But Brady’s best friend, Chris Atwood, was the best man and thus in charge of the party. He lived in New York right now, but he and Brady had been best friends while growing up and played basketball together at the University of North Carolina for four years in college. Chris knew Brady like the back of his hand. Clay was pretty sure that Chris was the only person who had been in Brady’s shadow more than Clay had, but Chris didn’t resent him in the same way. He was his best friend, not his little brother.

Since Chris was in charge of the weekend, he had decided to go to the Maxwell’s house in Hilton Head for the beach, scotch, and cigars. It wasn’t exactly Vegas, but it was going to be a great weekend regardless.

The day before he was supposed to be in Hilton Head, Clay had taken the extra day off work to drive to Chapel Hill to visit his mom and Savannah and breathe in some much-needed home time.

“Mom?” Clay called into his parents’ mansion when he entered through the garage.

“In here, dear,” Marilyn called back.

His mother was a law professor at UNC and extremely well established in her field. He had always looked up to her even though he knew he could never teach like that. It would drive him mad. But he had always been closer to his mom than he was with his dad. With his mother, there was none of that need to please.

He entered his mother’s office on the first floor, which looked more like a library with a large wooden desk and two giant iMacs hooked up as dual monitors. Clay bent down and gave her a kiss. Then, he slumped back onto the only available space in the otherwise cluttered room.

“How was the drive down?” Marilyn asked. She peeked at him over her rather chic burgundy-rimmed glasses.

“Not so bad. Glad to be out of the city though.”

“I know just the feeling,” she said with an easy smile. Her blonde hair spilled over one shoulder. It was longer than it’d been in a while. Normally, she kept it in a bob. “I love coming back for the semester to teach and escape the oppressive D.C. hustle. But I have a feeling it’s more than the city you’re trying to escape.” She shot him a knowing look.

“You got me. Who told you?”

“The walls bleed secrets.” She winked. “Now, tell me what’s going on with you and Andrea.”

So, he did. She listened all the while, nodding with some of his points and shaking her head at all the others. He left out some of the more…repugnant details, but she had raised him after all. She could piece together what was missing.

By the end, to his surprise, she was smiling.

“What?” he asked warily.

“I’m not sure you’ve gone after anything this hard since you decided you wanted to be a lawyer. I still don’t know where that drive came from…”

“Runs in the family,” he muttered under his breath. He’d never acknowledge he’d only done it because he wanted to become attorney general and win his father’s approval. Somehow, all the lines had blurred anyway.

“But I know where this drive comes from.” She tapped her heart twice with a red lacquered nail. “You love her very much, and you always have.”

Clay sighed. How did she see what I hadn’t for so long? How could she see what even Andrea couldn’t?

She just smiled and stood. “Come on. Let’s get out of this stuffy office. Savannah should be here with Easton at any moment. No need to dwell. I can see you came home to avoid that.”

Clay followed his mother out of the office and into the kitchen. He leaned against the counter as she poured him a glass of sweet tea. God, he’d fucking missed home.

“Mom?”

“Hmm, honey?”

“What do I do?”

She set the glass of lemonade she had just poured for herself on the counter in front of him and then set a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “I know this will come as a surprise, but I don’t have all the answers.” She chuckled softly, her eyes crinkling at the corners. “But what you have with Andrea is special. You wouldn’t have made it this long otherwise. Don’t give up on her just yet. When we were at the hospital after you’d been…attacked, I sat with Andrea for a very long time. You don’t know it, but you both changed that night. Looking in her face was like seeing a new woman. She couldn’t bear the thought of losing you, so she latched on at the very moment you needed space to breathe…to heal—physically and emotionally. If it’s meant to be, it’ll happen.”

Clay swallowed back the lump in his throat and nodded. Just then, Savannah bounded into the kitchen from the garage, her long brown hair swinging, with her boyfriend Easton in tow.

“Hey!” she cried. “I didn’t know you’d be home already.”

“Well, I’m not Brady, so no city parade to announce my arrival,” he joked.

Savannah snorted. “Jerk.”

Easton laughed. “Hey, man. Good to see you again.”

They shook hands.

“You, too,” Clay said.

“Good to have two out of my three children home,” Marilyn said, pulling Savannah in for a hug. “Good to see you, Easton.”

“Good to see you, too, ma’am.”

“Can I get you two a drink?”

“Sweet tea,” Easton agreed.

“Me, too,” said Savannah.

Marilyn poured out the rest of the drinks, and then they all crowded in at the small breakfast bar in the kitchen.

“You just graduated, right?” Clay asked Easton.

He had an arm wrapped around Savannah and nodded. Clay dimly remembered Easton was a year ahead of Savannah in school. Savannah had posted pictures of them together with Easton in a cap and gown just last weekend.

“Any big plans for the future?”

“I’m taking a year off. Actually working in Brady’s Raleigh office for the year while I apply to law schools.”

Clay raised his eyebrows. “That so?”

“Yeah. It’s a great opportunity. I’m really lucky that Brady gave me the job. It’s definitely something I want to do before I decide to run for local office,” Easton said.

Clay’s gaze shifted to Savannah. If he knew anything about his little sister, he knew what she thought about politics. They were good for the family, but she wanted to stay as far away from them as possible if she could help it. She was proud of their dad and Brady, but she didn’t want that for herself. She’d even dated some tatted up douche on a motorcycle once to prove her point. He’d thought she’d run headlong in the other direction from someone like Easton. But it seemed even Savi could change.