“It’s been hard.” Brad’s voice quavered a little, but he didn’t seem to notice. “Especially after Roberta moved away. I’ve been lonely, especially in this big, empty house. Every time I go into the garage I see that old Mustang, and it’s a reminder that he’s gone. He’s really gone, and he didn’t get to finish everything he wanted in life. And then it makes me upset, but I can’t bear the thought of getting rid of the thing even though it’s a painful reminder, so instead I just avoid the garage and try not to think about it…”
Brad glanced up at Erica. “I guess what I’m trying to say is I don’t know what I would have done if you weren’t here, sis. You’re the only family I have left.”
He put his arm around Erica, and she said, “Oh, Brad. It’s okay.”
Brad’s eyes welled with tears, but then through stubborn willpower he shook off the melancholy. “Sorry for getting all sappy. What I’m trying to say is that I’m glad you’re here, Hunter. This place feels a little less lonely with you in it.”
“Glad to be here,” I said, meaning every word.
“How long are you in town?”
“Three more weeks, give or take,” I said. “Depends on how long it takes me to finish these videos.”
“Stay as long as you want. I’ll be working from home, so we’ll have plenty of time to catch up.” He came around the counter and gave me a bro-hug, palms smacking on backs and playful punches thrown into shoulders. Like we were still teenagers.
Some things never change, I thought, glancing at Erica’s heart-shaped face.But other things couldn’t be any more different.
29
Erica
Hunter and I didn’t get any more alone time that night. When I excused myself to bed, Brad followed on the stairs, chatting the entire way. I closed my door, changed clothes, and then crawled into bed.
Iachedfor Hunter. The kiss in the garage had released five years of pent-up sexual energy, but it had woken something else inside of me. I felt like I was going to burst if I didn’t get to kiss him again.
I heard him come to bed sometime later. I saw the light underneath the bathroom door. I was tempted to knock and ask if we could talk, but I was afraid he was using the bathroom. Then the light turned off, and I heard his door close.
Brad’s room was across the hall. Even though we were separated by two walls, I could hear him opening and closing his dresser, humming a tune to himself. The walls were paper-thin in this house. If I tried to talk to Hunter, he would hear us.
And if we couldn’t talk, then wedefinitelycouldn’t do anything louder than that.
I closed my eyes and fantasized about the kiss in the garage until I fell asleep.
The next morning, Brad hovered around us like a Prom chaperone. I ate my cereal as slowly as possible, hoping Brad would leave Hunter and I alone for a little while, but Brad sat with us long after finishing his own bowl. When I went upstairs to change clothes, Hunter made an excuse to come up too—but Brad was right on our heels, and lingered in his bedroom across the hall until we both went downstairs.
I knew it was just because he was lonely and was glad to have company, but it still felt like he was deliberately keeping us from being alone together.
“Your car is still at the brewery,” I told Hunter when we were all downstairs again. “Want a ride to go pick it up?”
Hunter’s eyes widened as he realized the opportunity it would give us. “That would be great.”
Brad snatched his keys out of the key bowl. “I’ll take him. Your car is a piece of crap, Erica. You’ll probably break down on the way, and then I would have to rescue both of you anyway. Come on, Hunter. I’ve got ten minutes before I have to log on for work.”
Ten minutes,I thought as they left.If I had waited ten more minutes, Brad wouldn’t have been able to take him.
When they got home, Hunter resumed his work on the Mustang in the garage. Brad brought his laptop in there and listened to sales calls while watching Hunter work.
I gave up on seeing Hunter alone, and rode my bike to the brewery for my shift.
“So the fiancéething was all a lie?” Lizzy asked when I caught her up to speed.
“Not entirely,” I said while wiping down the bartop. “Hewasengaged. But he broke it off a week ago. Right before flying here.”
She leaned against the tap wall and sighed. “You get all the luck.”
“I do not!”
“I’ve never had a guy break off his engagement for me,” she pointed out.