Pride & Precedents (The Park Brothers #2)

27. Henry

Chapter twenty-seven

Henry

A dam stands in front of the full-length mirrors, admiring himself in the navy blue tux. The break has too many folds, and there are a few extra inches in the midsection that will need to be taken in. Necessary alterations aside, he looks great. The color is flattering, and any suit paired with the limited edition Santoni shoes he doesn't know I'm gifting him is bound to look good. To me though, a notch lapel says "business meeting" not "one of the most important days of my life". At my wedding, I'll probably go for something more formal.

I swirl the complimentary Jameson around in my glass and let the clink of the ice cubes soothe me. I must be drunk. There's no other reason why NYC's top divorce attorney would suddenly fantasize about his own wedding. I know the numbers. I know the heartbreak. On paper, marriage just doesn't work. But if you put that paper down and look at the amazing woman standing in front of you…it's understandable why so many people take the leap.

I shake my head and put my tumbler down on the mirrored coffee table. I must be drunk. Adam turns again to look over his shoulder at the back of his suit.

"What do we think?" he asks everyone. The private fitting room at Robbie & Co.'s is impressive. Besides free drinks, there's a flatscreen showing the Mets stomping the Red Sox, and Cory and Noah are enjoying a lively game of billiards.

"Scratch!" Cory shouts triumphantly when Noah knocks the white ball into the pocket. Adam rolls his eyes and turns back to the mirror. I glare at them both the way only the eldest brother can.

"C'mon, guys," I chastise. "We're here to help our baby brother get married, not start a blood feud over what should be a friendly game of pool."

Noah and Cory look sufficiently scolded and join me on the couch. Cory gestures limply at Adam.

"That one looks great on you," Cory says blandly. He's said that about every suit Adam has tried on today.

"I like the color, but…" Noah trails off, considering.

"But it doesn't seem formal enough?" I offer. Noah slaps his knee.

"That's it! I couldn't figure out what was bothering me about it. It says 'I do taxes', not 'I do'."

Adam ignores the juvenile gagging sound coming from Cory and looks himself over again. Doubt clouds his expression.

"Why don't you try something with a shawl lapel?" I suggest, taking another swig of my whiskey even though the ice has watered it down. Adam's face brightens.

"I can do that. Be right back." Adam takes off to the fitting room and Cory doesn't hide his smirk.

"Our baby brother is the definition of 'whipped'. I can't believe he's the first to settle down. It's like all our training meant nothing to him." Noah reaches over and smacks the back of Cory's head.

"Cut it out, bro," Noah warns. "Adam is happy with Maya. He clearly loves her. Don't be a dick and rain on his parade."

Cory falls against the back of the couch, resigned to attend the tux fitting but hell bent on complaining every step of the way.

Noah risks a glance in my direction from across the pool table, then uses lightning fast reflexes to pretend he wasn't looking. He's been staring at me off and on since I announced my suspension. When Cory jumps up to go to the men's room, I turn to find Noah, yet again, staring at me.

"What's with all the weird looks?" I ask, foregoing small talk to get straight to the meat of the issue. A rueful smile tugs at Noah's lips.

"I just…don't know where we stand," he admits hesitantly. "I wouldn't have even come today, since I thought it would be awkward, but, you know, it's mandatory."

"Of course it is. You don't want to end up looking like a hobo in an off-the-rack suit if Adam decides to go bespoke."

Noah chuckles lightly, but his smile doesn't reach his eyes. We're both silent for a while.

"I really am sorry about what happened," Noah mutters before taking a sip of his Maker's Mark.

"I know you are," I sigh. "We're good. I just…It just felt like, when Adam and Cory both knew about Naomi, all of you had been laughing at me behind my back." Noah rears back, offended.

"That's not how it was at all! You might not remember, but you were a real pain in the ass for months after it happened. I finally broke down and told the others so they'd stop worrying about you."

Wow. I never realized my brothers care enough to worry about me.

"And the stuff about Camila?" I ask, eyebrow raised. Noah's excuse for telling them about Naomi seems plausible enough, but why the hell would he need to give anyone details about what I did with Camila? His expression turns chagrined.

