Flowers and Financiers by Alina Jacobs
4
Sebastian
“But I’m not ready to go home!”
“You’ve been here all weekend,” I reminded my little brother. “You can’t just move into the Svenssons’ home.”
Hunter shrugged. “We probably wouldn’t even notice, to be honest. But you can stay for dinner, Alfie. We’re making chili,” Hunter said to him. “Besides, Sebastian and I need to have a chat.”
“No, you have school in the morning,” I began.
“Lighten up,” Hunter said, grabbing my arm. “You two can stay for dinner.”
Hunter turned to one of his younger brothers. “Nate, tell Remy I want French onions included in the toppings selection, and tell him that gummy bears are not and have never been an acceptable chili topping, and I’d better not see them there.”
His little brother saluted, and he and Alfie raced to the kitchen.
Hunter grabbed my arm and dragged me upstairs.
The Svenssons lived at the old Harrogate estate. Built in the Victorian period by the industrial scions of old, the mansion and the hundreds of acres of grounds held Hunter and his multitude of brothers. On the second floor, they had their large home office and a wood-paneled clubroom, which was where Hunter took me. His brothers were all assembled inside.
“Is this some sort of an intervention?” I asked after a moment, taken aback a bit by all his tall, blond, gray-eyed look-alike brothers.
“We have a problem, Sebastian,” Mace said seriously.
Another brother, Weston, handed me a drink and shoved me into a seat. Hunter sat in a wingback leather chair and steepled his fingers.
“A problem about what?” I asked warily.
Were they tired of babysitting Alfie? Was Hunter about to kill me for joking with Meg at a community meeting last week?
“Your services are required,” Garrett, who had a bad attitude on a good day, said.
“For what?”
“You need to be Hunter’s best man.”
“At, like, a duel?” I was confused.
“He’s getting married!” Archer said in exasperation. “Where have you been?”
“Why can’t one of you do it?”
“I’m hurt and offended that you’re trying to pawn this off,” Hunter said lightly. “After all I’ve done for you.”
“I’m not. I just…” I ran my hand through my hair. “Isn’t the best man supposed to be your best friend or your brother?”
“Hunter doesn’t have any friends,” Archer said, making a sad face and reaching out to pet Hunter on the head. “He alienates people.”
“I have friends,” Hunter snapped. “And I have too many brothers, none of whom are good best-man material.”
“With the exception of me,” Garrett said, “but obviously I’m not going to do it.”
“Besides,” Mace added, “it looks pretty pathetic if Meg has a best friend to be her maid of honor and another best friend to be her matron of honor, then Hunter rolls up with a random brother as his best man. He has to represent.”
“You live in Harrogate, and we’re friends,” Hunter declared, “so you are going to be my best man by process of elimination.”
I sighed. “I don’t know.”
“You’re organized and don’t have ulterior motives,” Hunter said. “You’re perfect.”
Garrett snorted.
“Besides,” Hunter added, “we’ve hired a wedding planning firm—the best in the tristate area. There will barely be any work on your part.”
“Weddings are a big deal,” I said. “There’s a lot that can go wrong. Tensions are high; they’re expensive…”
“I’m a billionaire. Money’s not an issue. You just have to show up at the events and pose for pictures. Besides, it’s perfect because you’ve been through the wedding rodeo before, right? And they weren’t weird polygamist weddings like what my brothers and I had to live through. Your dad had a huge wedding for each of your stepmoms.”
“Yes, and he hit on the wedding planner of the second marriage, she quit, and I had to plan the rest of it,” I added.
“That’s not going to happen here. Everyone is a professional,” Hunter assured me.
“Uh, okay, sure,” I said.
The Svensson brothers cheered and poured me another drink.
“You won’t regret this.”
“Sucker,” Parker said with a snort.
“Shut up, Parker,” Hunter shot back. He smiled at me. “Kickoff meeting is at seven in the morning.”
“Is there going to be food?” Weston asked.
Hunter and his brothers looked at me.
I shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Food would be nice, Mr. Best Man.” Hunter clapped me on the shoulder then handed me a credit card. “That’s for the wedding expenses.”
“I have a terrible feeling this is all going to go south very quickly.”
“Which is why none of us volunteered,” Garrett said as several of the kids knocked on the door, yelling excitedly that the chili was done.
