“Dude, you answer your door in your boxers?” I asked, zeroing in on his lower half and throwing him a look of exaggerated repulsion.
He looked down at the blue plaid cotton shorts he was wearing before looking back up at me. “Dude. It’s still early. And I wasn’t expecting company. What are you doing here?”
I sighed, finally feeling the weight of all my emotions starting to crack the firm foundation of resilience I’d been sporting since last night. I had been holding out on falling apart until I made it to Adam’s, and now that I was here with him, I could feel the tears building in my eyes. “Can I stay with you for a while? I broke up with Noah.”
His eyes softened. Opening the door wider, he beckoned me inside with a nod of his head. “What happened?”
I blew out the breath that I’d been holding in as I tried to fight my tears away. There was no use though. One by one, like a synchronized cascade, I felt them spill over onto my cheeks. “I had a work dinner last night with a client, and when I got home I caught Noah with another woman.”
Adam’s eyes flared with rage. “Thatfuckingasshole. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I locked him out of the bedroom all night so I could pack all of my things, and this morning I loaded everything into my car. I’m hoping I can crash with you until I figure out what to do next.”
“Of course,” he replied, reaching out to pull me into a hug. I wrapped my arms around him and let myself fall apart a little more. “Let me get dressed and I’ll help you bring your stuff up. You can take the guest bedroom for as long as you need.”
“Thank you. I really appreciate it.”
“Adam?”
I froze at the unfamiliar woman’s voice. Pulling back from our embrace, I looked up questioningly at my brother before turning in the direction the voice had come from. There was a woman standing at the entrance of the hallway, wearing nothing but her underwear and one of my brother’s University of Arizona shirts.
Adam quickly let go of me and ran his hand through his short, dark hair. “Uh, Rachel . . . this is my sister, Amelia. Amelia, this is Rachel.”
Rachel’s confused face relaxed a bit at the word “sister.” Despite the tears I still had in my eyes, I threw a smile on my face and walked over to her, putting a hand out. “I’m so sorry, I guess I caught my brother at a bad time. Are you his . . . date?” I’d known Adam to pick up a girl or two at bars during his undergrad years, but since he went off to med school I’d assumed his partying days would’ve died down. Apparently not.
A flash of animosity crossed her face as she took my hand in hers. “I’m his girlfriend,” she said, clearly taking offense.
Oh.“I’m so sorry, I had no idea,” I replied, throwing a look of daggers over my shoulder to Adam. I watched his cheek twitch—a nervous tick he’d had since we were kids.
We all stood there in silence looking at each other. Guilt crept into my mind—I definitely should have called first, should have given him a heads up. Why didn’t he tell me he had a girlfriend? And how long had they been together?
After what felt like several minutes, Adam clapped his hands together as if to break apart our awkward huddle. “Alright. I’m going to go get dressed, and then we can go get your stuff and get you settled in.”
“Right,” I said. “I’ll meet you down at the car.”
ChapterTwo
It tookus a total of five trips to bring all of my stuff up to Adam’s apartment. Rachel took the opportunity to give us some “family time,” saying she needed to run errands anyway.
“Does she live here?” I asked Adam as we carried the last load of bags through his front door.
“No, of course not.”
“Does she know that?” I pondered out loud as I looked around his apartment. I hadn’t been to Adam’s place in nearly a month, but there were obvious signs of a woman’s touch I could now see. The guest bathroom boasted a lush new towel set, a vase full of fresh peonies adorned the small dining room table in the kitchen, and a soft, yellow throw blanket had been expertly draped over the couch.
“She, uh . . . stays here sometimes.”
“You don’t say.”
Adam cut me a narrowed glance as we brought my things into the guest bedroom. “Go ahead. Spit out whatever’s on your mind.”
“I can’t believe I didn’t know you had a girlfriend!” I set down the heavy duffle bag on the foot of the guest bed. “Since when do you keep things like that from me?”
Adam rolled his eyes. “I was planning on telling everyone when I brought her to Breckenridge for Thanksgiving.”
I’d completely forgotten that Thanksgiving was two days away. Adam and I would be making the trip out to Breckenridge like we’d done the last few years, ever since my parents had purchased a beautiful home there. I needed to call my mother soon and tell her that Noah would no longer be coming on that trip. Or any trip. Ever again.
“Do you need help unpacking any of this?” Adam asked, bringing me back to the present.
