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I risk moving closer to the window and lean to the side to see inside. Brad and Todd are only a few feet apart. Brad’s hands are clenched tightly and pasted against his side. His rigid body language shows the anger he’s trying to hold back.

“I’ve never wanted to hit someone as much as I want to hit you right now.” Brad’s voice is low and deadly. I feel his anger seeping through the walls of the house.

Todd shrugs his indifference to his brother’s threat. “I don’t think you ever loved her. If you did, nothing I said would have made you leave. You believed my lies because you wanted to believe them. No one loved Winny as I did. If it hadn’t been for you, she would’ve realized she loved me, too.”

Brad pauses, and even from my distance, I see the realization light in his eyes. “You were in love with Winny? That’s what all of this was about.”

“Winny was mine until you came along. She loved me first. You took her away from me, and I’ll never forgive you for that. The girls always want you, never me. Couldn’t you have just left her alone?” Todd’s voice is shaky as he turns away from Brad.

“I didn’t do it on purpose, Todd. I did not know you felt that way about her. You were dating someone else, so how could I have known how you felt about Winny?”

“I don’t believe you. You were jealous of me and the attention my skating got me. Taking Winny was your payback. I only dated someone else to make Winny jealous, but it didn’t work once you got your hands on her.”

Brad opens his mouth to speak but just stands there looking at Todd. Even standing on the other side of the window, I can feel Brad’s heavy sadness. The brothers were always close, or at least that was the impression they gave off. To hear that Todd felt this way must be incredibly difficult for Brad.

When Brad finally responds to the accusation, there’s no anger in his voice. “You’re my brother and I love you. I never intended to hurt you. I hope we can get past this and be a family again.”

Todd gives a mirthless laugh, and I hear his heavy footsteps coming my way. Too late, I realize I’m stuck on the porch, and the brothers will realize I’ve been listening to their conversation. I crouch down, trying to make myself as unnoticeable as possible. Todd yanks open the front door before turning back to Brad.

“Family? When I ran you out of town four years ago, you ceased to be family to me. I’m happy to let things stay that way. Don’t worry, I’ll stay away until you get your sorry ass out of town again,” Todd says.

There’s no response from inside the house except for the slamming of an interior door. I assume Brad left the living room, but I can’t see him from my position.

Todd steps outside and notices me immediately. My poor attempt to hide is a complete failure.

“Winny? What are you doing here?” Todd’s tone is an accusation rather than a question.

“You told him we were sleeping together?” I rise from my crouching position. My next words spew out before I can stop them. “You saw what that did to me. How could you?”

“I loved you,” he says simply, as though that makes everything okay.

“But I didn’t love you—at least not romantically. You were like a brother to me, my best friend. You’re the one that wanted to compete in the Olympics. I kept training and skating because I didn’t want to let you down. And yet, you did this to me?”

“I couldn’t let him win.”

“Win? I was a competition to you?” I shake my head sadly. “You’re not the person I thought you were, Todd. Instead of you winning, we all lost.”

“Why him? What did my brother have that I don’t?” Todd asks.

“My heart,” I respond quietly.

The taut lines of his face turn into a sneer. Finally, without another word, he nods and takes off towards his Jeep.

The weight of what I overheard haunts me. All of this time, I could’ve been with Brad. But Brad didn’t believe in me. He believed the lies his brother told him instead. He should’ve known I’d never cheat on him, especially with his own brother. I thought the bond we had was stronger than that.

My hand itches to open the front door to confront Brad about what I heard. At the same time, the gamut of emotions inside me prevents my hand from making a move. Maybe I should be glad things happened as they did. If our love couldn’t survive that minor storm, we weren’t meant to be. Where there’s no trust, there is no future.

It doesn’t stop the pain that’s ripping apart my insides. My skating partner, the person I trusted with my life on the ice, betrayed me in an unforgivable way. After all, I sacrificed for him. This is what it has come to.

What do I do now?

The cowardly part of me wants to get into my car and run. However, I’ve never been one to run away, and I don’t intend to start now. Brad is only here for a few weeks, and then I’ll never see him again. And his mom is also leaving. I won’t let this thing between me and Brad take away what little time I have left with his mom.

So, I better buck up, buttercup. I came here to help Patricia pack, and that’s what I intend to do.

Without giving myself time to change my mind, I pull open the front door and run smack into Brad. He reaches up to my shoulders to steady me.

We are face to face, inches apart. I inhale the earthly scent of him.