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“Oh! Ahh! No worries, mate!” I replied more awkwardly than I’d replied to anything in my life.
No worries, mate? Did I actually say that? Did kissing him turn me Australian? What the hell was I doing?
Turning around as if nothing had happened, I grabbed my paddle. Shell-shocked, I paddled forward. Claude said nothing. Nor did I. It was possible my brain had short-circuited.
As I mentally listed the symptoms of a stroke, Claude broke the silence.
“This river isn’t actually part of the tour. Like I said, my brother usually does them.”
“Yeah, I meant to ask you about that,” I said, finding a safe off-ramp from whatever had just happened. “You have brothers… who don’t exactly look like you?”
“You don’t think so?”
I looked back, wondering if he was joking. He wasn’t.
“I mean, you all have those dimples, but I could say the same thing about Cage and Nero. Is everyone here related?”
“Not as far as I know.”
“Then, you don’t look that much alike.”
“Huh,” Claude huffed.
“And there’s that other thing?” I brought up gently.
“What other thing?”
“You know, the thing that makes you look different from Titus and Cali.”
“Do you mean that I’m black and they aren’t?”
I turned around, looking surprised. “Wait, you’re black? Wow! I guess I just don’t see color.”
“Is this new?” Claude joked.
“Actually, yeah. It’s a new policy. And it makes it a hell of a time getting dressed.”
Claude laughed.
“But since you brought it up, what’s with that?”
“We share a biological father. Titus’s boyfriend was handing out DNA tests looking for Titus’s birth father and found Cali and me instead.”
“Do you know who your father is?”
“We have a name, but it doesn’t come up on any searches.”
“Have you asked your mother about him?”
“She’s who gave us the name. Titus and Cali’s moms wouldn’t say anything about him.”
“Are you curious?”
As I looked back, Claude shrugged.
“It would be good to know for health reasons. But considering how little our mothers want to talk about him, it might be better not knowing.”
“Do you think he might have been a football player?”
