Rio said nothing for several moments. “Shit,” he finally muttered. “You’ve been working for her all this time and she knew but said nothing.”
I nodded. “Yeah. She wasn’t sure how to.”
“I’ve gotten coffee and cupcakes there for years,” he said, shaking his head. “How could she say nothing all this time?”
“What was she supposed to say? Put yourself in her shoes. Her son got two girls pregnant around the same time. He didn’t have anything to do with either, then he died young. She didn’t feel like she could know us.”
Rio shook his head and stared out the window. I let him process it all and remained quiet. I’d been given plenty of time to think this through and I’d spoken with Hillya. He hadn’t been given the same experience.
“She wants to meet you, officially. She wants to talk to you,” I told him, and he turned his head back to look at me.
“Why? What the fuck is there to say?” His tone sounded angry. I hadn’t expected him to respond this way.
“You have questions and I still have some I didn’t think about when we spoke. She can tell us about our father. She can tell us how he died.” I stopped then added. “She said your voice is identical to his and your eyes.”
He took a deep breath and stood up. “Yeah, well it’s been twenty-two fucking years. Why hasn’t she told me all this by now?” He started walking toward the door.
“I have those pictures I found of my mom’s. You can take them and look at them when you’re ready,” I said, hoping he would calm down after he had some time to think this all through.
He paused and glanced back at me. “Yeah. Okay.”
Relieved that he was open to at least looking at the pictures, I took out the two that my mother wasn’t in and handed them to him.
He didn’t look at them, but he did take them. “Thanks. I’ll bring them back,” he promised then continued toward the door.
When he opened it, he stopped and I thought he was going to say something more but he didn’t. He walked outside and closed it behind him.
I sank back down onto the chair and let out a weary sigh. That had not gone how I expected it to. I was glad I hadn’t told him about the baby picture of me and Rebel. He wasn’t very fond of Hillya’s silence, but I hoped he would decide to talk to her at some point.
I sat there thinking about today and about Gran. All the planning she had done when she’d set up that list. There were only two things left to do and now that I had found out the truth behind my father, it was time I faced the next task. It could be something simple like the last one had been and something truly for Gran’s sake. Or it could be something that would change things for me yet again.
When I finally stood up, I went to make myself dinner. Saul still hadn’t responded when I turned off Netflix hours later and headed for the bathroom to take my shower. It was after eleven and I didn’t expect to hear from him tonight. I realized I had been so wrapped up in him and the way he made me feel that I’d lost sight of the facts. We weren’t a couple. We didn’t share everything. I hadn’t told him about Hillya. He hadn’t told me about his dad.
Feeling melancholy, I took extra time in the shower. Normally a shower made me feel better. Tonight, it wasn’t working. The water began to run cold and I still felt the sadness that had taken over at the thought of Saul. I cared too much, too soon.
I dried my hair and wrapped a towel around my body then stepped out of the bathroom. My heart almost stopped and I let out a small scream when I saw I wasn’t alone.
Saul was standing at the doorway of my bedroom looking at me.
“You shouldn’t leave the door unlocked. Anyone could have walked in here.”
Twenty–Nine
“I must have forgotten to lock it after Rio left,” I replied. My heart was still racing from being scared to death but seeing Saul made all that okay.
“Rio was here?” he asked with a scowl.
“Yes.”
“Why the fuck was Rio here?”
He looked angry and jealous. I had texted him and he hadn’t responded all day, yet he got upset because Rio was here? Seriously.
Annoyed, I clutched the corners of the bath towel tightly and scowled back at him. “Because I had some information about our father. Remember the we might be siblings’ thing. Well, we are.”
Saul continued to frown. “What did you find out?” he asked.
I was too tired to go over all this again tonight. I’d stayed up late, hoping to hear from him and now he was here, and I was mad. “Hillya had a son named Rebel. He is our father,” I told him.
Saul moved toward me then and I wasn’t sure if I was happy about that or not. “So, Rio is your brother,” he repeated.
I nodded.
“Fine, but I still don’t like him here,” he said.
“Are you serious? What do you think we are gonna do? He’s my brother!”
Saul lifted his shoulders in a shrug as if it wasn’t important. “Nothing. I just don’t want him here with you. I don’t like any guy alone with you.”
My annoyance went from slight to full-blown. “You don’t get a say in that, Saul. Just like I don’t get to be concerned when you don’t respond to my text messages.”
He stopped in front of me and took one of my wet strands of hair between his fingers. What was it with him and hair? I should step back and jerk my hair away from him, but it felt good and I had missed him. I was also exhausted and when I was tired, I got angry over stupid things. Could this be one of those times? Would I think differently about it in the morning? I had to think that through first.
“You sent one text,” was his response.
“Yes, and in that text, I told you I was getting off work and going home,” I reminded him.
He wrapped my hair around his finger and tugged gently. “And I came here because that was where you were.”
Why couldn’t he say more than a few words or half sentences? “It’s midnight,” I pointed out.
“You’re still awake and naked.”
Growling in frustration, I pulled my hair from his hand and backed up. “And I am tired and going to bed,” I told him, proud of myself for standing my ground.
He looked hurt and almost confused. As if I had no reason to be upset with him. “My father showed up today. I had to deal with him and I had to take Lily to her AA meeting,” he said and took another step toward me. “I didn’t know you wanted me to respond. It’s not something I do.”