“Oh no. I knew something was up when you got back to me so quickly. What happened?”
I was still processing it, still dealing with how freaking insane and surreal it was. “His brother is Andrew.”
She was confused, her eyebrows knitting. “Like, his brother’s name is Andrew? I mean, that’s kind of weird – same as your ex. But it’s a pretty common name.”
I let out a snort of a laugh. The whole situation was so insane that she wasn’t even considering what I’d actually said. “No, his name wasn’t Andrew – his brother is Andrew.”
“Wait. What? His brother is Andrew? As in, your freaking ex?”
“As in my freaking ex,” I repeated. “We went to the bar to meet him and there he was. It felt like something out of a bad dream.”
“What did you do?”
“I panicked – no idea what to do. Andrew was convinced it was all some kind of sick prank.”
She glanced over at the flowers he’d sent. “Don’t blame him one bit. He shows up to meet his brother’s new flame and it’s the woman he just broke up with. And evidently wants to get back together with.”
“I don’t even know what to think,” I confessed.
“Well, what was Duncan’s explanation?”
“He was just here, said he didn’t know that me and his brother had been involved.”
“And you believe him?”
“Either that, or I assume he’s lying. Either way it’s totally insane.” I sat on the couch next to her, silence in the air as we both tried to process what was happening. The prolonged silence was interrupted by my phone ringing.
“Maybe that’s someone who can explain all of this,” she joked, smiling at me.
I smiled back, shaking my head as I checked the screen. It was the opposite of someone who could explain all of it, in fact. Andrew.
“It’s him,” I hissed, holding up the phone so she could see his name.
“What!” she exclaimed. “Tell him you’ll call him back later or something.”
“No, I need to take this.” I got up, let a deep breath flow in and out of me, and then answered. “Hey.”
“Hey,” he replied. “How are you?”
“I think you can probably guess.”
I heard a quick chuckle on the other end. “Pretty insane situation we’ve found ourselves in, huh?”
The slightest hint of a smile formed on my lips. “You’ve always had a flair for understatement.”
“You’re right about that. Especially when it came to you.”
Shit. No more than a few sentences exchanged, and he was already laying it on thick.
“Listen,” he said, going on without waiting for me to respond. “We need to talk about this.”
“What’s there to say?”
“Plenty.” Then he paused as if something had occurred to him. “Did you like the flowers?”
“They…they were nice.”
“Good. You know, I never really bought them for you when we were together.”
“No, you didn’t.” I was maintaining my calm, not wanting to reveal the confusing whirlwind of emotions running through me.
“Anyway, let’s talk. Want to get together for a drink?”
Out of the corner of my eye, Gia gestured wildly. I glanced over to see that she was waving her hands in front of her face, mouthing the words “no booze” while shaking her head. Despite the weirdness, I couldn’t help but grin.
“A coffee drink,” I said. I wasn’t worried about getting too tipsy and doing anything stupid. More I wanted to make sure my head was in the right space while he and I were talking.
“Tomorrow?”
“Thursday. At Apres Ski.”
A pause. “Thursday. Let’s say at six.”
“Done.”
“See you then. I’ll be looking forward to it.”
I couldn’t really say the same. “Yeah.” I hung up.
“It’s happening?” asked Gia.
“It’s happening.”
“Why Thursday? Don’t you want to get it over with as soon as possible?”
“More like I want to give myself a chance to cancel. I’m meeting with my ex, remember.”
Gia nodded, getting it. Then, as if reading my mind, she passed me the wine. I sipped it, gazing out the window at the snow-blanketed mountains in the distance.
What the hell was I doing?
Duncan
I felt torn in two. And as a man who took pride in always being certain, never doubting myself, it was a sentiment I most definitely wasn’t comfortable with.
I spent the day at home, taking calls from my office, doing my best to lose myself in my work, my preferred approach to deal with any problems in my personal life – not that I ever had too many of those. Work never failed to take my mind off whatever else was going on.
But then something happened during the middle of one of my conference calls.
One of my doctors had been discussing a few recent gains and setbacks since opening his clinic. As hard as I tried to pay attention, I simply couldn’t. My mind drifted, focusing on her.
I kept thinking about the other night, about introducing her to Andrew like that. I’d been so certain, so sure I’d made the right moves. I’d gone into it with the same certainty I had about all of my decisions, from my personal life to my career.
Only this time, I felt…regret.
It was a strange sensation, the idea of looking back on something I’d done and not feeling confident in my decisions. I didn’t like it one bit. But I couldn’t shake it. Had I screwed up? Had I hurt both my brother and Annie?
But what else could I have done?
“Dr. Pitt?” Dr. Oak asked, her sharp, professional tone snapping me back into the moment.
“Huh?” My eyes flicked up to the screen and the four-panel image of Dr. Oak and three other doctors, all of them staring at me expectantly.
Dr. Oak appeared confused. “I was…simply going over the next month’s appointments. What’s your take?”
I had no answer. I’d been so wrapped up in my thoughts that I had zoned out. I cleared my throat. “I think the workday’s caught up with me. Do you mind emailing them to me so I can give them a look?”
She nodded, a frown on her face. “Sure. I’ll have my assistant send them within the hour.”
“Perfect. And let’s wrap this up for today. I’m sure you all could do with an early night.” They all nodded with the same relieved expression on their faces. “Great work, everyone. I’ll be looking forward to speaking to you all again soon.”
We said our goodbyes, and the call ended. When the screen went black, I sighed and sat back, shaking my head at what I’d done. There wasn’t a chance in hell I was going to let my personal life effect my work. There was simply too much going on for that to happen.
But I couldn’t stop thinking about Annie. And not only about what had gone down. I couldn’t stop thinking about all the things I loved about her.
Loved.
At the appearance of the word in my mind, I stood up, stunned.
Too soon for that, I thought. Way too fucking soon.