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Ella seemed fascinated, too. She wasn’t as into hockey as I was, but she’d watched some games with me and asked me to explain the finer points. Maybe it was something she and T.J. did together. Even if the kid had awful taste in teams.
“Isaiah.” My sister appeared beside me, a smile pasted on but her eyes giving away that she was pissed about something. “Can I borrow you for a second?”
Oh, this would be fun.
“Uh. Yeah. Sure.” I touched Tanner’s back. “Would you excuse me for a second?”
Unlike my sister’s smile, his was genuine and sweet. “No problem. I’ll be…” He gestured around the yard. “Somewhere in here.”
“Yeah, don’t go wandering the neighborhood or anything. I didn’t budget forMissing Boyfriendposters.”
He laughed and rolled his eyes. “Oh, you’re so funny.”
I chuckled, kissed him on the cheek, and left to find out what my sister wanted. Some kind of confrontation or at least sparring match was inevitable whenever she and were home, but I’d assumed she’d at least wait until after her daughter’s graduation party.
Apparently not.
We slipped into the kitchen, which was currently deserted. As soon as I’d closed the sliding glass door behind us, my sister whirled on me.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” she demanded.
I jumped, almost backing into the door. “Huh? What are you talking about?”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” She crossed her arms. “This is supposed to beElla’sday. She’s worked hard, and she deserves to be celebrated. Not upstaged by your famous boytoy.”
My stomach somersaulted. “What? No, I—”
“Save it. You knew there was—”
“Brandi.” I showed my palms. “I didn’t know there was going to be a graduation party until we got here.No onetold me until we got to Mom and Dad’s.” Lowering my hands, I shook my head. “He was already here when I found out about the party. Was I supposed to just”—I gestured toward the other end of the house—“banish him to the guest room until everyone left?”
She narrowed her eyes. “Why did you bring him at all? You just need us all to know you’re hooking up with someone rich and famous?”
“I… no? I brought him home for the same reason I’ve brought any boyfriend home—to meet the family, and—”
“Oh, please. This isn’t the same and you know it.”
“I beg your pardon?” I tilted my head. “I brought Keith home a month after we started dating and no one batted an eye.”
Brandi didn’t bat an eye this time either—she rolled them. “Yeah, but you were serious with Keith.”
“Right? And?”
We both stared incredulously at each other, because I couldn’t figure out where she was going with this and she clearly thought I was a complete dumbass for the same.
Finally, she released an exasperated sigh that ended in a haughty laugh. “Good God, Isaiah. For a man as smart as you, you can be so damn clueless sometimes.”
“Apparently so, because I still have no idea what you’re talking about.”
She stared at me again, and when her expression shifted this time, it was to one of both disbelief and pity. Shaking her head, she asked, “You really don’t see it, do you?”
I was running out of patience now. “Seewhat?”
Pinching the bridge of her nose, she groaned with frustration. Then she dropped her hand and looked me right in the eye. “Okay, maybeyou’reserious abouthim, but do you honestly thinkhe’sserious aboutyou?”
She might as well have backhanded me across the face.
“Come… Come again?”
