“This is going to take a while if you’re going to argue with every sentence.” I tried to keep my tone light.

“Okay, okay. It’s just hard to hear you be down on yourself.”

“Mm-hmm,” I said meaningfully. “Trust me, I know how it feels.”

Chloe growled and then said, “Continue.”

“Part of the reason I’m so determined to make the brewery work is because it would make me feel like an equal contributor. Tonight, when we drank our toast, my brothers seemed genuinely proud of me. Excited for me. And excited for the partnership between Rusty Anchor and Henry’s. Between our beer and Cash’s food.”

“That must’ve felt really good.”

“Cash was coming up with new beer-based dishes left and right. Seth wants to use the beer logos on the menus and do a big grand opening thing.” My enthusiasm dimmed. “Which was going to include a joint Henry’s and Rusty Anchor entry in the Fourth of July Boat Parade. There’s no way we’ll be open by then now.”

“You could do the float anyway. Build the hype.”

“Maybe.” My first reaction was that it wouldn’t be the same, but within five seconds, I started to think it could still be a good idea. “At any rate, we were discussing all these plans for the future when we heard the sirens. Boom. I feel like the screw-off brother once again.”

“Holden.”

“Chloe.”

She was silent for a few seconds and rolled to her back. I could practically hear the gears in her brain turning, and it took some willpower on my part not to preemptively argue with whatever she was going to say.

“You know how you tell me no one thinks of me as the poor girl or the loser loner from our childhood?” she asked.

“Yes,” I said with no hesitation.

“I’m absolutely certain no one thinks of you as the screw-off Henry brother or a screw-off of any kind. Everybody loves you. You get along with all ages, all types of people, those who grew up here and those who’ve transplanted from elsewhere. You manage the best restaurant in town without blinking. People like working for you, like drinking beer with you, and some of us like doing other things with you.”

That made me laugh and, not going to lie, perked up my Johnson more than a little.

“Like exchanging puns,” she said, and I laughed again. “What I’m trying to say is that maybe your view of yourself is as off-base as you say mine is. And maybe we’re both too hard on ourselves.”

In that moment, I realized the two of us really were similar at the core, though I’d never seen it before. Maybe that explained why we’d gravitated to each other as friends so long ago.