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“This isn’t a big deal, Genevieve.” Kolter sighs.
“Umm, yes it is. She’s my best friend and you’re sleeping with her, so when that stops and she is angry with you, I’m going to be stuck in the middle.” I glare at my brother. “And she’s older than you, so that’s just weird.”
“Hey, I’m only a year and a half older than him.” Anna defends herself, planting her hands on her hips.
“How long has this been going on?” I ask, and the two of them look at each other.
“Over a year,” Anna admits, and my eyes widen.
“Over a year?” I look between the two of them. “Over a year and neither of you told me?”
“You’ve had a lot going on,” she tells me softly.
“Yeah, I know, but I haven’t been living on Mars without phone service and cut off from human communication.”
“We were going to tell you.” She steps toward me. “We just wanted to wait until the right time.”
“And when would that be?”
“I don’t know. When we knew that you were okay.” She shrugs, and I squeeze my eyes closed.
“Do Mom and Dad know?” I open my eyes back up and meet my brother’s gaze.
“Yeah.”
“Right,” I mutter, feeling betrayed and hurt that they didn’t trust me enough to tell me that they have been dating for over a year. Not sleeping together but dating, like in a real relationship. “Here, you guys can have this.” I shove the coffees and bag I’m holding toward Kolter.
“Evvie,” Anna calls after me as I turn and head back down the concrete steps that lead from her apartment to the ground floor. “Wait.”
“We’ll talk later,” I tell her without looking back.
“Baby, let her go,” Kolter says softly, and my nose scrunches. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him talk softly to anyone, and I don’t want to think it’s nice that he’s soft with her, but I do. Barf.
When I get down to my car, I take out my phone and pull up my mom’s phone number.
“Hey, honey.” She answers on the second ring.
“Anna and Kolter.”
“What about them?” she asks as I yank my door open.
“I just went to surprise Anna with breakfast, and Kolter answered her door in nothing but his boxers.”
“You really shouldn’t surprise people, honey.”
“Oh really.” I laugh. “Didn’t you surprise me with a house full of people a few days ago?”
“That was different.”
“Why? Because you weren’t in the house with the mailman getting down and dirty?”
“Genevieve Rose Fenwick,” she snaps and lets out a breath.
“Sorry, that was rude, but really, Mom, you couldn’t tell me about them?”
“It wasn’t my place to tell you about their relationship.” She’s right, it wasn’t her place. It was theirs, and it’s messed up that neither of them did. “Where are you?”
“I’m going home.” I start my car. “I’ll be in the office this afternoon after I meet with the Bakers about their house.”
