Isaac
When the girlcalled Max by what sounded like his full name, all color drained from his face, but her next statement caused him to lose balance. He took a half step back and leaned into me. I was prettysure he was completelyunaware of how hard he was gripping my hand.
“I don’t know who you are, but you have the wrong person. That’s not my name, and I don’t havesiblings.” Max pulled me toward the door of the building.
“I can prove it,” Lucy said with determination and then pulled out her phone. When she found what she was looking for, she showed Max the phone.
He shook his head as he looked, but I could tell that whatever it was confirmed what Lucy had said.
It was getting dark, and the temperature had lowered significantly. I wasn’t sure what Lucy wanted, but she looked like she may need help, and I needed to get Max warm since he’d insisted earlier in giving me his coat.
“Why don’t we go upstairs and talk properly?” I squeezed Max’s hand. It felt cold in mine, but I hoped he could still feel my silent plea thathe probably needed to hear the girl.
“Okay, fine,” he said, unlocking the front door of the building.
I smiled at Lucy and asked her to follow us up. She looked a little unsure but put the phone back in her pocket and came up the steps behind me.
When we got inside the apartment, Max asked Lucy to take a seat on the sofa and dragged me toward our bedroom.
I closed the door behind me so Lucy wouldn’t hear us.
“What the fuck!” he said, fortunately quietly enough thathe wouldn’t be heard outside.
“You really don’t know her?” I asked.
“No.” He was pacing the room, running his hands through his hair.
“I thought your name was Max James.”
“It is. Massimiliano Moretti is my birth name. I changed it a while ago.”
“What was it thatshe showed you on the phone?”
“My birth certificate.”
I stepped in front of Max to stop him from wearing down the carpet and put my arms around him.
“Baby, it sounds like there’s a story there. You can tell me what it is, or not. It doesn’t make a difference to mebecause I love you no matter what. But that girl out there”—I pointed toward the living room—“looks like she may be in trouble. Hear her out.”
He put a hand around my neck and pulled me in for a kiss that left me breathless, as though he was trying to take some of my strength for himself. I let him take whatever he needed and then followed him back to the living room where Lucy was still sitting in the same place we’d left her.
We sat on the ottoman Max had in front of the sofa, leaving the coffee table between us.
“Do you want something to drink?” I asked. “Or eat?”
She shook her head.
Max cleared his throat, steeling himself. “Who are you really? And how did you get a photo of my birth certificate?”
Lucy brought a hand to her mouth and chewed on her nail. Her whole demeanor had changed as though she’d used all her courage to approach Max and was now afraid to do what she came here for.
“I saw it in my… our dad’s office. He had it with a bunch of papers on his desk.”
“How old are you?” Max asked.
“Sixteen. I’ll be seventeen in two months.”
“You can’t be my sister. You’re too old, plus you look nothing like—”Max stopped himself and got up to pace the living room.
