indication.
He gave me a moment to compose myself without words. I appreciated that on some level he knew I didn’t want to talk.
Slowly the sounds of the city began to infiltrate my brain once again. A distant car horn. The squeal of brakes. The roar of a passing bus engine.
Beau’s nearby voice was a reminder of where we were.
I waved in their direction. “We should—”
“Why did you—”
“Hey, sis. Pepper is getting married, and she said I can be in the wedding.” Eric raced over to us, thankfully shattering the awkward moment.
“That’s great,” I said. Pepper’s getting married? When had that happened?
Gratitude filled me for her kindness to my brother. A wedding was a big day. And that she would include Eric meant so much.
“I get to pick the bow tie color,” he said excitedly.
“Oh yeah?” I shimmied away from Lincoln, finally able to take a full breath now that I was out of his space. “What are you thinking?” I linked arms with Eric, and we walked back toward our friends.
“Midnight blue.”
“Oh, nice.”
“What about red for love?”
Eric understood feelings and emotions in a way that most people didn’t. I’d never been able to accurately put my finger on exactly what it was that made him see things differently, but he was so in tune with how people felt it always amazed me.
“We’ll ask Pepper what she thinks.”
“Okay,” he agreed easily.
“Teague would like the blue.” There was that voice again, low and rumbly.
Eric wheeled around. “I knew he’d like that!” He lifted his hand for a high five.
Lincoln looked at it like he was unsure what to do. Eric met him more than halfway and smacked his hand after he slowly raised it.
“Hey, we could wear a vest like yours.” Eric looked thoughtful. “You can wear a bow tie and a vest, right?”
“You can wear whatever you want.”
I gaped at Lincoln. This man dressed better than any I’d ever seen. Every stitch of clothing he wore was meticulously planned. Nothing about him said he believed people could wear anything they wanted.
While I did believe that what people chose to wear was their business, I hated that Lincoln and I had something in common.
We both dressed for success.
At least I wasn’t stuffy about it.
Although he was devastating.
I didn’t like that he constantly caught me off guard. Not just today. He was abrupt to the point of being rude. But somehow it didn’t always seem to come from a negative place. He was concretely in control of every situation, while I felt like a fake pretending to hold it all together.
People had different reactions when it came to Eric. Most were kind, if not a little withdrawn. And I understood. They didn’t know how to handle someone who was disabled. It wasn’t that they meant to be cruel. They were just scared they’d say the wrong thing, or not know how to talk to them. Feared them for some bizarre reason.
I expected Lincoln to simply ignore my brother the way he did everyone else . . . except his siblings.
So maybe I was wrong.
Or overthinking.
Why do I always overthink?
“We decided on suits with vests and bow ties,” Eric announced as he dragged me forward.
Teague gave the side eye to his brother but fist-bumped Eric. “He’s going to make the suits a big deal.” He pointed his thumb at Lincoln.
“It’s a significant occasion.”
See. There was no arguing with solid logic like that, although it was obvious Teague wasn’t thrilled about the suits. It was one thing to do it to please my brother and completely another to be railroaded into it.
“If they want to wear bathing suits, that’s their prerogative.” Why do I have this urge to dispute everything that comes out of this man’s mouth? Even when he’s right.
No one seemed surprised at my behavior when it came to Lincoln.
“Can we still wear bow ties?” Eric asked.
Every bit of tension caused by Lincoln was melted away by my brother’s innocence.
“You’re in charge of wardrobe,” Teague said. “Just don’t let him take over.” He motioned to his brother again.
It occurred to me that they were all acting as if the scene we’d rolled up on hadn’t happened. Other than Beau, who was off to the side, fiddling with the long gold chain around her neck.
“Have you ever had a custom-made suit?”
I whipped my head toward Lincoln, who was focused on Eric. He spoke with a quiet confidence and indifference. Was it practiced? Was that how he had to handle people on a daily basis?
Because