“They dated for, like . . . three years?”

“Two and a half.” I wonder if she ever told her family that I met her in Paris. Obviously she didn’t tell them what we did there, but she could have admitted we spent time together. Fuck, after the bomb I dropped when she got back to the States, I bet she didn’t talk about it at all. That would be like Shay. She’d rather pretend she wasn’t hurt than risk my relationship with her family.

“And then there’s this mystery guy she’s been seeing from her work. The guy I assumed she was still seeing until she . . .” He pulls a face. He doesn’t have to finish that sentence for me to understand what he means. He has the face of a brother who now has more knowledge of his baby sister’s sex sounds than he ever wanted to have.

“They’re seeing other people.” The words taste bad. Shay isn’t the kind to sleep around. While I wouldn’t judge her if she were, that’s not what she’s about. She’s a long-term kind of girl. I know she is. We’ve both carried this thing for each other for more than a decade. But as the guy who just had a quickie with her in the bar office, I’m not sure I’m the one to judge her choice to have casual sex with some asshole professor.

Jake shakes his head then turns to the counter and starts unloading plates into stacks at the end of the service line. “Did you know she always had a thing for you?”

I meet his eyes. “Always as in when?”

Jake shrugs. “Always always.”

I’m pretty sure any thing she had went both ways. “Did she say something to you?”

“She never talks about that stuff. Not to me, at least. But she didn’t have to tell me. I could see it. She followed you around every time you were over. After you moved away, every time Carter brought you up, she’d hang on every word.”

I swallow the lump in my throat, faced again with how much I lost when I fucked up with her. But even with the horrible ache of that knowledge, I can’t regret going down the path that gave me Abi. “I’ve had a thing for Shay for a long time too.” It’s ridiculous that I’ve never admitted that to anyone other than Shay herself. Carter only knew I couldn’t keep my eyes off his sister. He didn’t understand that there was more to it than a gut-level physical attraction.

“Is that what this is?” Jake asks. “This is all about you having feelings for my sister?”

I rock back on my heels. “Strong feelings.” Those words are too weak, so I try again. “I like Shay. A lot.”