by Megan Bryce
He’d ordered drinks for them right away and said, “I don’t know how this is going to go between us when Father is not here to insult.”
Nicole didn’t think there was any way this dinner would turn out well since she was going to ask him if he cheated on her best friend.
If she could actually work up the nerve to do it.
She said, “Do you really think there could be more? Of us?”
More siblings. And Nicole honestly didn’t know if it would be good or bad.
Sad, but maybe not bad.
Scott said, “I don’t know but I don’t like the odds. You’d think he could have bothered to mention you at some point in the last twenty or so years.”
“Twenty-seven. And you’d think. But maybe he just didn’t know how to bring it up,” she said, not knowing how to bring up her own awkward subject.
Scott eyed her as he ordered, and when the waiter left, said, “I’m twenty-nine. At least there are a few years between us. And you sound like you’re just going to forgive him.”
“No. Yes.” She looked down into her glass, then sipped. “My mother, I won’t forgive. But James. . . I don’t know him well enough to really hate.”
“It’s okay, sis. I’ll hate him for you.”
Nicole nodded her head. “Thank you,” she said and Scott laughed.
He said, “And maybe you wouldn’t hate him anyway. My mother knew and didn’t tell me. I don’t hate her. Maybe it’s some messed up mother-son, father-daughter bull. Maybe I think it wasn’t her place to tell even though my father would have done it if she’d told him to. Maybe you think James couldn’t, that your mother wouldn’t let him, when we both know he still could have, if he wanted to.”
Nicole stared at him, and he shrugged and took another drink.
“It’s just a theory.”
“It is kind of strange though, isn’t it? That I hold my mother fully responsible.”
“And I hold my father fully responsible.”
It could have been, though, that not telling her was just one more thing with her mother, and the first thing with her father.
Small salads were placed in front of them and they both sat there, lost in their own thoughts until Scott said, “Well, it doesn’t matter. He should have told me.” He looked up. “And there, I’ve forgiven myself for not forgiving him. I feel better already.”
Nicole smiled at him, and Scott cocked his head.
“When I was almost engaged to your best friend, I never saw you smile.”
“No, I don’t with most people.”
He studied her face. “I can see why. But, you’re smiling at me now.”
“You’re my brother now. And I want you to feel comfortable enough so I can ask you something really uncomfortable.”
“Well, at least you’re honest about it.”
“It’s about my best friend.”
Scott made a face into his glass. “Sorry I brought her up.”
She just looked at him, not wanting to ruin the evening so early, but he swallowed his drink and sighed.
“Go ahead.”
“Did you?”
Scott took a deep breath. “No.”
Nicole said, “I’m sorry.”
Sorry that she believed him. Sorry that they’d both had to go through that when there’d been no reason.
Sorry that she felt like she had to tell Victoria.
Scott said, “Sometimes I am, too. And then I remember that she obliterated me from her life for some stupid story. She never even gave me a chance.” He shrugged one shoulder. “If it was going to happen, I’m glad it happened then and not later. Like our golden anniversary.”
“Can I tell her?” she asked and he speared a tomato with force.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It does.”
“It won’t change anything, and I don’t want you or her thinking it will. That bridge disintegrated in a fiery ball of napalm.”
“Scott.” She waited for him to look up and then said, “She should know. What she threw away.”
“I thought you were on her side.”
“She’s my best friend. That doesn’t mean I don’t know what she’s like. That doesn’t mean she shouldn’t be told she’s wrong every once in a while.”
“You willing to throw away your friendship on it?”
Nicole wouldn’t be throwing away her friendship. Might be bringing down a little friendly fire on herself.
Family, both the blood kind and the heart kind, sometimes required sacrifices.
Scott shook his head. “Nicole. Don’t do it. It’s not worth it.”
“I’m not doing it for you because you’re right. It’s not going to change anything. But her father–”
“Is a piece of work?”
Victoria’s father was just like her, only worse.
Nicole said, “She knows what he is. But sometimes she forgets. Sometimes she thinks she wants to be like him.”
“I get it, you know. He didn’t think I was good enough for his precious daughter. When push came to shove, she didn’t either.”
“Does it help any to think that maybe it’s one of those messed up father-daughter bull things? That he essentially told her to choose between you or him, and she chose him?”
“I don’t know if that helps. And I wouldn’t want someone I loved to have to choose between me or her father.” He put down his fork, pushed away his plate. “I sure do want someone who would, though.”
She nodded because that actually sounded quite lovely.
“Nicole, I don’t want to know what Victoria says, okay? If she believes you when she never believed me, I will jump into the Hudson. And it probably won’t kill me, just ruin a good suit and make my hair smell for days. Let’s just not even go there.”
She sighed. “Okay.”
“Okay. . . You could maybe tell me if she cries a little.”
Nicole raised her eyebrows.
“Or if she disowns her father.”
Nicole shook her head.
“If she feels really, really bad.”
Nicole chuckled quietly. “I know she will.”
