It was a success, but at the moment, I’m too confused to feel triumphant. Plus I’m not sure how to bring it up.

I accidentally sold some sex toys in the Wilder name the other night feels like a lit firecracker.

Suppressing a sigh, I hold the door open for Lucy, and she steps into the barn.

There are offices at the far end of the room and a big conference table in the middle, with loads of equipment on shelves and racks and in bins around the perimeter.

I loved headquarters as a little kid. It felt loaded with possibility. You could grab an armful of stuff and head out into the woods, or onto a lake, a river, a ski slope. You could have any adventure you could imagine.

That said, since my dad died, headquarters isn’t my favorite place. For one thing, it reminds me of losing him—and of the pain of his choosing Gabe over me to run Wilder. I mean, not that I thought he’d give Wilder to me and not Gabe—but it hurt like hell when he didn’t ask us to run it together. Or even give me a hint that he wanted me to be Gabe’s partner. We were barely a year apart in age, but it had been clear for a while at that point that Gabe was the chosen one and I was…

Well, I was the screwup.

Welcome to my inheritance, which is feeling like the brother who didn’t make the cut.

“Are you working at Wilder this afternoon?” I ask Lucy, to distract myself from all the history and my dark thoughts.

She shakes her head. “Just mooching lunch.”

Lucy spends some afternoons at Wilder, because even though she runs her own marketing company from an office over Rush Creek Bakery in town, we’re one of her biggest clients.

And I’m sure the fact that Gabe’s here is a plus. Not to mention that Gabe’s house is just over yonder, and sometimes they both disappear for twenty minutes in the middle of the work day.

Lucy, who has taken a few steps away from me, suddenly turns back, phone in hand. “By the way,” she says, holding up her phone. “You’re a hit!” She hands it to me so I can see. It’s my Brody’s Boat page, and there are eight new reviews, one from each woman on the boat the other night. They’re all five-star, and they’re all glowing.

Wish high school sex ed had been this matter-of-fact and pleasure-oriented.

Best hours I’ve ever spent on a boat.

A great time in a gorgeous setting.

Every woman should take a ride on Brody’s Boat.

“Gabe, check it out!” Lucy says, before I can stop her.

Lit firecracker. Alert!