Nash laughs again, looking up in thought as a faraway smile remains on his lips. “He didn’t speak to me for a whole week after that kiss.”

“You’re lying.”

He shakes his head, offering an earnest smile.

“But Harley … he—he hated me when we were kids. He said I stole you away from him. He was so mean.” I think back to all the times Harley Shaw made my life a living hell. The teasing. The pranks. The constant practical jokes. He would go out of his way to do something mean and horrible to me at least once every day.

“No, he never hated you,” Nash says with a defiant shake of his head. “He hated that you fell for me, and he hated me for stealing you away from him.”

Suddenly I think back to all the times Harley has been there for me over the years. Moments I perhaps took for granted because I was too damn obsessed with Nash to realize. Graduation night when he took care of me because Nash disappeared. When he practically checked himself out of hospital after his football injury, just to come to home to help me because Nash couldn’t leave New York. Hell, Harley was the one who saved me from Billy when we were 9 years old. It was never Nash.

As I allow Nash’s words to sink in, I glance over his shoulder, and at that moment my eyes connect with an intense green gaze set steadily upon me from the bar, and my breath hitches in the back of my throat. I continue staring into Harley’s eyes, and although we’re so far apart, physically and emotionally, right at that moment, even with Nash’s hands resting casually on my waist, it feels as if Harley and me are the only two people in the whole room.

“Don’t let him get away, Murph.” Nash’s whispered voice pulls me back to the now, and I tear my focus from Harley to find a sincere, hopefulness in my friend’s blue eyes as he implores me with an all-too-serious look that makes me realize just how right he is. “I meant it last night when I said the two of you are perfect for each other.” He presses his lips together, taking a moment before managing a wry smile. “It hurts like hell to say that,” he says with a soft laugh. “But it’s the truth. Y’all have always been perfect for one another. I just stood in the way for far too long.”

I seriously consider his words, but then I come to as the ache in my chest rears its ugly head. “But he’s here with Emma.” I shake my head, looking down momentarily only to hear Nash scoff. I lift my head to find a dubious smirk twisting his lips to the side.

“Oh, please. He called her an hour before the damn wedding was supposed to start and begged her to come with him. He didn’t even have a plus-one. The wait staff had to make an extra place setting at last notice.” He chuckles, shaking his head.