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“Okay, fess up. Who is she?” I couldn’t remember the last time my brother cut me any slack so why should today be any different?
But sometimes he made it so easy to mess with him. “Who says it’s a woman? You ever wonder why I haven’t had a relationship longer than three months or been married yet.”
Zane’s movements froze. He set his beer glass down gently. Clearing his throat, he said, “Look, don’t effing play. I just found the love of my life and have a baby on the way. There’s hope for you yet. So, give it up.”
“Don’t tell me it’s a twin thing and you’re somehow tapped into my feelings. I’m not sure what I’m feeling, but it’s not some long held need to thank her for helping me out, but….” I was rambling. I never rambled.
Zane smacked me on the shoulder. “Who. Is. It?”
“Brenley Lynch.”
If I was in a different mood, I would have laughed at the shock on my brother’s face. But I
wasn’t. I was almost as shocked at my intense reaction to seeing her again as he was.
“Brenley Lynch? You dated Brenley in high school? How come I don’t remember this?”
“Tutored, Zane. We didn’t date. For six weeks during our senior year, we met in the school library. She helped me pass chemistry, get my diploma, and saved me from who knows what path I might have taken without….” I didn’t finish that thought because I didn’t want to believe what I was feeling for her was just gratitude. It was so much more.
“Okay, so I know Brenley, hell I buy flowers for my wife at her shop. What’s going on with you? I know you’re making a big change in your career, building a new house, and we’re creeping up on forty. So, what’s your end game?”
“Jesus, Z. We’re not talking about one of your corporations or a mountain I’ve always wanted to conquer. It’s a lot simpler than that. But yeah, okay, maybe it is more complicated. I saw her the other night at The Club when I met Noel and TS for dinner, and… and I don’t know how to describe it.” Just thinking about seeing her again so many years later and with a man had set off something within me. Was I too late to even see if there was a chance for something between us?
Yeah, maybe I was crazy.
Leaning back from the table, I rubbed my thighs and blew out a quick breath. “I mean, I knew I’d see her at the reunion. Thought I’d prepared myself but when I got the announcement in the mail, her face was the first memory that slammed into me. Shit, I never thought I’d ask you for dating advice, but here I am.” I returned my gaze to him after having stared off into the distance.
Zane’s expression had softened from his earlier shock, but that didn’t make me any more comfortable discussing Brenley with him. I’d always been the more stoic brother. He’d taken after our mom in temperament and in looks. It had driven me nuts that I was anything like our deadbeat father. And that had more to do with my leaving Pineville than I’d let on to either of my siblings.
“Wow, okay. So, let me help you out. When you saw her, something inside you clicked and/or a bell went off and now you can’t stop thinking about her, with and without her clothes. How I’m doing? Wait, I’m not finished. You’re thirty-eight, never had a serious long-term relationship. It’s perfectly natural for you to be more open to finding the woman you want to spend the rest of your life with. C’mon, look at me, Hayden. Really look. Have you ever seen me happier?”
Not since we were eleven. It had been our birthday and our parents had somehow scraped enough money together to buy us the bikes we’d been begging for since we were eight. I’d wrecked mine within a week, but not Zane. He took care of his things even back then. Hell, he probably still had that bike in one of his many garages, the chains still oiled up ready to be handed down to his first born.
“Once. Our bikes.” I said.
“Oh, yeah. Those Huffy Superchargers were everything, right?” Zane zoned out and went to what I can only assume was his eleven-year-old happy place.
Snapping my fingers, I said, “Okay, back to my issue.”
“Sure. Man, I wished I had that bike now.” Hayden grinned.
“What do you mean? You’re rich enough you could buy the factory and make your kid one exactly like it. I need real help. Or at least your opinion. You think I’m just dealing with old unresolved horny teenage feelings, or do you think my reaction to her is something more?”
Unfortunately, the server chose that moment to pick up the signed receipt and ask for an autograph. I’d long ago managed the interruptions by the public without letting them feel they were only being tolerated. It was the fans of the show who made it possible to keep doing what I loved to do.
So, I spent the next few minutes talking about the last show of the season and if the rumors were true that it was really the end of Globetrekking. I couldn’t tell her it was and what was next was the main reason I could now put some real roots down. The new show was in pre-production. I was excited to share the news—but not yet.
“Before I tell you what I think you should do, I just have to point out that I think you’ve already decided.” He nodded in the direction the server had gone. “You didn’t even flirt with her.”
I waited for him to say more and when he didn’t, the realization that I’d always been able to count on my brother to tell me the truth, no matter what, was always spot on.
Yeah, I already knew the answer.
Chapter3
BRENLEY
The reunion committeehad chosen the local Lakeside Resort to hold the dinner and dance. They decorated the cavernous room in our school colors of forest green and gold. Streamers, balloons, and arches of green ivy with summer flowers layered through the lattice backing with twinkle lights everywhere. It was the outdoors brought in, giving off a midsummer dinner party vibe.