"That was just one too many Maker's Marks. As soon as it came out, I knew I'd made a mistake." I grunt and drain the rest of my glass.

"I'm not saying it's cool, but thanks for telling me what happened. Camila is really special to me." Noah waggles his eyebrows suggestively.

"Oooh! She is, is she?" I brace myself for some brotherly ball busting. "So when do Mom & Dad and the other brothers get to meet her? Is she coming to the wedding?"

I wish I knew. I shrug and stand to take Cory's place at the pool table.

"Did Mom tell you Damon changed his flight? He'll be here a full two weeks before the big day." I silently pray Noah lets me get away with changing the subject yet again. The look on his face says "no such luck".

"You know she reached out to me about a week ago," Noah says. He casually gets up for another drink at the bar, like he didn't just drop a nuke on my brain.

"She who?" I ask, hoping he's talking about someone else. He turns and looks at me like I'm a moron. OK. So we're clearly talking about Mila.

"Well, what did she want?" I ask, trying to control the pleading tone of my voice. Noah's smile turns a little wicked. Although he accused Cory of enjoying holding things over people's heads, that was definitely the pot calling the kettle black.

"It was about work, actually. She asked if there were any entry-level positions at my firm, something a new lawyer could use to cut their teeth." Noah tries to cover his laughter at my stunned face with a cough. He fails miserably.

"She reached out for a job ?!" The gravity of his words hits me like a bucket of ice water. What is she doing looking for jobs? She's coming back once she passes the bar, isn't she? My palms start to sweat.

"Hey bro, chill," Noah says in a soothing tone. He pats me awkwardly on the shoulder. "It was just a meeting. Nothing is set in stone. I took her resume and set up a meeting for her with HR. That's it." Hearing Camila's thinking of leaving the firm, of leaving me …

"Are you going to hire her?" I croak. I'm having a hard time catching my breath. Noah's eyes dart away uncomfortably.

"I mean," he starts, avoiding eye contact, "what firm wouldn't want someone with 5+ years of experience supporting a partner at BBS&P, even a paralegal? And she'll have her J.D. from Syracuse soon?"

He waves his hand like the answer is obvious and I gulp because it is. Painfully. Noah leans over for another stiff pat on my shoulder.

"Don't start panicking yet, bro. I told her nothing could move forward without a recommendation from you. Honestly, I thought she might have talked to you about it already, but obviously not."

"Well…I guess that's something. Now she'll have to talk to me." Noah sees a bad idea brewing and thankfully intervenes.

"And you'll do the right thing like you always do, and you won't hold her career hostage just because things didn't work out. Right?" The doubt in his voice is enough to squash the idiotic notion before it can take root. I won't deny her the recommendation—her work is stellar, and she's had to deal with my bullshit on top of all of that—but if she thinks we're not talking about us, she's crazy.

While my whole world is imploding around me, Adam comes out from the dressing room with Cory hot on his heels. Adam's wearing a black velvet tux with a satin shawl lapel. There's subtle paisley on the velvet, which I thought would be too trendy when I saw it on the mannequin, but it actually works. He looks incredible. He knows it too, judging by the way he's smiling at his reflection in the mirrors.

"That's the one," Noah and I both say, then laugh. We never did much of the twin speak, even as kids, but we're clearly on the same page about that beautiful suit. Even Cory looks impressed, though he opts not to say anything. Adam turns to see the suit from another angle.

"I think you're both right. This suit is the one," Adam says. I stand with my glass raised, swaying a bit from the two previous glasses.

"Here's to Adam. He's the perfect brother, marrying the perfect girl, in the perfect suit." Cory laughs and yanks me back down to sit, but drinks anyway.

"Sit down, man. You always get so emotional when you drink."

Noah and Adam are both smiling too and it feels good between all of us for the first time in a while. Nothing, not a new relationship, not moving to Westchester, not even a huge fight, can break the bonds of brotherhood. Once Damon is back for the wedding, things will be perfect.

Well, almost perfect. My heart squeezes when I remember that the person I want to be my date for the wedding, the one person I might actually consider taking the plunge with, as scary as that feels, is planning to leave for good. If she needs a grand gesture to know how I feel about her, then a grand gesture is what she's fucking going to get.