“Hey,” she greets, making way for me to come in.
I step inside, feeling like the weight of the world is on my shoulders. I always feel that way, but especially today. Matthew didn’t come out of his room after we got home. He and Cora stayed in there, and I’m still not sure what he’s going to say to me. I really hate not knowing.
“What did he say? What did you tell him?” Christine pelts me with questions.
Turning around, I stare at her. And then I take a huge shaky breath.
“Why did we sleep together?” I ask her.
She’s momentarily surprised. I’m sure she wasn’t expecting the question.
“What?”
“Why did we sleep together?” I repeat. I’ve been thinking about it all day.
Even I’m not really sure why I did it. Why did I jeopardize my relationship with my brother for her? Sure, she’s beautiful and confident and smart, but back then, why did I have such a hard time getting her out of my mind? She was like a drug. I was fixated on her, but after I finally had her, I realized what a terrible idea it had been in the first place.
And the worst part is, I’m still hooked. Even now, after all these years. She just doesn’t have a fucking clue.
Christine crosses her arms over her chest as she looks at me.
“I don’t understand the question.” She frowns.
I chuckle lightly.
“You do,” I say, leaning against the wall. “You just don’t know the answer.”
We’re both silent for the longest time until I clear my throat.
“How’s Noah?” I ask her.
She shrugs. “He’s fine. He did have a lot of questions about the tall, weird man who was asking us questions.”
“What did you tell him?”
“That he’s his uncle and his name is Matthew. He nodded and went back to playing with a toy robot.”
I smile. Sounds like my kid.
Christine sighs. “What are we going to do about Matt, Michael?”
“Honestly? I have no idea.”
CHAPTER14
CHRISTINE
Why did we sleep together?
I’ve had one-night stands before. I’m a grown, healthy woman and I can admit it. They usually ended with an embarrassed and hurried goodbye the next morning , but no one has ever reacted the way Michael Crane reacted to me.
On some level, I get it. He was worried about the repercussions of what we had done. He was grieving, and I understand that it was a mistake. But Michael had seemed almost angry. Angry and scared. It was like what we had done had scared him so much that he shut down. He didn’t want to have to deal with it or think about it.
I always thought we should have had a conversation about it. Like adults. And now, so many years later, it’s almost like it doesn’t matter anymore. I know it should, but in the face of everything that’s happening right now, I’d rather figure it all out later.
“Do you think I should talk to him?”
Matthew’s an amazing person and I really hate that I did something to hurt him like this.