“Great. Awesome. He seems pretty cool.”
“He does.”
“And he said he would catch up.”
“He did.”
“And he wants to keep talking.”
“He really does.”
“I can’t believe I just spoke to my brother.” Tears well in my eyes as I wrap my arms around Charlie’s neck and hug him.
“I’m so proud of you for doing that.”
My phone rings, and when I look down, I see the nameCallum Sinclair.
“Shit. It’s Callum.”
“Answer it,” Charlie says.
Frantically, with shaking hands, I answer the phone. Thankfully, it’s not a FaceTime call, and he can’t see me panicking.
“I can’t believe you called that asshole first,” Callum says through the phone.
“Excuse me.”
“I’m the cool brother. He’s the boring one. And you don’t seem boring,” Callum tells me. “He’s going to lord this over me forever now, that you reached out to him first.”
“He lives in New York, so I thought …”
“True. That makes sense. Anway, enough about Rowan, he probably bored you to death. How are you? What’s been going on for the last what, thirty years?”
“Wow, you’re just diving right in there?”
“We have so much to catch up on. Rowan said he wants me to come to LA so we can meet and that you’re a famous Hollywood stylist. Tell me you can hook me up with some starlets.”
“Are you calling me to arrange booty calls for you?”
“Um, no. I’m calling because I have a new brother, and to be fair, I feel like you’re going to be the coolest one out of all my brothers, and I want to get in first so we can become best friends.”
Charlie is cracking up beside me. “He is you.” He mouths to me. I glare at him.
“And because he loves me, he might want to, you know, introduce me to some cute girls, seeing as you don’t need them.”
“Don’t need them?”
“Yeah. Rowan said you’ve got a boyfriend, which means you’re not into chicks, which is awesome because you’re a good-looking guy. If you swung my way, you would give me a run for my money, and I never lose,” he tells me.
“Just because I like men doesn’t mean I still won’t steal your girl,” I joke back.
“Oh, I see how it is … but you’re probably right.” He chuckles. “I think I’m going to like you, Derrick. I can’t believe this is happening. We have been searching for you since Mum told us about you. She feels guilty for not mentioning things sooner, but we understand now why she didn’t.”
“I don’t know what happened, but I’m sorry for whatever my asshole of a father did to your mother.”
The phone falls silent. “You have nothing to apologize for, you’re not him. The fact that you changed your name tells meeverything I need to know. Just wish we were around so you weren’t alone all these years.”
Aw. That was nice of him to say.
