When a girl has a 45 minute drive and news that the guy she’s been crazy over the last 3 years has a new girlfriend, that person has too much time to think. It didn’t matter that Emery Harris had less than 72 hours to get a million things done and only her two hands to do it. The only thing on her brain was one Nicholas Beckenbach.

She’d been planning this weekend to celebrate his parents’ 35 wedding anniversary for months. She’d taken just as long to steel herself against seeing Nick in person again. Since his move to the UK, things had gotten better. She’d even managed to convince herself that she’d be fine after 18 months apart. Then he’d called that morning to let her know that he wouldn’t be arriving at the cabin alone. Cady would be with him. Never mind he’d had over six months to say he was bringing someone, never mind that was one more person she’d have to fit into the seating chart, never mind that this news was like stabbing her in the heart. Cady and he were expected to land at six and should be at the cabin by eight on Friday night. As much as she hated that this development bothered her, there wasn’t any denying that she still had feelings for the oldest son of her employers.

In the seven years that she’d worked for Senator and Dr. Beckenbach, she’d felt like family more than someone who was on the payroll. She’d been hired just after college by Catherine Beckenbach to help her with meshing her 4 sons, politician husband and her pediatric surgery practice together.  That meant she was part assistant, part estate manager, part chauffeur and part event planner. Whatever was needed to make the Beckenbach lives run just that much smoother, she did it, and well if she did say so herself. Everything from driving Casper to lacrosse practice to arranging flights for Nick to come home, she took it on. Deacon and his wife Libby like to tease her that she was the wife they all couldn’t live without. Emery didn’t know how true that was because Nick had certainly managed without her.

Feeling herself going down the ‘feeling sorry for herself’ trail, she pushed those thoughts down. Grousing over Nick’s lack of attraction for her wasn’t going to get her anything. His younger brother and one of her best friends, Sebastian had told her that about a million times. Mr. Practical didn’t see the point in her pining over Nick and told her so. If anyone else had put it to her like that she would have thought them an unfeeling jackass, but with Sebastian it was facts. Taking the facts and leaving out the rest is what made Sebastian successful. It wasn’t always so lucrative in the friend department. The fact was if she didn’t know that Sebastian had her best intentions at heart, she’d be likely to clock him. But he was never in any real danger of that happening because she knew him too well to doubt he would do anything but look out for her.

Being a real friend was just another thing that Bas could list under his ‘perfect’ header. He’d offered all the support he could when it came to her Nick disappointment and Em knew that couldn’t always be easy for him. From what she could gather females had been falling over his older brother since puberty and she imagined she wasn’t the first to turn to Bas for a sympathetic ear. Lord knew she’d comforted herself a couple of times by lamenting she might not have gotten the prince to love her, but she’d gotten a knight as a best friend out of the deal. Couldn’t really be too heartbroken if you looked at it that way right?

The sound of gravel under her tires tore Em out of her thoughts. Somehow the SUV had managed to guide itself thru the tiny downtown of True Falls to the private road that lead to the Beckenbach’s vacation home. A minute of gravel popping beneath the tires passed before the house came into view thru the trees. Expecting to see nothing other than the breathtaking stone exterior of the home, Em was puzzled to see a dark car stationed in front of the cabin door. It wasn’t until she got closer that she recognized the luxury car by the plates on the car. Only one person she knew would put BEXLAW on their vanity plates. Sure enough as soon as she’d put her own vehicle into park and got out, the front door of the Beckbach’s cabin opened and out strode the second oldest of the clan. Bas gave her a huge grin as he took the stairs. “About time you showed up gorgeous.”

Closing the distance between them, the duo enveloped in a quick hug. Pulling back, Em looked up into her friend’s face.  “What are you doing up here already?”

Bas took her car keys from her and proceeded to pop the trunk. “Well I figured you have about a million or two things to do before the party and knowing you, you’ll do all of them without a lick of sleep if need be. I’m much rather give you a hand and give you a chance to rest up enough to tear up the dance floor with me.”

Joining him at the trunk Em gave a laugh. Both of them knew that if there was one thing she wouldn’t be doing come Saturday night, it was dancing with him. Boy had two left feet and both of them always managed to stomp on his partner’s feet like they were grapes in a barrel. “I thought that you had some big case you were supposed to be gearing up for.”

“There is always a big case I’m getting ready for. But it can wait a few days for me to celebrate my parent’s anniversary with my family right?”

The grin on Bas’ face left no room for disagreement. Truthfully she was glad to have the help and the opportunity to spend some time alone with her friend before things got hectic. “Right.”

“So let’s get this stuff inside.”