His eyes lit up.
He stared at me for a long time.
“I guess I was wrong,” he said. “About everything.”
“I’ve been wrong about plenty myself,” I replied. “That’s why I’m trying to fix it. To do better.” I hesitated. “Can I ask you something?”
Brad gestured for me to proceed. I took a moment to collect myself.
“What would your parents think about this? Would they approve?”
Brad didn’t answer immediately. He sipped his beer, ordered another one, then drank half of it in one long pull.
“Honestly?” he finally said. “I don’t know what they would think. They liked you. Dad especially. You know that. But just because they liked you doesn’t mean they would want you to date Erica.” He took a long breath and let it out. “I wish I could tell you theywouldapprove. But I just don’t know, man.”
“It’s all right,” I said wearily. “I appreciate you being honest with me, rather than sugar-coating it.”
“That’s what friends are for,” he said pointedly. “Being honest with each other, even when it stings.”
It did sting just then. The knowledge that I had been lying to Brad all this time, and the knowledge that his parents might not like me being with Erica. The guilt was a familiar pang in my gut—guilt for hiding everything, and guilt for lusting after Erica while the Porters had been housing and feeding me.
I wished I could go back and do things differently. Things were always so easy in retrospect.
“But I know one thing,” Brad said, tapping his index finger on the bartop. “My parents, God rest their souls, would want Erica to behappy. And I think she could be happy with you. In the end, that’s all that matters. Make her happy, Hunter. If they’re looking down on us, they’ll love you as long as you make my sister happy.”
I felt my resolve harden, and I nodded at Brad. I was still sad that I could never get their formal approval, but this was good enough given the circumstances.
In time, I could accept it.
We hung around and chatted long enough to sober up, then Brad drove me to the store to replace my fried phone before we went home. The girls were gone, probably at the brewery, so we went there next. My heart pounded in my temple as we pulled into the parking lot. I was more nervous than I had ever been in my life. Our last conversation had been a huge fight. Did she even want to see me?
But when I ducked under the manager’s arm and hurried to the bar, I found her smiling at me like our fight had never happened.
Relief washed over me as I poured my soul out to her. We hugged. We kissed. Brad joined us and the three of us laughed.
And then I got a text from James, another car YouTuber I collaborated with.
“Erica,” I asked her. “When was the last time you checked your company email?”
She didn’t have her business account synced up on her phone yet, so she had to open it in a browser. When it loaded, she gasped.
“I have overtwo thousand emails.Questions from potential customers, and order confirmations. Lots andlotsof orders! Hunter…”
I grinned down at her. “Looks like your business is off and running.”
Her manager, Charlie, was kind enough to let her leave work early. We drove home and hurried inside.
“Erica?” Brad asked after getting a beer from the garage. “Where’s the Mustang?”
She was setting her laptop up on the dining room table. “Um. Don’t worry about it. I’ll tell you later.”
I opened my own laptop and sat down next to her. “Even though I published the videos last night, most of the views happened this afternoon,” I said while examining the metrics for my YouTube channel. “That’s when the rush of orders must have happened.”
“A thousand sales,” Erica breathed. “Athousand sales!”
“Amazing, right?”
“No!” she said. “My retainer with the gem laboratory was only for a hundred orders. They might not be able to meet the demand! If we have to cancel nine hundred orders…”