Asher, however, was no more relaxed than when he’d first arrived. He looked like he was being marched to his death or the torture chamber.

“Atticus, love, come here and see what Lewis has planned,” Charlotte said when she saw me hovering behind them.

Her other arm circled my shoulder, so she had Asher and me on either side. “Are you nervous, sweet pea?”

“Nah. It’s cool.”

“Good. No one is judging you here. It’s all in the name of business.”

“I’m judging,” Lewis grumbled from behind his camera. He was fiddling and adjusting things I knew nothing about.

“Lew, how about you leave the camera for a second and talk to these guys. Maybe tone it down some and remember this is awkward for them.”

Lewis glared. “Awkward isn’t my concern. My concern is getting usable pictures for you so you knock these books out of the ballpark.”

“Lewis doesn’t have a sympathetic bone in his body.” Charlotte and Lewis shared a friendly glare. Well, Charlotte’s glare was friendly. Lewis’s was not.

“Maybe if Lewis was asked to make out with his brother, he’d feel differently,” Jay said, joining our group.

“Would never happen.” Lewis returned his attention to his camera. “I don’t have a brother.”