“Maybe you should leave me out of it completely. If she obliterates you from her life for telling her, I’ll have to go find her and beat her up. I’ve never been a big brother before but that seems to figure prominently in the job description.”
Nicole blinked. “Uh. It won’t come to that but. . . thank you?”
He nodded. “You’re welcome. What else are big brothers supposed to do?” He snapped his fingers. “You got any boyfriends you need vetted?”
“No.”
She thought of Flynn, then, and his sibling code. How older siblings were supposed to worry about their younger siblings. And younger siblings were supposed to have fun so they could make their older siblings worry.
“There’s someone. Not a boyfriend.”
“Who is it?”
“No one you know.”
“Right. If we have any kind of luck, it’ll be my best friend.”
She smiled at him. “It’s not. It’s someone I work with.”
He blinked, thinking about it. “Your boss?”
“Um, I own my own company?”
“So when it all goes south, you can just fire him? There’s nothing for me to do in this scenario.”
“Sorry. I only recently found out about you.”
“Next time you start something, take into account that you have an older brother now, will you?”
You have an older brother now.
And it felt good.
She grabbed her drink, blinking quickly to push back sudden, happy, tears.
She cleared her throat. “Yes. This will take some getting used to. Having an older brother to fix all my problems for me.”
He grinned at her.
“You know, Nicole, I’m glad that when I discovered I had a sister, I didn’t hate her.”
“Me, too.”
He chuckled. “You did hate
me. You were obligated to.”
“You’re right, I was and I did. And maybe it’s one of those brother-sister bull things, but it died fairly quickly. I’m glad that when I found out I had a brother, it turned out to be you.”
He said, “Me, too.”
They smiled at each other, Nicole thinking that all the trouble of family was sometimes worth it.
Scott finally said, “We should enjoy this while it lasts because the new car smell will probably wear off.”
“Probably.”
“Probably right when I start wondering if having a sister is going to affect my inheritance at all.”
Nicole choked on the drink she’d just taken. She patted her lips until she stopped coughing and then grinned at her brother.
“I would be surprised if it did considering James set up a trust for me at birth.”
“Hmm. Maybe.” He froze. “Wait a minute, do you have access to it already?”
“Yes.”
Scott made a tight fist and muttered through clenched teeth, “Damn him, that is completely unfair.” He looked at her and said with relish, “And I will never forgive him.”
After dinner, they both checked their messages and Nicole smiled when she saw she had one from Flynn.
SOS. Locked in closet.
She chuckled, imagining him in there with his snacks and his movies, and then saw Scott looking at her.
He nodded at her phone. “This the not-boyfriend?”
She couldn’t get the smile off her face, so just nodded happily as she texted back.
Just need to find a phone booth and then I’ll fly right over.
She stood and Scott helped her into her coat. “Booty call calls. You sure you don’t need me to be your muscle, make him show you a little respect?”
She patted his arm absently as she got another message. “I’m sure. But I’ll keep that in mind for next time because you sound like you’d really enjoy it.”
It’s a bird! A plane! My boss! Wait a minute. . .
Scott shrugged into his own coat. “You know, I think I really would. As long as he’s not a hulking brute.” He tried to get a peek of her phone. “You’re not into hulking brutes, are you?”
She held it away from him. “I haven’t been yet. But like I said, maybe next time.”
He coughed out a laugh. “We’re getting the hang of this, aren’t we?”
“I think so. I’m just going to let him know I’ll be there as soon as I can get rid of you.”
She grinned while she typed, ETA twenty minutes, and when she looked back up Scott was typing on his own phone.
“Hang on, just letting our father know about your big hulking brute of a boyfriend. Maybe he can get a background check done on him. Or maybe pay him a little visit to scare him off. I’m sure neither one of us would approve of him.”
Nicole grabbed for his phone, laughing when she saw he wasn’t texting at all but playing a game.
“My not-boyfriend has been warned off by both my mother and Victoria. What’s James going to do to scare him?”
Scott sucked in a breath. “Nikita and Victoria, and he’s still booty calling you? Okay, I kind of want to meet this guy.”
Nicole stopped, thought about it. She didn’t know if she wanted her new brother not-meeting her not-boyfriend.
She said, “Seems like it would be awkward.”
“Well, yeah, tonight would be awkward. Don’t want to bring your brother to your booty call.”
“It’s not a booty call. He’s locked in a closet.” She found Flynn’s first message and held it up for Scott to see.
He stared at it, stuffing his hands in his pocket. “Is that. . .some sort of. . .code?”
“No, it’s not some kind of code. He’s locked in a closet.”
“And it’s nothing sexual?”
“Nope.”
“Maybe I don’t need to meet him.”
Nicole smiled, then quickly kissed Scott on the cheek. “Thanks for meeting me for dinner. I’d like to do it again.”
“Me, too. Sis. I’ll give you a call.”
