I close my eyes. “You knew about that too?”

“Unfortunately,” he mutters. “Nobody knows the intentions of a nineteen-year-old boy like another nineteen-year-old boy.”

“You never said anything.”

“Because it grossed me out.”

“But you didn’t stop it,” I say, a little incredulous.

Craig’s silent for a minute, probably uncomfortable. “I dunno. I guess I thought…thought you two were good for each other. Always figured it would happen eventually. None of us were surprised.”

Another surprise. “ ‘Us’? Your family knows.”

“Yup.”

I run my hand over my hair. “Good Christ. And they let me take this road trip with her, knowing I was the one—”

“Nope,” Craig interrupts. “Don’t say it. I prefer to never ever know a single detail. But yeah, the road trip was parental interference at its finest.”

I wait for my brain to catch up. “Does Lucy know they know?”

“Nope. Well, she talked to Brandi about it. But, like you, Spock overestimated you guys’ teenage stealth. Mom and Dad have known from the very beginning.”

“Jesus,” I mutter, suddenly replaying the past few years. Realizing that every time I sat in their kitchen, let them feed me beer and chili, they knew I’d hooked up with their daughter.

Still, around the shock and dismay, there’s also a little bit of relief. It’s never felt right, having them trust me so implicitly while I thought I was keeping a crucial secret.

“So if you knew we were together back then, you have to know that we’ve been very much not together for the past few years.”

“Sure. And I accepted it. The parents, not so much.”

Everything clicks into place. “This road trip was a matchmaking attempt.”

“That’s putting it mildly. Wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if Mom’s had your wedding invitation picked out for a decade, and if Dad plans to give you my grandfather’s watch instead of me.”

The thought of being a part of the Hawkins family for real…being connected through marriage to Lucy…

The vision nearly chokes me, not with horror so much as with…

I shove the thought away.

“Well, they’re going to be disappointed,” I say.

“Because she’s driving you nuts,” he says, bringing our conversation full circle.

“She’s gotten all fancy-pants since she went off to school. Thinks that because she has a piece of paper about hospitality that she’s better than the rest of us.”

“She said that?” he asks.

“No,” I grumble. “But she’s out shopping right now for work clothes for the new job.”

“And?”

“My work clothes are boots, jeans, and my oldest shirts. Hers are high heels and…I don’t even know.”

“Never bothered you before.”

I take in a deep breath. Maybe he doesn’t know me as well as I thought he did. “It’s always fucking bothered me,” I say quietly.

Craig is quiet for a minute. “Spock’s always been a little…driven,” he finally says. “She announced when she was like, ten, that it wasn’t enough for her to know wine, she wanted to teach other people about wine. You knew that about her.”

“Sure,” I mutter. “I just didn’t know how annoying it would be.”

How inferior it would make me feel.

“Just tell her to shut up,” Craig says. “That’s what I do. Spock’s passionate, that’s all.”

You have no idea, I think, remembering how generous and eager a lover she is.

Craig’s right. Lucy’s passionate, and not just between the sheets. She’s passionate about everything. Work. Love. Life.

I want some of that. I want to absorb it and claim a little bit of it. I want to beg her to save some of it for me.

She won’t though. Lucy’s a girl with a plan. And I’d bet serious money that her long-term plan involves someone who’s not satisfied with minimum wage.

“What’s going on with you?” he asks. “You’re not usually wound this tight.”

“She’s so fucking complicated.”

He snorts. “They all are.”

“I just wish I knew what she was thinking,” I say, cringing at the sound of the whining coming from my mouth.

“I’m surprised she hasn’t told you. She’s always been the blurt-it-out type, at least around me.”

Yeah, well, you didn’t break her heart, I silently add.

I’d give just about anything to know what Lucy’s thinking these days.

“Hey, hold on one sec,” Craig says. “Boss is calling on the other line.”

“ ’Kay, ’kay.” I sit back down on the bed, then immediately stand, unable to shake the restlessness.

I wander to the desk as I wait for Craig to come back, idly picking up one of Lucy’s earrings, putting it back down again on top of her travel journal.

I freeze.

“Hey. Sorry. Still there?” Craig asks.

“Yeah.” My gaze is still on the journal.

He’s silent for a second. “Look man, I get it. My sister’s infuriating.”

“Yup,” I say, when he doesn’t finish his sentence.

“Don’t hurt her.”