As soon as I step inside, I spot Tank standing near the check-in desk while a nervous waiter hovers behind him. He lets out a huge groan when he sees me.

“Good, you’re here. Em has been freaking out for the last half hour.”

“Sorry it took so long. I wasn’t at home when you called.” I follow him as he weaves between tables. The room they’ve reserved for the event has been decorated with red and silver streamers and there’s a bunch of white balloons right outside the door.

“If you wouldn’t mind pretending that I called you a few days ago to remind you that would be great.”

I laugh at Tank’s nervous look. “You’re scared, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, you try living with her. We’ll see how brave you are then,” he mutters.

“If the offer is open—” I break off at the suddenly murderous expression on his face. “Kidding. Totally kidding.”

We both laugh but our amusement is short-lived because Emma appears out of nowhere.

“Luke! You’re here!”

I’m pulled down into a hug and then before I know what’s happened, I’m being hugged by a succession of boisterous, chatty women. Finn’s wife, Rissa, hugs me and then pushes me down the aisle to where everyone else is waiting.

“Go see Sasha and she’ll tell you what to do.”

I walk to where my brother Gabe and his fiancée, Sasha, are standing. I blush as I always do when I see her. With her long curly hair and brown sugar skin tone she reminds me of a pop star I’ve had a crush on since I was a kid.

Gabe looks pained as she throws her arms around me. My brothers all seem to have found really affectionate women who enjoy hugging.

And I enjoy how much it annoys them.

“There you are! We’re about ready to start.” Sasha grabs my hand and leads me to the other side of the room and down a long hallway. Then we’re outside.  A large arbor has been constructed on the lawn behind the restaurant with several rows of chairs set up before it.

“Okay, wait here while I get the other guys. Then we can start.”

Soon I’m joined by Gabe, Finn and Tank. Zack finally comes out a few minutes later. He’s grown in the sides of his hair to cover the tattoos on his scalp and tamed his signature dark Mohawk down with some gel. The girls gather on the other side around an older man in a dark suit that I assume must be the minister. He shakes hands with Tank before continuing down the aisle to the other end.

For the next hour, he leads us through the rehearsal. I’m not sure why we need to rehearse walking up front several times but then I see the stressed look on Emma’s face. It’s apparently bad luck for the bride to rehearse her own wedding so she’s standing off to the side watching everything.

When we’re finally done, Tank lets out a long sigh of relief.

“This had better go off without a hitch. Emma didn’t want to have it here but all the local churches were booked a year out. We had to get creative. This is the only place that could take us so soon so I convinced her to try it. I didn’t want to wait a full year to get married but if something goes wrong, she might never forgive me.”

“Of course she’ll forgive you.”

Tank shakes his head. “She hasn’t been too happy with me lately. No matter what I do, it seems like it’s wrong.”

This isn’t the kind of thing I expected to hear the day before they’re getting married.

He claps me on the shoulder and seems to shake off his prior mood. “How are things going with you? Are you bringing your girlfriend to the wedding?”

“Can I? I didn’t want to assume anything.”

“You’re family. This is a celebration of family so please bring her along. And Luke, if you care about this girl, don’t let her get away.”

“I don’t know how I feel about her.”

This is the wrong time to unload on him when he’s dealing with so much but I don’t know who else to ask. Out of all of my brothers, he’s been in a stable relationship the longest.

“How are you supposed to know that you can trust someone that much? How did you know Emma was right for you?”

A faraway look comes over his face. “Because seeing her was what made me look forward to getting up in the morning. If you find someone you can’t wait to see every day, that’s how you know.”

†

When I enter my apartment a few hours later, Seven is curled up on the couch hugging a throw pillow to her chest watching television.

“Luke, you’re home!” Her eyes light up when she sees me.

When was the last time someone cared enough to wait up for me? I honestly can’t think of anyone else who’s ever cared that much besides my mother. I’m just as happy to see her. All I could think about tonight was how much longer until I could come back home and tell her about it.

If you find someone you can’t wait to see every day, that’s how you know.

Tank’s advice comes to mind immediately. But then I remember that she’s keeping something from me. Until I figure out what it is, I can’t take anything she does at face value.

I close the door behind me and put the take out boxes of food that I brought back for her on the coffee table.

“You had leftovers?” She sits up, adjusting the throw pillow behind her back as she does. With her dark hair in disarray around her face, she looks adorably rumpled. She’s also not covering her face. I’ve noticed when she’s tired or caught off guard, she forgets to be self-conscious about it.

“No, that’s for you.”

Shock then pleasure filters across her face. “You didn’t have to do that. That’s so nice.”

Her smile warms me through and through. She always seems so surprised by kindness.

“How was the rehearsal dinner? Was your whole family there?”

I grab her a fork from the kitchen and she smiles gratefully before digging in to the macaroni and cheese I brought.

“You remember I told you about not knowing my father?”

She nods while taking another huge mouthful of macaroni. It’s hard to stifle my laugh. She looks so happy with it, like a little kid being allowed to have junk food for the first time.

“Well, my father had other children before he met my mom. Of course, I didn’t know that until recently. Tank, Finn, Gabe and Zack are my half-brothers. We’ve been getting to know each other over the past year and surprisingly, I like not being an only child.”

Her eyes follow mine as we both sit back deeper into the couch. The noise from the television recedes into the background and it’s just the two of us cocooned into a little space of our own making.

“Is he having a bachelor party?” Seven asks.

Just hearing the words bachelor party makes me groan.

She looks over at me in amusement. “Oh boy, now I know there’s a story behind that.”

“Hell yeah, there is. Tank’s bachelor party was two weeks ago. His bride insisted they have the bachelor and bachelorette party weeks in advance so they wouldn’t look hungover in the pictures or in case anything went wrong. It turns out that was a really good idea.”

Her eyebrows lift. “Why, did you guys all get really drunk?”

I kick my feet up on the coffee table to get more comfortable. “I didn’t but my brothers did. We went to one of the strip clubs in Virginia Beach and they got a table in VIP.”

“Pretty swank.”

“Exactly. Sounds like it should be a good time, right? I don’t even like clubs and I was enjoying myself. Well, everyone was having fun except for Tank.”

Seven crinkles her nose. “Why not? It was all for him, right?”

“It was supposed to be but he dragged his feet through the whole thing. First he didn’t want a bachelor party at all. Then he finally agreed to let Finn plan one but claimed he didn’t want strippers. Of course, Finn insisted. Tank was pissed at him until he found out that Emma was having strippers at her party.”

Seven snorts so hard she almost chokes on a bite of her food. I’m laughing too just recounting the whole mess.