Belly Conklin and her family have grown up spending their summers with Jeremiah, Conrad, and the rest of the Fisher family in Cousins Beach, Massachusetts. Throughout her childhood, Belly had a crush on the older and moodier brother Conrad, and never considered Jeremiah to be more than just friends. Belly bounced between the two brothers, ending up with Jeremiah by the beginning of the third season with their engagement announcement. However in the light of Jeremiah cheating on Belly and Conrad’s confession the weekend before her wedding, the event is called off , and Belly travels to Paris where she inevitably rekindles her love with Conrad. But who’s the best brother for Belly? The first two seasons focus on Belly and Conrad’s relationship, which ended when he discovered his mom had cancer and became distant.
Their relationship came to a close after six months with Conrad’s “reason” for breaking up with Belly was that he didn’t deserve her. He wasn’t honest with her and used one of the lamest reasons to break up with somebody. Fast forward a couple months later, Jeremiah takes his place for good reason. Throughout Jeremiah’s relationship with Belly, Conrad never lost feelings, and didn’t say anything to Belly until two years later before her wedding. In the end, Conrad wins in the competition for Belly’s heart, and they rekindle their relationship in Paris in the last episode.
Now onto Jeremiah. Jeremiah is the better-looking brother, and not only that, but he has always been more light-hearted and compassionate, especially when it came to Belly. Since he was a junior in high school, he had feelings for Belly and let them be shown, but Belly was more focused on Conrad. Finally, when Jeremiah gets his chance, he takes full advantage of it. During their long-lasting relationship, he and Belly take a break, and while on break, Jeremiah cheats on her while in Cabo. The reason they were on break is because Jerimah found out about Belly spending a week with Conrad ALONE in the beach house. Sure, Jermiah cheating it was a terrible mistake on Jeremiah’s end, but again, they were on break because of Belly’s mistakes. She eventually learns to forgive him and move on, which leads to their engagement. Conrad ends up confessing his love for Belly, despite his brother literally marrying her in two days. No matter how much you love someone, it’s outrageous to confess your love to someone and sabotage your brother’s wedding. Conrad had no remorse for what he did, and thought that just because he still had feelings for Belly, he thought it was okay to blow up the wedding and embarrass his brother. Sure, Jeremiah was being a nuisance leading up to the wedding for various reasons, but Conrad wasn’t a saint either.
Ultimately, Jeremiah was the one who consistently showed up and the one who rarely made her question if she was wanted. Conrad spent years staying quiet instead of expressing how he felt to Belly. On the other hand, Jeremiah usually gave Belly a sense of stability and constant compassion. Jeremiah had his flaws, but he loved Belly openly and honestly, which is key to a quality relationship. Conrad may have ended up with Belly; but Jeremiah was the brother that truly deserved Belly.