I make my way up to the sixteenth floor, where Trent and Hannah have booked a couple of suites for the wedding party. I’m crazy late now — I was supposed to be there hours ago. But better late than never, I guess, and I’ll still be able to ride out to Luke’s with them in one of the limos they had reserved.

I knock on the door of the suite number Trent had texted me, and then push the door open without waiting for a response. I had assumed the room would be bustling with activity, but instead I find Trent alone, sipping from a glass of something that looks like scotch and leaning his forehead against the floor-to-ceiling window.

“Hey, man. Sorry I’m late.”

Trent turns around, startled. He relaxes a little when he sees me, but he still looks distracted.

“Oh. Don’t worry about it.” His voice is tight. I close the door behind me and cross the room towards him.

“You okay?”

He nods, but goes back to looking out the window.

“Where’s Luke? And the photographer? I thought you guys were doing photos.”

“I asked them to leave.”

An anxiousness starts to build in my gut. “Trent, talk to me. What’s going on?”

“I’m getting married,” he says, without turning around.

“Yeah, you are.” I look down at my watch again. “In less than two hours.”

Trent finally turns around. His face is pale, his normal confidence nowhere to be seen.

“Am I really ready to do that?” he asks. The expression on his face is … I don’t know. I’ve never seen my brother like that before.

“What are you saying, Trent? Are you having second thoughts?”

He looks horrified. “God, no! I love Hannah. I just … What if I’m not ready? What if I’m not a good husband? What if … I don’t know.” He takes a long swallow of his scotch and shakes his head.

I walk over to the little table where the crystal decanter of scotch is sitting, and pour a double’s worth into one of the short vintage tumblers sitting there. I take a swig, not bothering to savor it, even though, knowing Trent, the damn bottle probably cost at least a couple of grand.

“Trent, look. We may not be that close anymore. Hell, sometimes I think I barely know you. But you’re also my brother, and I’ve known you for a hell of a long time. I also know what love looks like, and you love Hannah. Hannah loves you. All the rest of it is stuff you guys are going to figure out together.”

Trent looks at me, almost as if he’s seeing me for the first time.

“Do you really think so?” he says. “Do you think love is enough?”

Instead of giving him a platitude, I actually stop to think about his question. Is love enough? Is love enough to overcome the differences between two people? Is it enough to overcome all the mistakes, the lies, the false starts, the things left unsaid?

“I hope so, buddy. In fact, I’m kinda counting on it.”

Trent nods and sips his scotch. He’s already starting to look a little more calm than when I came in. We make our way over to a couple of wingback chairs in front of the window.

“You thinking about Celia?” Trent asks. He’s the one studying me now, and I take a steadying sip of the peaty alcohol.

“Thinking about a lot of things,” I admit.

“Can I ask you something, then?”

“Sure.”

He pauses for a second before speaking. “Why’d you lie, Jace? About having a fiancee? I didn’t care if you were with someone or not — I invited you to the wedding because I wanted you to be here.”

I grin. “I thought you invited me because Mom told you to.”

He chuckles. “Well, she may have given me the push I needed. She was always good at that.”

“Yes, she was.” I chuckle too.

“But I wanted you to be here. You know that, right? You’re my brother. It’s not right that we’ve let things go on this way for so long.”

I shift uncomfortably in my seat. Trent and I aren’t exactly used to having heart-to-hearts, even though part of me’s glad that he’s finally bringing this up.

“I guess I just felt like a dumbass,” I admit. I look out the window so I don’t have to look at my brother. “It was hard living in the shadow of the two golden boys, especially after you guys started Loft & Barn — and then I went and fucked up that account and …”

“And I fired you,” Trent finishes.

“Yeah.”

“Jace, firing you was a huge mistake. I’ve always regretted it.” Trent takes a drink of his scotch and turns to look out the window too. “We were so on edge back then, Luke and I. We were trying so hard to get this business off the ground, and it felt like every single decision was going to make or break our success.

“When we lost that account, I panicked, and I took it out on the only person I could: you.” He shakes his head. “That was stupid, and I’m sorry. We should have tried to find a way to work it out together. Funny thing is, we actually ended up getting that client back a year or so later, and they screwed us out of all kinds of business. We ended up losing more money having them as a client.”

I have to laugh. “So what you’re saying is I did you a favor.”

Trent laughs too. “Yeah, I guess you did. Anyway, I guess what I’m trying to get at here is that I hope we can put what happened back then behind us.”

I nod slowly. “I think we can. And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry I was such a fuck-up back then. You might regret firing me, but I can’t say I blame you. I shouldn’t have lied — though apparently that’s a lesson I’m still learning.” I grin ruefully and Trent chuckles.

“You know, you can still bring Celia to the wedding if you want.”

I raise my eyebrows. “Is that really the best idea?”

He shrugs. “She might not be your fiancee, but I have the funny feeling she might just be a keeper.”

My stomach twists at his words, but I force myself to stay cool and take another sip of scotch.

“Why do you say that?” I finally manage.

“Well, she really went out of her way to make sure you got back to Chicago in time for the wedding.”

My stomach drops six inches. “You knew about that?”

He laughs. “Yeah. She needed your date of birth for the passenger manifest. Calling in a favor with her ex to get your impulsive ass back here? That’s devotion, man.”

He’s grinning, and I feel my heart speed up. Celia hadn’t mentioned how she got me on that private flight — just that she’d called in a favor at work. I had assumed it was some client of hers. But knowing she’d called Martin, after everything he had done to her…

“You really think it would be okay if she came to the wedding?”

He nods. “I already talked to Hannah about it. We both have a funny feeling that we might be seeing more of Celia in the future … even if your so-called engagement isn’t for real. Yet.”

I grin. My heart feels about three times bigger than it did when I came down here, and I’m glad I got to have this talk with Trent — for so many reasons.

“Anyone ever tell you you might be smarter than you look?” I ask Trent.

He grins, wagging his eyebrows. “Every damn day, little brother. Every damn day. Now go find your girl. We have to leave for Luke’s in less than ten minutes.”

I get up and reach out my hand to shake Trent’s, but instead he stands up and gives me a tight hug. I clap him on the back, but when we pull apart I squint at his face.

“Dude … are you wearing make-up?”

Trent grins ruefully. “Well, someone punched me last night, remember?”

“Oh shit. I’m so sorry about that.”

Trent waves it off. “Nothing a little concealer can’t fix, at least according to Hannah’s make-up girl. I think she did a pretty good job, don’t you?”

I chuckle, shaking my head. “Yeah, she did a good job.”

Trent claps my back again. “Now what are you waiting for? Don’t you have a girl to go see?”

He doesn’t have to tell me twice.