It always felt great to come home.

I’d dropped Laurel off at her place, with a hug and a thank you for her companionship over the weekend, and everything else.

I felt good about where we were now. No longer childhood enemies, but grown adults who would hopefully be friends, although I had to admit, I’d miss the way she’d looked up at me when we were together. Like I was someone special.

Still, I was pleased that she’d made the bargain about our weekend together, then kept it without any drama or upset. Laurel really had meant it when she’d said there’d be no strings attached.

The only question was, why had it been so hard to leave her? I looked back into my rearview mirror, watching her get smaller as I drove away, and found myself wanting to turn around and go back.

Now, as I took my bag into my house, I let loose a happy sigh to be home.

A few years ago, I’d moved back into the house I’d grown up in. I’d always loved the large rooms, wraparound porch, and the feeling I always got when I walked inside. It was home, and luckily, I’d never have to leave.

When my parents had decided to downgrade and move into something more suitable for the two of them, and Jasmine had said there was no way she wanted to have to live in, and take care of, a house this size, and the land is sat on, I’d eagerly jumped at the chance to take it.

Sure, it was way too big for just one man, but I didn’t plan to be single forever. No, I’d always imagined filling these walls with the laughter of my children. To have a family grow here just as I had.

I’d never had a vision of who my wife would be, but now, I could picture coming home to Laurel every night. How great would that be?

Shaking that thought off, I looked around the clean and welcoming, country-style décor and felt completely content. Just then, the tell-tale sound of nails on wood hit my ears and I dropped my bags and crouched to the floor to greet the family that I’d already started.

I braced and grinned as Copper and Penny, my golden retrievers came bounding around the corner.

“Hey, guys,” I said, rubbing them each down as they nudged me happily with their noses.

I had a woman, May, who came by to clean the house every other day, and she and her son looked after my dogs when I was away. Which lately had been much too often. I hated leaving them alone, but May’s son was eleven, and they loved getting the chance to play with him.

“Did you miss me?” I asked, laughing when they almost succeeded in knocking me over.

My phone beeped, indicating a text, so I pulled it out of my pocket and checked the screen.

Home?

It was from Reardon, so I texted back, yes, then stood and grabbed my bags to take them up to my bedroom. As I was walking up the stairs, he replied,

On my way.

It wasn’t unusual for Reardon to stop by, or for me to go to his and Chloe’s, so I put my phone back into my pocket without replying and kept on to my room.

After fifteen minutes, I’d unpacked, put everything where it belonged, changed into basketball shorts and a T-shirt, and was jogging down the stairs. The dogs started barking as I hit the last step and I knew Reardon had arrived.

Seconds later, the door flew open and Reardon dropped to greet the dogs just like I had.

“How was your trip?” he asked, not bothering to look up.

“It went really well, actually,” I replied. “How’s everything back here?”

“Same old,” was Reardon’s reply. “Although, I did get Chloe to agree to make the bridal/saby shower she was having co-ed.” He looked up then, his face conveying his excitement. “It’s Star Wars themed.”

I chuckled, not surprised in the least.

“So, no bachelor party then?”

“Nah,” Reardon said with a shrug as he stood to his full height. “I don’t need anything like that. Friends, family, and Star Wars sounds perfect to me.”

“Anything I need to coordinate?” I asked. I was Reardon’s Best Man.

He’d been Gabe’s, and Gabe would be mine. This was something we’d agreed on when we were twelve years old.

“Ah, I’m not sure, you can check with Zoey … or Laurel, I guess, since we’ve hired her to do the actual planning.”

I must have paused, made a face, or jerked at Laurel’s name, because Reardon’s eyes immediately narrowed on me.

“What was that?” he asked.

I walked past him as nonchalantly as possible and went into the kitchen.

“What?” I asked when he joined me as I got two beers out of the fridge, popping the tops and offering one to him.

“That thing when I mentioned Laurel’s name,” Reardon said, then asked, “Did something happen in Chicago?”

“There,” he said before I could reply, “You did it again.”

“I’m not doing anything,” I said, shrugging then taking a pull from my bottle. “Chicago was good. I made a lot of contacts, and she did too. It worked out for both of us.”

“You slept with her,” he stated, causing me to put my bottle down on the counter a little too hard and gawk at him.

“What?”

“You did, you totally slept with her. I can’t believe it. Huh, Laurel,” Reardon said, shaking his head with wonder. “I guess Serena was right…”

My head was reeling. How the hell? I mean, sure, Reardon was a lawyer, so he was intuitive and good at reading people, but was he a freaking mind reader?

“Wait, what? Serena?” I asked, his last statement confusing me.

“The night Gabe and Zoey had Evie, Serena said how she thought that you’d be the first of us to have kids, not Gabe, and when I asked why, she said because she’d figured you and Laurel would realize you’d been in love with each other all these years and settled down to have lots of babies. When she said it, I thought she was certifiable, but, now … maybe not?”

“What?” I asked again, and although I realized that’s basically all I’d said for the last few minutes, I was having a hard time finding words. When I finally did I said, “I haven’t been in love with Laurel, are you saying she’s been in love with me?”

“Beats me, man, you’d have to ask her … or Serena,” he said, then looked at me and asked, “How the hell did this happen, anyway? I thought you could barely stand being around her. That you’re still pissed at her for her pranks as a kid.”

“If you thought that, why did you guys ask her to go with me to Chicago?”

“Gabe started it,” Reardon said, then grinned. “Plus, I thought it would be fun to fuck with you.” Then his grin fell and he added, “I never expected you to literally fuck her.”

“Hey,” I warned. “It’s not like that.”

“What’s it like then?” he asked. “You guys dating now?”

“No, it was just for the weekend, we both agreed to that upfront, but I’ve realized that I’ve been misjudging her. She’s not like she was as a kid, she’s grown up and is actually pretty great.”

“Well, no shit, I could have told you that,” Reardon replied; they’d always been friends. In my defense though, it was because she didn’t prank him, or Gabe for that matter. She’d always saved that side of her personality just for me.

Shit, had I been totally oblivious all these years? Had she picked on me because she always liked me? Did she still? Is that why she’d suggested spending the weekend together? Cause, if so, that complicated things.

I didn’t want to be the dick who used her emotions against her, then walked away without looking back.

“So, it was just the weekend, huh? No residual feelings?” Reardon asked.

Distracted, I glanced at him, then looked back down as I worried about Laurel and whether she was really okay when I’d left her, or if I’d inadvertently broken her heart.

“Yeah, we’re just going to be friends,” I replied, but had to wonder … is that all I wanted?