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“Who?” I darted another glance up to find him rolling his neck, stretching carefully. He seemed disinterested in the conversation, which surprised me.
Is he for real?“The woman you brought to my graduation? The one who gave me the necklace?”
“Oh! I haven’t thought about her inyears. I broke up with her right after that. Possibly later that night? She was so obnoxious at the event. I only brought her because she insisted, and then the way she went off about the gifts? You guys didn’t need another necklace. You could buy your own or have any number of guys gift them to you. Truth was, you didn’t want any more necklaces at all, but she went on and on…” He cut himself off, gesturing vaguely off to the distance. “I’m sure she’s still out there, doing what she does.”
I was sure he was right, and with my own phone, I could google it for myself. I never did that on my computers, because they had to be pristine for work. So if it wasn’t work related, I did it on my phone.Separate entities and never the two should meet.
What a weirdo I am, even in my own head.
I got up and walked toward the kitchen. “I’ll make us breakfast in ten minutes.”
“Oh, awesome.” He jumped to his feet. Just seconds ago, he was wincing, meaning Michael really was a menace to himself.
I had the new computer charging and uploading files and had just finished setting the phone to do the same thing when Michael joined me in the kitchen. I scrambled eggs, which smelled great with a little seasoning. I wasn’t much of a chef, especially not in comparison to some of the family. My brother-in-law Max owned a restaurant and was on the Food Network. He was always being listed among the nation’s greatest chefs, but I was functional and could, at least, feed myself.
And Michael, as it turns out.
“Why were you thinking about Christine?” He walked around me to pour coffee. “Do you want some? I know you don’t always drink coffee.”
Michael was like that—over the years he’d been around, he just knew things about us I never noticed him learning. Some things didn’t have to be explained, which was nice. “Yes, today I am drinking it, but no sugar. It’ll just make me jittery.”
My hips could do without the extra calories, too. I tended toward more curves than my sisters. Layla was tiny and battled a constant fear she was fat. Hope worked out and always looked fantastic. They’d both bounced back from babies like nothing had happened to them at all.
Much as I wished I could really be above it all, I wasn’t. I did want to feel okay about my body, even if I never wanted to see my face on another magazine.
“Hey.” He placed the coffee next to me as I spooned the eggs onto a plate. “Why did you ask about Christine?”
I hadn’t successfully avoided that question, I realized with a fresh flush of heat to my face. “Sometimes I just dream normal dreams and sometimes I have memories instead. Last night it was graduation. And it occurred to me that I didn’t know what had happened to her. You didn’t bring her around again. Or maybe you did? I just left for a while.”
“You did.” He set down his coffee. “Didn’t come home for almost a year, but you wouldn’t have seen her again, anyway. She was gone.”
The coffee was good, so I took another sip and enjoyed the way the warmth blossomed in my chest.I should look at what brand of beanshe usesand buy some for myself.We ate in silence. I never felt like I needed to fill silence, but I knew others did. Still, a thought drifted through my mind, and I had to push down the need to say it before it got me in trouble.
“What was that?” He pointed at my face. “I watched that—whatever it was—move over your face. Say it. What?”
I stared at him. It was the most animated I’d ever seen him. Michael alone was wickedly dangerous to me, but the way he made me feel seen with the Leia chess piece burned in my chest like a reminder.He can really see me.
“It’s nothing. I was wondering what you and Hope ate when she was here with you.” I shrugged again, as if it didn’t matter.
He shifted on the stool, considering me carefully with those steady eyes of his. “At breakfast? I poured cereal, I think. Lunch was usually sandwiches, and for dinner, I brought things home for her from town, like pizza. She was just coming back from what had happened with Max, so food was triggering for her. Sometimes she even cried over the pizza, if it reminded her of something he cooked.”
Actually, I could see that. My poor sister. It had been an awful time. Perhaps for the first time, I was glad he was with her and she didn’t have to face it alone.
“You seem a little preoccupied with me and other women.” He grabbed my plate as I finished, then began to wash our dishes. “Any thoughts on that, Bridget?”
None I currently wanted to share.
7
My computer was charged, so I took that opportunity to avoid answering Michael’s question. He smiled at me, so I grabbed the laptop and rushed from the room to my bedroom—not where I’d slept, the one with the beige blankets.
“Hey,” Michael called as I entered the room, so I whirled around to face him. “Do you need a space to work? An office?”
I pointed at the desk in the corner of the room. “That will do just fine.”
“Are you sure? I can’t sleep in my bedroom and work there. I spend the whole time thinking about getting in my bed.”
I could see how that would work, but I shrugged. “No, it’s okay. I can work anywhere. I kind of get lost in it.” Sometimes I lost days, but I didn’t need to share that fact.
