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“No, she’s not. We’re hiding something from everyone. But she’s not hiding anything from me.”
“Wait, what?”
“Yes. And it’s something that stays between me and her until we’re ready. Is that understood?”
“What’s going on, Brett?”
“Right now, you don’t have a right to that information,” I said.
“As your sister, I don’t have a right?”
“Not with the way you’ve been acting. You pulled this type of thing a few years ago, and I defended you. I told Olivia that you wouldn’t make up lies like that because you were my sister. Because you wanted to see me happy. It caused a great deal of stress between the two of us, and now I’m sitting here looking at you realizing she was right from the very beginning. You wanted to rip us apart because you were jealous. Because you felt like you were being replaced. She didn’t know that excuse specifically, but she knew something wasn’t right. And I didn’t listen.”
“I’m sorry, Brett. Okay? But I can’t handle you being with someone right now.”
“With no due respect whatsoever, this isn’t about you,” I said.
“I feel alone, okay?”
I furrowed my brow in confusion as our burgers were slid in front of us.
“Alone?” I asked.
“You’ve forgotten about me, Brett. You forgot about all of us when you went off to college, when you started your company. You didn’t even come home for Thanksgiving last year.”
“I came for Thanksgiving because I live right here in town,” I said.
“But you didn’t come like you used to. You didn’t come stay the weekend. We didn’t get to go the pumpkin patch you always took me to. We didn’t get to stay up watching The Mothman Prophecies for Halloween like we used to. All of the things we used to do together we haven’t done in years. Ever since Olivia came into your life the first time. Ev-ev-even after the two of you broke up, it still didn’t happen. You just replaced her with your business, and we saw you less. Even though you were in town and you were right up the road. How is that even possible, Brett?”
My heart broke for my sister, because she had a point. That was exactly how I’d coped with our first breakup. I threw myself into my work. I blocked a lot of people out to get things done. And as I watched hot tears of anger drip down my sister’s cheeks, I came to the conclusion that I was as much responsible for this as she was.
“I’m sorry, Brittany.”
“I don’t want you to be sorry, Brett. I want you back. I don’t want our relationship to suffer any more because of her. We barely see you as it is. I hardly see you at all, and my campus is only ten minutes away from your damn headquarters. With her in the picture, when will I ever see you now?” she asked.
“Then you needed to come talk to me. You didn’t need to saddle any of this on Olivia. By the sounds of it, your issue is with me, not her. You’re causing her more undue stress during a time in her life when she needs to be grounded the most. She’s going through more than you could ever imagine right now, and you’re only adding to that fire.”
“Is she okay?”
“Do you care?”
Brittany scoffed. “Of course I care. I just care more about how she’s pulling you away from the family.”
“And like I said, that’s my issue to work on. But as far as I’m concerned, you and I owe her a tremendous apology. And that’s just for starters.”
“Can we at least eat lunch first?” she asked.
“We can take it with us. But we should go now.”
“Do you hate me?”
I packed up our food into to-go containers before I stood up.
“I don’t hate you. But I’m also not happy with you. I understand why you did it, but you’ve hurt a lot of people. And that takes time to come back from. So, now you have to be willing to allow that time before things can be repaired.”
I held out my arm for her and escorted her back to her car. She followed my driver and myself back to work, where the two of us made our way up to Olivia’s office. I took our to-go boxes and sat them off to the side. I had no idea if they would make Olivia queasy or not. Brittany gave me an odd look but didn’t press it. And I was glad she didn’t. I wasn’t sure I could take any more from her at the moment.
“Go ahead. Knock,” I said.
Brittany knocked on the door, and it was quickly answered by Olivia. Her lips parted in shock as she volleyed her eyes between the two of us, then stepped off to the side. The two of us made our way into her office before we turned around and faced her. I slid my hands into my pockets, then looked at my sister and nodded.
