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I jerked my head up to stare at her. I thought for sure I’d misheard her. For a second, it sounded as if Andrea was going to defend Michael.
“What?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Andrea said quickly. “But, it just… He really seemed to like you. I can’t imagine he would do something like this just to hurt you. It doesn’t make sense.”
“It does if it was some sort of game,” I said. “If he and Joshua cooked up a scheme or something.”
“Do you really think that’s what happened?” Andrea asked doubtfully. “I mean, you said yourself that Joshua was shocked when he saw you with Michael.”
“It could have been an act,” I said.
“And the whole ‘I still love you’ thing?” Andrea pressed. “Was that part of their game?”
“Maybe.” I shrugged. “Don’t ask me to understand how their minds work.”
“It just doesn’t add up, Julie,” Andrea said. “It doesn’t make sense for Joshua and Michael to plan this whole thing out just to screw with you.”
I shook my head and looked away. The last thing I needed was for my best friend to defend Michael and, yet, I knew she was right. It didn’t make sense. Joshua was way too surprised to see me with Michael. He was shocked. Livid. There was no way he knew about us until we showed up for dinner.
Still, Michael knew the truth the whole time. That first day in the café, he knew who I was. He knew all about my relationship with Joshua, and he never said anything.
“How could Michael lie?” I asked again. “And why? What was the point?”
“I don’t know,” Andrea said. “That part really doesn’t make sense.”
“I mean, he could have just told me who he was,” I said. “He could have said, ‘Hey, I’m Joshua’s brother, and I recognized you from Facebook. You’re Julie, right?’ It would have been that simple.”
“Maybe.” Andrea shrugged. “Or maybe not.”
I frowned and stared at her. Andrea was usually the first person to man-bash. Every time either one of us went through a breakup, she was vicious with her insults. It always helped us move on, but now, she was only confusing me more.
“What’s going on with you?” I demanded. “I thought for sure you would hate Michael for what he did to me.”
“I do!” Andrea said quickly. “Julie, trust me. I’m pissed as hell right now.”
“Then, why are you defending him?” I asked.
“Because he doesn’t seem like a jerk,” Andrea said simply. “Joshua always seemed like a total tool. From the first time I met him, I hated him. But Michael, not so much.”
“You’ve never actually met him,” I said.
“You’re right,” she said with a nod. “But the way he was talking to you, it’s obvious that he really cares about you, Julie.”
“If you care about someone, you don’t lie to them.”
“Maybe he didn’t know how to tell you,” Andrea said softly. “Maybe he saw you in the café and wanted to talk to you, but he was afraid you’d run away if you knew who he was. Then, he really started to like you, and the closer you two became, the harder it was to tell you the truth. Maybe, he just wanted to see if things could work out between you guys before he dropped the bomb about being Joshua’s brother.”
I shook my head. “That doesn’t make sense. Besides, even if it’s true, it’s a shitty reason to lie to someone.”
“I agree,” Andrea said. “But it makes sense, doesn’t it?”
I just shook my head again and turned away. I didn’t want things to make sense yet. I just wanted to be angry, to silently curse Michael for making me fall for him. I hated him for breaking my heart when it was already in a shambles over Joshua.
“I wish I’d never met him,” I said softly. “Him or Joshua. They’ve only brought me grief.”
“I know.” Andrea sighed and sank down closer to me.
We sat in silence for a while. My head was spinning. It seemed crazy that this was where my life had ended up. It wasn’t that long ago that Andrea and I were moving my stuff into this house. It felt like yesterday that I was crying over Joshua and, now, here I was, broken over a man who turned out to be his brother.
