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“Should I be worried about Zane?”
“I wish my mom hadn’t mentioned him. I don’t want you to stress over it. He rarely returns home anymore.”
“Why don’t you like him?” I ask.
“We’ve never had a good relationship. I guess you could say there’s some serious sibling rivalry between us. Growing up, he was always trying to outshine me. If I mentioned that I love to swim, the next day Zane would be on the swim team. If I went outside to shoot some hoops, Zane would sign up for basketball camp. He’s competitive, jealous, and plain unpleasant to be around. It’s a long, dreary story and you don’t need to worry about it.”
Wow. I’ve never heard Ryker talk like that about someone. It’s sad that he feels that way about his brother. Family members should love and accept each other, support each other, treat each other with tenderness. I don’t know what I’d do without my family. They’re extremely important to me. That’s why I refuse to interfere with Ryker’s relationship with his mother. I won’t break up a mother and son.
Still, I hate feeling like he’s blowing me off. Is he going to pat me on the head next? There’s more to the story and I sense he doesn’t want to talk about it.
“Is he your younger brother?”
“No, he’s my older brother. By about two years.”
Ryker’s thirty. So that means Zane is thirty-two. That makes me the baby of the group at twenty-nine.
Brothers that close should be best friends. It makes me hurt for Ryker. “Someday when we have six or seven kids, I hope they’ll be the best of friends.” Like me and my brother. To this day, we talk on the phone often.
Ryker’s quiet a heartbeat too long. “Six or seven?”
Is that his take away? We haven’t discussed future family plans. I would love to have several children, not necessarily six or seven, but several. I hope that’s not a problem. Now is not the time to whip out a heavy discussion, we’ve done enough of that already this evening. I blow off my remark as humor.
“That was a joke, Ryker. You know, something said to cause amusement or laughter.”
“Oh, of course.”
He was raised by Debra. Say no more. That explains everything. I doubt laughter was a thing in their house.
The car is silent as my thoughts review everything he just revealed. “Does Zane work for Martel Investments?”
“He did for a while, then he up and left. Abandoned his job at a moment’s notice. Mom was relieved. She fears he’ll try to usurp my place in the company. It’s what he’s always done all my life. Everything’s a competition with him. Then my father had the stroke and life hasn’t been the same since. Like my mom said, Zane stayed at my father’s side for a while, before he took off again like he always does. I can’t trust him.”
“That’s really sad.”
Ryker pulls up next to my studio apartment. “Let’s not talk about it anymore.”
“All right.”
He picks up the folder of paperwork off the seat between us, places it in his lap, and scoots over so we can be closer. He kisses me, whisper soft.
There’s something niggling at me and I decide to be upfront. “Ryker, sometimes I feel like I don’t really know you, the real you. I’m not sure why, I can’t explain it. It’s just a feeling. Please open up to me. I want to know everything about you.”
His brow wrinkles. “What do you mean?”
“We’ve been dating for ten months and I just now learned about your brother.” I feel like I should know him better than I do after that length of time.
“He’s not part of my life. I don’t like talking about him.”
“I get that, but I wish you would’ve told me anyway.”
“Sorry. I know I’ve been distracted by work lately. After my trip to Japan, things should calm down.”
I think his life will always be about business. That’s okay, I have a career that keeps me busy and it’s extremely important to me as well.
He gets out of the car and comes around to my side to open my door, ever the gentleman.
After a few more soft hugs and kisses, he gets back in his car and drives away. I watch him leave from my doorway.