Thirty
Nicole knocked lightly on Flynn’s closet door, then put her key in and turned. She pushed the door in lightly and there he was with his feet up on his desk and his hand in a bag of Doritos.
She said, “Hey.”
“Hey.”
He looked at her briefly, then away. Embarrassed, maybe.
“I see your snacks came in handy.”
“Maybe we should take the lock off the outside of the door.”
She laughed, coming inside to sit on the edge of his desk. “It’s probably a good idea. What are you watching?”
“Superman. I was seeing if he ever got locked in a closet.”
“Did he?”
“No.” He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry I ruined your date.”
She cocked her head. “Are you?”
“No.”
“Oh, good. Because it wasn’t a date. I was having dinner with my brother.”
Flynn let out a breath. “Oh. Good.” He sat up, taking his feet off the desk. “I mean, I’m still sorry I ruined your evening. Just glad it wasn’t a date. That I was ruining.”
“You didn’t ruin anything. I’m glad that you texted me and didn’t stay in here all night long.”
“That was my first idea, but then I drank one of my Red Bulls.”
“Ah. Not as prepared as you thought you were?”
“I did not take into account the fact that what goes in must come out.”
“Do you need to. . .” She pointed out the door and he shook his head convincingly.
Then he nodded. “Yes, rather desperately.”
She laughed. “Then go!”
He jumped up, dashing out of the closet and down the hall, and Nicole just let herself laugh.
She sat down in his chair and pushed play, watched Superman on screen while she waited for her Clark Kent to come back.
When he saw her sitting in his chair, he leaned against the door jamb, and she said, “What are doing now that you don’t have to spend the night in here?”
“Probably go finish watching Superman at home.”
“Oh.”
“Why?”
She shrugged. “I was kind of hoping you’d take advantage of me again.”
Flynn blinked. He pushed himself to his feet and came inside the room. He closed his laptop with one finger.
She stayed sitting, looking up at him.
He said slowly, “I don’t want you thinking I don’t want to take advantage, it’s just going to take me a second to switch gears. I spent the evening thinking you were on a date.”
“There’s no one I’m not-dating, except you.”
He looked up at the ceiling, repeating what she’d said silently, his finger moving with the words.
She slipped her hand into his and he looked down at her.
“I had a really nice dinner with my brother. And then you texted me and I wanted to tell you about it.”
His hand curled around hers and the distant look in his eyes went away.
He confessed, “I didn’t lock myself in here on purpose. But I wasn’t not unhappy that it would cut your evening short.”
She looked at the ceiling, mouthing his words, then said, “This is getting confusing.”
“Getting? I thought we arrived at confusing a few weeks ago.”
She looked in his eyes, then down at their hands. “My brother wants to not-meet you but maybe he could just meet you instead. We could unconfuse one thing at least.”
Flynn didn’t say anything and Nicole kept looking at their hands.
He cleared his throat. “Meet me or meet meet me?”
She looked up again, a thousand voices in her head.
Okay, just two.
One that was happily declaring, I have very high hopes for Flynn.
And one predicting gloomily that It never ends well for a man in love with a Bissette.
Nicole met his
eyes and whispered, “Meet meet you.”
“Really?”
She nodded. “But you know how you warned me that meeting your parents wasn’t a good idea?”
“Yes. I haven’t forgotten that I was right.”
“This is another one of those things that isn’t a good idea.”
“Maybe it will be okay. Maybe I’ll think it’s cute.”
She wanted to smile at him, wanted to believe he could think her life was, if not cute, then at least bearable.
She told the truth instead.
“It won’t be and it’s not. I still want to do it.”
He froze. “Let me be very clear here. The thing that isn’t a good idea, that you still want to do, is date me. Right?”
“Yes.”
And Nicole suddenly realized this feeling was happiness.
Whenever she was with Flynn, she was happy. Light, like suddenly life wasn’t weighing her down anymore. Light, like the sun was shining brightly after a particularly long winter.
He was her sugar. He made everything better, no nasty side effects.
He was silly and true and uncomplicated.
A boy scout.
She smiled and said again, “Yes.”
He leaned down, stopping when his lips were a breath away from hers.
He whispered, “I would love to meet your brother. I would love to date you.”
“It’s not going to be easy.”
“Okay.”
“I’m not easy.”
He smiled. “Okay.”
She put her lips on his. Kissed him while she looked into his eyes.
Heard one more voice in her head before she heard nothing at all.
Don’t be stupid, Nicole. Of course he’s in love with you.
Thirty-One
Flynn took her back to his apartment and they watched the rest of Superman cuddled in his bed.
Naked.
He was pretty sure he was dreaming and he’d wake in the morning to find he was hunched over his desk, his face stuck to the keyboard, and still locked in his closet.
But when he awoke, he was in his bed. Nicole still next to him.
Still naked.
She opened her eyes and said, “Hey.”
“Hey.”
And that was all he had, so he just looked at her. Probably smiling at her like a goof because her eyes were crinkling at him.
