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Henry looks between us both before reaching out to shake her hand.
“Nice to meet you,” she says, but her face is flushed and her brows knit together. Like she wishes our conversation could continue.
“Sebastian’s not making you work twelve-hour days, is he?” Henry shakes his head, then looks at me, putting me under the mercy of a firing squad. “You’re not making her work too much, are you?”
“If you want to talk about working too much, you’re the perfect person to ask. I think you work three hundred sixty-four days a year, wouldn’t you say, Henry?” I shouldn’t turn the tables like this. But suddenly, with him standing here alive and well, I have a lot of emotions about how absent he’s been all these years. How he let Quinn and Navie go without a fight. How he chose his career over them.
A shudder goes through me because I can see myself doing the exact same thing. I don’t everwantto do something like that. And I don’t like that it was Elianna I pictured hurting in that way—abandoning her, being more committed to my work than her.
His stare is menacing, but then the cold mask of indifference returns. “Ah, you know. Three hundred sixty-twodays a year. Since I have to take a day to travel to and from Denver every Christmas.”
Elianna steps between us and holds out a hand, like she’s asking us to simmer down. “Alrighty then, let’s have a seat, shall we? Sebastian, I’ll leave you two alone and let you chat.” She squeezes her hands together and glances at the door. “I’ll just sneak down to the eatery and work down there.” She snatches her laptop and bag from her desk before I can even protest.
“Elianna, wait.” I stop, unsure of what I’m going to say. I don’t want her to see this trainwreck of a reunion between two brothers who haven’t been together enough to even have an argument for the past ten years. An argument is grossly overdue.
She’s got her hand on the doorknob, but she turns back around. “Need something before I go?” But her gaze says a lot more.
Thereisstuff I want to say. I want to explain my position, for one thing, my reasons for needing to take whatever measures necessary to meet my goal. But also, I don’t like that things feel so unsettling and unsettled between us.
But I can’t say any of that right now. “Just . . . can you check The Calendar before you go? I would hate to miss any appointments or calls.”
Her chin goes in the air and her response is icy. “Sure.” She walks back over to the desk, jabs a lock of hair behind her ear, and opens her computer.
In the meantime, Henry sits on the side of the room that I’m always sitting on, his forearms resting on his knees, his gaze trained on the carpet.
“You’ve got an eleven o’clock with the marketing team,” Elianna says.
I tell her to reschedule it, and she nods.
I want to talk with her. To reassure her that I care deeply for her. To get a vibe on how she’s feeling about me. But now? With Henry here? I can’t even think about that.
As soon as she’s gone, I try to control the bark, but it’s difficult with the pressure keg of emotions inside my chest. “What’s going on, Henry?” I sit across from him and mirror his stance.
“How long have you been dating her?” he asks, not even looking at me.
A grunt of surprise escapes me, but it’s no use trying to lie about it.
I shake my head and click my tongue. “Your powers of perception have only gotten better over the years. Just don’t say anything. It’s new . . . I need to figure some stuff out.”
“I learned my ability to perceive from the best.” He sits up and leans back on the sofa, crossing his ankle over the other knee.
I laugh. “Our playing military hardly prepared you for whatever it is that you’re doing now.”
He sobers and his jaw moves back and forth, like he’s weighing how much to say. “You made me crawl around the woods in our backyard with a blindfold on, trying to find you with all my other senses besides sight. Of course that prepared me for working in security.”
I know he doesn’t just “work in security,” and the look he gives me tells me he knows I know that.
“So, it’s been a long time, Henry. Are you okay?”
“Me? I’m fine. But Quinn and Navie might not be.”
I nod. “I know. They came here for a few days last week. I got bits and pieces from Quinn.”
Henry scowls. “Did you know she didn’t even tell me? She wasn’t going to even tell me!” He throws his hands in the air and lets them fall with a slap onto the sofa.
“So, then how did you know? Because I’m pretty sure none of the rest of the family knows anything.”
His face is sheepish, and he scrubs it with both hands. “Don’t judge me for wanting to protect them, okay? You’d do the same thing if you were me.”
