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“Chocolate is deadly for you, my friend. I have what I think is an acceptable substitute, though. If you are so inclined.”
He sits on his haunches, whips his tail as if to say he is so inclined. I grab a string cheese from the fridge and break off a few pieces into his food dish, watching him make a mad dash for it.
When I hear a knock at the door I assume it’s Daddy or Rigger. I don’t even sneak a peek through the peephole before opening. I’m just so relieved one of them decided to show. But at some point between twisting the door knob and opening the door enough to see who it is, I realize it’s pretty dumb for me to just be opening doors without looking. What if it’s my brother or sister? What if I want to examine them through a fisheye lens before I’m forced to stand right in front of them?
It's not them though. It’s Rigger.
“You got my message, I see.”
I close the door behind him and he follows me into the kitchen where my ice cream awaits.
“What message?”
“Uh, the voicemail I left you half an hour ago.”
He pulls out his phone and stares at it. “I never check my voicemail. You know that.”
“So sue me. I was driving. What are you doing here if you didn’t get my voicemail?”
“I was in the neighborhood. Thought I’d stop by and see if you wanted to get something to eat. What did the voicemail say?”
“To call me.” I shove a bite of ice cream in my mouth and Rigger glances down at his phone, I guess looking at the voicemail transcription.
“What’s so urgent? Did Loverboy do something?”
“No. I just had a very interesting meeting with a private investigator. Apparently I’ve got a half brother or sister. Just floating around out there somewhere.” I wave the spoon in the air and Rigger draws back, lifting both eyebrows in surprise.
“No kidding.”
“No kidding. Well, unless someone is playing a practical joke on me.”
“How’d you find out?”
“Devin was here earlier today. She told me some dude came here looking for me a few weeks back. It was this P.I. named Jackson Dane but at the time she thought it was someone I was cheating on her with. That’s a whole other story. Anyway, I called him to find out what he wanted. And he basically tells me …” I set the bowl ice cream down, feeling a sudden chill. “Someone hired him to contact me. Either my sibling, or an interested party, I don’t know. He was really vague about it. But he said I can call this number when I want to find out and they’ll arrange a meeting.”
I pull the business card out of my pocket, set it on the kitchen counter. Rigger eyeballs it, still holding his chin. He always does that when he’s stumped, quietly cups his chin as though it might fall apart if his hand isn’t there to hold it up.
“This is shocking.”
“Yeah, it is. Especially since he gave me very little information. I don’t know why it’s so top secret which parent we share, or whether I have a brother or sister. And I won’t find out until I’m ready to meet them.”
Rigger stares at me silently, I guess absorbing all this. I’m still absorbing too. In fact, I’m starting to smell foul play here.
“So, you gonna call and arrange a meeting?”
“You think I should?”
“I think you should consider it. Weigh the pros and cons of opening the proverbial Pandora’s box.”
“I could be opening up more than Pandora’s box. I could be walking right into a trap. And I don’t like the way that feels.”
“I could go with you. That’ll fix that right there.”
And he would too. Probably would make the call and arrange it if I wanted. Maybe even go in my place and report back to me what he learned.
“I might take you up on that. In the meantime I need to think this over. And have a conversation with Daddy, see if he will fess up to knowing anything.” It feels like I’ve been punched in the gut and I rub my face, feeling overwhelmed in a way I never have. “God … this is so weird. I feel like I might crumble at any minute.”
Rigger moves into my space and his arms are around me, giving me one of his warm, supportive hugs. I hug him back, loving this side of him, and I listen to his heart beating against my ear. This is one of the rare times I feel something more than just a friendship with him. Like we are connected on a deeper plane. It’s only happened a few times but when it has, there have been some weird thoughts enter my mind.
