And no Brooke.
At this point, Seth was about five minutes from asking Jared the Sniveling Intern out for a beer.
Luckily, he was saved from such acts of desperation by a knock at the door and his sister’s familiar face.
“Hey,” she said quietly. “You got a minute?”
Seth swallowed and nodded, gesturing awkwardly for her to come in, feeling uncomfortably emotional that she’d come to see him. It seemed a long-ass time since she’d sought him out.
Maybe not even since that day when she’d first told him she was getting married.
Seth was on his feet, moving toward her and scooping her into a hug before his confused brain could even register his intentions. Seth was not a hugger, but as he pulled his sister close, tucking her head against his chest, whether she liked it or not, he realized just how desperately he needed her.
He’d always assumed it was the other way around. That she needed him. That Maya needed Seth to guide her and guard her and, hell, double-check her shit taste in men. And perhaps there was still a little bit of that at work. The woman had apparently lost her credit card to a gambling-addicted imposter and still didn’t know he was racking up charges. There were things he would and could do to increase Maya’s independence and awareness of the world around her.
But that wasn’t what this moment was about.
It was about him needing her. Needing to learn how to love her the right way, because he did love her. Fiercely.
“Hey there,” she said with a little laugh as she patted his back. “Okay?”
“Yeah,” he muttered, clearing his throat and forcing himself to release her. “Okay.”
She gave him a knowing look. “You don’t look okay. You look terrible.”
“Stop. I’m blushing,” he said sarcastically, returning to his desk chair.
“I’m serious. I don’t know what you did that made Brooke dump you, but you need to undo it. You’re miserable. She’s miserable.”
His head shot up. “You’ve seen her?”
“Well, no,” she admitted.
“Talked to her? Have you talked to her?”
She gave him a little smile. “Oh man. You are adorable right now.”
“Maya.”
His voice was close to pleading, and her smile slipped. “No, sorry, big bro. I haven’t talked to her.”
He slumped back. It was no less than he’d expected, but it picked at the not-yet-healed wound all the same.
“Much as I’m dying to interrogate you about your love life,” Maya said as she sat across from him and crossed her legs, “I’m actually here to talk about mine.”
Seth forced his face to remain impassive. To let her lead the conversation where she wanted it to go, not where his control-freak tendencies thought it should. “Sure. What’s up?”
Maya waited until he met her eyes before she spoke again. “I’m in love with Grant.”
Seth opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He was suddenly very grateful he was already sitting. Maya gave him a little smile. “I know. Trust me, I know. You don’t have to say anything, I just . . . I wanted you to be the first to know. Well, second,” she corrected.
“You told Grant this already?” he asked, finding his words.
She shook her head, her eyes clouding over. “No. I told Neil.”
Well . . .
Hell.
This was not how he’d expected things to play out.
Seth cleared his throat. “Just so I’m understanding. You told the man you’re going to marry that you’re in love with another man?”
Maya held up a hand. “Small correction. I told the man I was going to marry that I’m in love with another man.”
Seth felt a stab of relief so intense it nearly blinded him for a moment. “You’re not marrying Neil?”
Maya shook her head. “No. And actually, his name isn’t Neil.”
Seth froze.
“It’s Ned Alonzo,” Maya said with a little sigh. “He’s not an entrepreneur; he’s a two-bit poker player and sports bettor, and I don’t even know what else.”
In all of his troubleshooting mental exercises in trying to figure out how to deal with this mess of a situation, this had not been one of Seth’s scenarios.
He cleared his throat. “Oh?”
She gave him a look. “Please. Don’t pretend you haven’t been awkwardly sitting on this information for weeks trying to figure out how to break it to me. I know you, Seth. I knew when I hired my own private investigator that you were likely doing the same thing.”
Well, knock him over with a feather. “Maya, I—”
She shook her head and stood. “I know you love me, Seth. I know it’s why you did that. I know that. I’m not going to say I’m not a tiny bit pissed, but honestly . . .” Her eyes filled just for a second. “I want to say thank you. For caring, even if you do so in a horribly invasive way.”
Damn. Now his eyes felt suspiciously close to spilling over with . . . something.
“I want to talk more about this, but there’s someone else I need to talk to first,” she said quietly. “And that conversation’s going to be a hell of a lot more difficult than this one.”