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I was looking at Stanford Reese.
Seeing him now, much older than he was in the picture, it wasn’t as obvious.
He was baby-faced here, clearly carrying fewer worries.
Stanford now was still handsome, but he was past graying, had facial hair, had lost some weight, and after a few conversations I knew he’d suffered some health problems a while back that had likely changed his appearance some.
But that was him.
In the picture, he had the very same face as Soren, who’dneverlooked like either of our parents really, but we already though it was just a result of the genetic lottery.
Seeing this image though… his looks seemed a lot less random.
And explained alotof the energy we’d been getting from my father.
Maybethiswas where his “whore” commentary was coming from?
That realization set off a million questions in my mind, starting with why Stanford hadn’t mentioned knowing my mother? He’d talked about being close with Orion’s father, but never introduced this other information.
And for that matter… why had my Aunt Lucy been so mum about this?
She was in a few of the pictures too, smiling right along with the rest of the group, despite my clear memory of her claiming the age gap had meant she wasn’t in the same circle of friends as my mother. It could be coincidence, sure, but something about it felt… like something else.
What?
I had no way of being sure.
My computer pinged with a new set of emails coming through, reminding me that I couldn’t fall down a rabbit hole with this stuff right now. I shot a quick message back to Hailey, checking her availability. If there were more pictures, I wanted to see them, and I needed to know everything she did about the generation ofNectarbefore me.
One way or another, I was going to get those answers.
* * *
I arrivedhome to a quiet house.
Not that quiet was unusual around here, but it was a little eerie. I’d had dinner at my desk, so I didn’t bother making my way to the dining room after my shower. I settled on the chaise in my room with my kindle and a glass of wine, intent on finding some peace after a stressful day.
Instead, I found myself thinking about Soren.
We’d spoken several times throughout the day, but I’d avoided the subject of Stanford Reese. It wasn’t as if it were a natural topic of conversation.
Still, the couple of times I’d seen him person, I’d caught myself picking apart his features, comparing them to a man neither of us had ever met until recently.
At least… I didn’tthinkSoren had met Stanford.
And I didn’t dare ask, for fear of what it might bring up.
Even now, I tried to shake away the thoughts, but it was difficult to say the least.
Eventually, I put the kindle down and went to social media, knowing the mindless scrolling would work better for my current attention span.
Until a knock at the door pulled me away.
I wasn’t surprised to find Orion on the other side, peering curiously at me when I opened the door.
“Hey,” he said, giving me a slow perusal with his eyes.
“Hey yourself,” I said, meeting his gaze. “I’m on my period, so…”
