“I’m just hoping we have enough people at the party to appreciate the gesture.”

Dixon waved off his concern. “Once Missy Robertson put her stamp of approval on it, we were guaranteed almost all of Arbor Bay. Plus, didn’t Sloane say she was going to talk it up this week? I’m sure that’ll pull in whoever Missy missed. It should be a killer party. I mean, Mom and Dad are so excited that they’re going to help us and Santana run things. Even Lucy was talking about catching a flight here for the fun.”

It wasn’t unusual for the actual owners of Cassidy’s Place to step in and help when things at the bar became hectic—though it had been a while since things had been anywhere near hectic—but Dixon’s little sister possibly flying in was a new one. Brady played with the fringe of his shirt and fought the urge to pull his phone out to check it. He’d already spent part of the morning refreshing Sloane’s social media accounts to see if she’d canceled him.

She hadn’t, but Brady still had no idea if Sloane was even coming to the party anymore.

If she was, she certainly wasn’t coming as his date. Their arrangement was over—she’d made that clear the night before. Not only had she been the one to suggest they call it quits, she’d called him pathetic. And reminded him that she had a real life outside of Arbor Bay.

But remember: you called her pathetic first, so you can’t get butthurt over that, said a voice filled with shame in the back of his head. It had been talking a lot throughout his low-key day of hiding out in the apartment. Brady didn’t like it.

Mostly because he knew it was right.

He’d been an ass to Sloane because he’d fallen into the age-old trap of being jealous over the damn popular guy.

Yeah, he could admit that to himself.

He, Brady Knox, had been jealous of Marcus Robertson. Jealous when Sloane said she had been staring at Marcus all day and jealous when she said they should avoid temptation by not hanging out with the family again.

It was a nasty, crawling feeling, and Brady hated it now, just like he’d hated it when standing in front of a woman he’d once kissed like it was second nature.

So, he’d been a child and lashed out.

He said her feelings for Marcus, feelings she’d apparently had since she was a teen, were pathetic…because Brady was reminded that her feelings for him, a man she’d only known for a few days, weren’t real.

He had prepared himself to wake up to news that he and Sloane were through via social media.

Yet, there had been nothing.