chapter 32

But," Colin went on, "it's not just about that. She said she didn't want to see me

anymore. She screens my calls. She doesn't answer my texts. And I know that's about

Drew, about how she doesn't want to lose him any more than she already has. But if she

really wanted to be with me …" He paused, because emotion was starting to well up in

his chest, and he needed to tamp it down. "… then she would be with me. Right? She'd

say to hell with her brother, and she'd be with me."

"I don't know." Breanna looked doubtful. "Love is one thing, but brothers"—she

looked around the table at hers. "I'd do just about anything for you guys. I really would."

They all paused so Colin, Ryan, and Liam could deal with their embarrassment.

"Except give you the last roll," Breanna put in. "Liam, you've had, what, five? Give

me that."

Liam grudgingly handed Breanna the roll he'd grabbed from the basket in the middle

of the table.

"Look," Liam grumbled, finally adding something to the conversation. "I was just

upset about Uncle Redmond. And about that Drew guy's attitude. If you want to go out

with Julia again …" He shrugged, leaving the thought incomplete.

"It doesn't matter what I want." Colin shoved his plate aside. "She doesn't want

me."

"Hmm," Sandra said. "We'll see."

Colin had the uneasy feeling that he might not want to find out what she meant by

that.

Julia may or may not have been stalking Colin on social media. She didn't think of it

that way—she merely thought of it as keeping in the loop on her brother's new family.

But if someone else had called it stalking, well, she might not have put up a very good

argument in her own defense.

He didn't seem to have personal Facebook or Twitter accounts—and how weird was

that in this day and age—but when she searched for him on Facebook, she got a few hits

for him on other people's timelines and pages.

She'd been Facebook friends with both Gen and Breanna since shortly after she'd

met them, and they both had posted photos from Sandra Delaney's sixtieth birthday

party. Colin appeared in a few of the photos, mostly group shots of Delaneys and various

Cambrians posing for the camera. It looked like a fairly large get-together at the ranch.

Liam had come all the way from Montana for the event, and she saw a photo of him with

his arm around a very attractive woman with long brown hair and tortoiseshell glasses.

The way they were standing together, it didn't look like the two of them were just being

friendly. Apparently, Liam had a girlfriend.

I'll bet Colin didn't punch you for it, either, she thought with some bitterness.

She hunted around a little more and saw that Colin was also named in a photo on the

page for a San Diego literacy foundation that had just had a big gala fundraiser. She

clicked on the photo—and felt the earth drop out from underneath her.

Colin, looking incredible in a tux, was standing with his arm around the most

beautiful blond woman Julia had ever seen. The woman, dressed in a royal blue satin

evening gown, had a tiny, perfect figure, elegant features, and skin that looked like it had

been touched up in Photoshop. Colin was smiling at the camera, but the woman wasn't

facing forward—she was gazing adoringly up at him.

Mike had warned her about this, and here it was, happening: Colin had moved on.

He was seeing someone else. And not just someone else, but someone Julia couldn't hope

to compete with, even on her best day.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit.

Julia reminded herself that she was the one who'd decided she didn't want to pursue

things with Colin. But none of that seemed to matter right now, while she was struggling

not to hyperventilate.

She needed to gather more information. Who was this bimbo? Except, she didn't

look like a bimbo. She looked like someone who'd gone to a top private school, someone

raised with the help of a nanny who spoke French.

Julia hovered her cursor over the bimbo's face and saw that her name was Shelby

Reed. So she Googled Shelby Reed and got a lot of hits, but none of them did a

goddamned thing to ease her mind.

Shelby Reed had, indeed, gone to a top private school, where she'd been

valedictorian. She'd graduated from Harvard with honors. She did volunteer work with

children, for God's sake. And now, she worked as an aide to some politician or another.

Shelby and Colin weren't just together, they were a power couple! How could Julia

possibly match up? How could she convince Colin to dump Shelby and be with Julia

instead?

And then she remembered the very valid reasons she'd decided not to continue

seeing him. Nothing had changed. Liam still would want to punch Colin in the face for

dating Julia, she assumed. And Drew would still consider it an unforgivable betrayal.

Not that it mattered what Julia thought or wanted. She'd be powerless in any

competition with Shelby Reed. Shelby Reed was every gorgeous, popular girl who'd ever

looked down her nose at Julia in high school. Shelby Reed was every prom queen whom

Julia's own date couldn't take his eyes off of. And Shelby Reed was more than that; she

was the symbol for every inadequacy Julia had ever had, every insecurity she'd ever felt,

every loss she'd ever suffered because someone prettier, smarter, or better had taken the

win instead.

Screw Shelby Reed.

She closed her laptop, got up, went into the kitchen, and looked for a snack—

something she could stress-eat to avoid thinking about Shelby Reed. She stood at the

open freezer door and devoured the remains of a carton of ice cream, then threw the

empty container in the trash and regarded herself with disgust.

She was pathetic, and she was certainly no Shelby Reed.

Julia told herself to forget it, to just get on with all of the things she had to do and

put Shelby Reed out of her mind. She folded a load of laundry, and when that was done,

she scrubbed her bathroom sink.

When she ran out of domestic chores, she went to where her cell phone was sitting

on the kitchen table and paced in front of it a few times. Then she snatched it up and

called Gen.

"Julia," Gen said warmly as she answered the phone. "It's great to hear from you. I

was just thinking about you. How—"

"Who is Shelby Reed?" she demanded. It was possible that she sounded a little bit

crazed.

"I … What? Who?"

"Shelby Reed!" Julia said. "A blond bimbo Colin is seeing. Except she's not a

bimbo. Damn it, she's not a bimbo!"

"Julia? I'm going to need you to slow down," Gen said.

Eventually, amid an assortment of expletives and monologues about her own

inferiority, Julia got out the part about Shelby Reed and the literacy benefit, and the

Facebook photo in which Shelby looked both stunning and deeply infatuated.

"Damn it, he's moved on!" Julia wailed.

"Julia," Gen said in the kind of voice one might use to talk someone off of the railing

of a bridge. "Calm down and listen to me. He has not moved on."

"He … What?"

"I don't know who Shelby Reed is—I've never heard of her. But Colin's here for

Sandra's birthday, and I am telling you, he has not moved on." Gen enunciated each word

as though she were talking to someone who didn't know much English.

Julia sputtered. "Well … but …"

"Look. You broke his heart," Gen said, and the words made Julia feel a clutch of

pain in her chest. "He's been moping around here, all sad and pathetic. He looks terrible.

He'll barely even eat."

Julia struggled to comprehend what Gen was telling her. She'd hurt him? Could that

be true? "I never … I didn't mean …"

"Whether you meant to or not, you crushed him," Gen said. "And I've got to tell

you, I'm a little pissed at you for it. He's my family, and I care about him.