match his breakneck speed. “The last one was too modern. The one before that was too traditional. And the one before that was too much of a mix of both.”
“If I’m going to be laying down a few hundred grand and a year of my life for a house, I want it to be right.” Trent shrugged. “What’s wrong with that? I thought you were Team Never Settle.”
“There’s a difference between settling and being so picky that you don’t move forward with anything.” Nick reached for his silver thermos that was perched on a clipboard sitting atop a foldout chair. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were scared.”
Trent snorted. Of all the big brother tactics Nick liked to pull as second-eldest of the Walters family, this one was not going to work. “If you’re not a little scared of that level of commitment, then I’d question your understanding of how money works.”
“Of course Mr. I Like To Keep My Options Open is worried about commitment. Why would I expect any different?”
Trent was used to Nick and his oldest brother, Adam, ribbing him about this. After all, Trent was the only one who’d hightailed it out of school, who never stuck to one sport, who liked to change his tastes so he could enjoy any passing whim. Hence the goth phase of 2009. Adam, on the other hand, had married his university sweetheart. Nick was married to his job. And his middle brother, Jace…well, Jace disliked change more than all of them.
But today, Nick’s comments got under his skin. Maybe it was all the memories he’d dredged up yesterday by looking at old photos. Most of the time, he didn’t like being reminded of the past…even if it looked happy on the outside.
And of course, looking at Cora was basically like looking into the past.
“Says you,” Trent replied peevishly. “I don’t see you in a hurry to get yourself hitched and settle down for the three-point-two-kid life.”
“Fuck no.” Nick wrinkled his nose like he’d smelled a combination of chicken shit, rotten eggs, and month-old milk. If Trent wasn’t so annoyed, he would have laughed at the comical reaction. “But that’s not because I’m afraid of commitment. It’s because I don’t want anyone to get in the way of my career goals. I’ve got bigger dreams than finding a wife and making babies.”
Yeah, world domination. In reality, it was probably a good thing Nick wasn’t interested in a relationship, because he would be hard-pressed to find someone who’d put up with him.
No living woman has that much patience. He’d be searching for a needle-sized unicorn in a haystack.
“Then you should be busy enough that you don’t have time to keep harassing me about my life,” Trent said. “Besides, I thought you’d be happy with how dedicated I am to my job. And really? You’ve been helping Liv out, too. We all have, because she deserves it.”
“So long as you don’t keep using other people’s houses as an excuse not to build your own,” Nick pointed out. The comment was a thorn.
Okay, sure. Trent was the kind of guy who liked to help people. Maybe it was a crutch, so he didn’t have to confront the things about himself he wasn’t so proud of. Maybe there was part of him that felt like he needed to earn his place in the world.
Or maybe he was just living by the Walters Way principle his father had drummed into him. Helping others was important. Being selfish made you an asshole.
And Trent did not aspire to being an asshole.
“It’s not an excuse.” He reached over and stole his brother’s thermos right out of his hand and took a long swig. Ugh, mistake. Nick took his coffee like most things in his life—as intense as possible and without anything to make the process easier. Trent pulled a face. “How do you drink this stuff? It’s like liquid masochism.”
“Milk is for cheaters, bro.” Nick winked. “Now, seriously. I’ve got another guy for you to check out. He designed that cool place in Portsea that we visited a few months back. I can put you in touch.”
And of course by “can” Nick meant “will.”
“I’ll look at him,” Trent conceded. “But I’m not going to pull the trigger because you’re putting the peer pressure on.”
His brother observed him for a moment, brows furrowed. All the Walters siblings shared the same blue eyes from their mother’s side of the family—a striking feature Trent had regularly used to his