“I didn’t know. Annie, I’d never do anything to hurt you like that.”
I was lying, trying to be vague. But it was impossible. I had two choices, to tell her the truth and ruin everything, or to look her in the eye and tell her a lie.
It was an easy choice – there was no way I was going to lose her. As much as I hated hiding the truth, I simply wasn’t going to let her go.
“How did you not know?” she asked. “He’s your brother.”
“You know that he and I don’t exactly have a normal relationship. He’s my brother, sure, but I’ve only recently met him. I was given up for adoption, remember. And it’s only recently that we’ve come back into one another’s lives.”
She said nothing, as if understanding I’d made a reasonable point.
“We’re getting to know each other again after all this lost time. But we’re still…strangers in many ways. He’d mentioned that he’d been seeing someone, sure. However, it wasn’t as if I knew who you were.”
“He…never told you my name, anything like that?”
I shook my head, continuing the lie. “No. I didn’t get a chance before you two split up. And when that happened, we didn’t talk about it anymore.” I stepped over to her and took her hand in mine. She didn’t remove it. “Annie, this was just as much of a shock to me as it was to you. But I know we can work past it.”
She turned her eyes away, giving the matter some thought. “It’s…it’s just so weird. I date a man for a long time, then I end up dating his brother. Seems like more than a coincidence, you know?”
“Yeah, weird is the exact right word. But it’s a small world. These things happen.” I paused until she looked at me. “But what matters is I care about you, and I don’t want to lose what we have. And we don’t have to.”
She bit her lip, considering my words. I could sense she was thinking the same thing as me. Her phone shook on the table. Without thinking, I glanced over and saw who it was.
Andrew.
“Shit,” she said, snatching up her phone and looking at the screen. “He’s been messaging me all day. Apparently, he thinks I was in on it.”
“He’s dealing with it in his own way. How about this – you let me handle it with him. You and he aren’t a couple any longer, and there’s no reason you need to explain what happened.”
“Are you sure?” she asked.
“Sure. I’ll take care of it.”
“And…where does that leave us?”
“Wherever we want. I know I want you still, and I’m ready to put all this behind us if you are.”
She shook her head in disbelief. “God, this is about the craziest thing I’ve ever dealt with in my life.”
I laughed. “You and me both. But it’s worth it. If I have to deal with a little craziness for a woman like you…” – I lifted her up from where she was seated and put my hands on her waist – “…it’s more than worth it.”
She smiled sweetly. “And thanks for the flowers. That was really sweet of you.”
Gazing into her eyes, I couldn’t resist her any longer. I placed my hand on the side of her face and leaned down, kissing her slowly. The kiss only went on for a few moments before my phone rang.
“God,” she said. “Watch that be Andrew.”
“I doubt it,” I said, taking my phone out of my pocket. “He’s been giving me the silent treatment.”
And I was right – it wasn’t him. It was a call from my office, letting me know there’d been an issue in a Denver office that needed addressing.
“Shit,” I said. “I need to go. Finish this sometime soon?”
Another smile. “You bet.”
We kissed again, and damn was it hard to take her lips from mine.
When I left, I felt a keen sense of relief. But I had a feeling my troubles were far, far from over.
Annie
I was in a total daze after Duncan left. All I could do was go to my fridge, take out the bottle of wine I’d opened the night before after that totally insane meeting with Andrew, and pour a glass.
Happily, however, before I could take a sip, a text from Gia asking me how the evening was going appeared on my phone. I told her I was home, and she said she’d be on her way over soon. It was like she had a sixth sense for these kinds of things, knowing exactly when something happened to get me all out of sorts.
I raised the glass of pinot grigio to my lips, my eyes on the bouquet of flowers Andrew had left for me at the top of the garbage can. They were wilted and broken, a reminder of the end of our relationship. Of course he would try to get me back. And of course, he’d decide this just as my relationship with a man who turns out to be his brother is becoming stronger.
His freaking brother. Small world, alright. So small I was beginning to feel hemmed in, like there was nowhere for me to go. I wanted to scream in frustration. But instead, I sipped my wine.
Throwing a fit or getting bent out of shape wouldn’t do me a damn bit of good. I needed to be rational, to wrap my head around the situation and not let myself feel overwhelmed.
I knew exactly what I needed to do.
After taking a sip of my wine, I set down the glass and made my way over to my violin case. I popped it open, my eyes moving over the shape of the instrument. I picked it up, positioned it and the bow where they needed to be, and let loose.
The music that came out was high-energy and frenetic, with a tight melody that required total focus as my fingers danced over the strings. I played and played, channeling all my frustration and confusion into the music. Right as I hit the peak of the improvised song, I saw Gia out of the corner of my eye.
Feeling a touch exposed, I hurriedly returned the violin to the case, doing it so awkwardly the strings clanged, the bow falling onto the table with a clutter.
“Hey!” Gia exclaimed, stepping into the apartment. “Why’d you stop? That was a hell of a groove!”
I didn’t normally get flustered, but something about being walked in on while playing music always left me feeling a touch exposed – almost like being walked in on wearing nothing but my underwear.
“Just practicing,” I said, lying.
“Well, whatever it was, it was good as hell.” Her eyes fell on the bottle of wine, and before she could ask I fetched her a glass.
“Sorry for barging in like that,” she said. “But the entrance was open and I was knocking – someone was feeling the music a little too much to hear me.”
“Yeah, I guess I was in the zone,” I said, shaking my head, still in the kind of daze that only total focus on playing could put me in.
“Don’t apologize,” Gia said, sitting down on the couch with her glass of wine in her hand. “After what you’ve been through you deserve some wine and song.”
“What I’ve been through?”
“Yeah, meeting Duncan’s brother.” She cocked her head to the side for a moment, as if something had just occurred to her. “Wait, did it go badly? I mean, you’re here instead of out with them.”
“It went…” I snorted a derisive laugh. “I don’t even think badly is the right way to describe it.”