It’s my family’s greatest accomplishment. It’s also my family’s ball-and-chain.
Isaac’s office is on the second floor. He’ll be here, because he’s always here on Thursday afternoons, and my older brother is as regular as clockwork. My mother likes to joke that it started with his birth, with him arriving at noon on the expected date.
An attendant stares at me open-mouthed when I swipe my keycard to access the staff corridor. Perhaps I’m a ghost around here. A tale passed down to new employees, a name whispered. The lost son.
I give a nod and shut the door behind me.
Knock twice on Isaac’s office door.
“Enter,” he calls.
Ah, yes.Come on inis doubtless too many words. Not efficient enough.
Isaac’s eyes widen when he sees me and he pushes back from his desk. “Anthony?”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t know you were coming in today.”
“It’s an impromptu sort of thing.”
He nods. Glances to the chair opposite his desk. “Well, I’m glad. It’s been a long time.”
“It has.”
“You’re answering my email in person,” he says, smiling. “Does this mean you accept?”
“Accept?”
“Being my best man.”
My stomach sinks, and I do something I haven’t done since this office belonged to our dad. I sit down in the chair opposite him. Wish I was anywhere but here. “Isaac, about that… I saw Cordelia yesterday. And she wasn’t alone.”
* * *
The taxi pulls up outside of Summer’s Soho apartment. I pay him more than I should and wave away the change. My steps feel heavy and my head thick as I call her on the intercom.
“Come in!” she sing-songs.
But when she opens the door for me and sees my expression, the smile on her face is wiped clean. “It didn’t go well?”
“Not particularly.” I wrap my arms around her waist and kick the door shut behind me. Nestle my head against the crook of her neck. God, I adore the way she smells.
She runs a hand over my hair. “That bad, huh?”
“That bad.”
“Well, I suppose there’s no good way to tell anyone they’re being cheated on.”
“It was worse.”
“Worse?”
I lift my head with a sigh and finally say hello to Ace, who is eager and bouncing around my legs. His ears are silky beneath my hands. “My brother didn’t believe me.”
For once, it seems like I’ve struck Summer speechless. She just stares at me.
“He didn’t… what?”