I clear my throat. “Boston area, right? You’re a long way from there.”
“Yeah, long way.” He shifts in the chair, adjusting the sling against his chest. “I’d been on a road trip, actually. Driving cross-country, taking my time with it. Was just arriving in Dark River after driving all night when that guy hit me.” He shakes his head, something dark flickering across his face. “Hell of a way to see a new town.”
“Could’ve been worse. You could’ve not walked away from it.” I lean back in my chair, studying him. There’s something about this conversation that isn’t adding up, an itch at the back of my brain that won’t quit. “You got a job lined up out here, or was this just a trip for the hell of it?”
I swear I see that flicker again, that brief tension in his face, and he shifts his weight in the chair before answering. “No, I’m on a sort of sabbatical, I guess you’d call it. Taking some time off. Usually when I’m working I spend most of my time bouncing around the East Coast with Boston as my home base, going wherever the work is. FEMA contracts, wildland fire, search and rescue. Whatever needs doing.”
“Hell of a résumé,” I say with a low whistle. “Not exactly a nine to five.”
He gives a rueful half-smile. “No, it’s not. But it’s good work, and I like moving around, so it keeps me useful.”
I nod along, but that nagging feeling won’t let go. Mateo seems like a decent guy, and I believe he came here to thank me. But there’s more to the story. I’m sure of it.
“Your last name is Midnight, right?” he asks, and something about the way he says it makes the hair on the back of my neck prickle. “I mean, I figure, based on the gym name.”
“Yeah, it is. Why do you ask?”
His fingers stop tapping on the armrest.
“You might find this hard to believe,” he says, “but I’m actually in town to see a man named Calvin Midnight. Who I’m guessing is your brother, based on the name on the building.” He pauses, his hand curling around the arm of the chair. “I’m pretty sure Calvin and I are half-brothers.”
The word lands like a body shot. Clean, precise, and right under the ribs where you don’t see it coming.Half-brothers.
I look at his face, really look at it, and every detail I’ve been circling around for the past few days snaps together like a combination I should have seen coming.
“I know how that sounds,” Mateo says. He’s sitting very still now, watching my face. “I’m not here to cause problems or ask for anything. I just wanted to see him. I had to.”
“I...” I run my hand through my hair. “You’re sure?”
Like I even need to ask. Like the answer isn’t sitting right in front of me, wearing my brother’s face.
He nods. “Yeah, pretty damn sure. His dad and my mom had an affair, and my dad... uh, his biological dad, was never really part of my life. His wife didn’t know about the affair, or maybe she did and just didn’t want to. I dunno. I never gave a shitabout that, but once I found out I had a half-brother, I just...” He shrugs, trailing off.
I sit back in my chair. Like me and all the Midnight kids, Calvin was adopted. And he only reconnected with his birth family a couple of years ago, and it wasn’t easy for him. They’re on good enough terms now, but it was a rocky start. And now this guy is telling me Calvin’s biological father had another kid out there.
“How long have you known?” My voice comes out flat, like I’m asking someone about their gym membership instead of something that could upend my brother’s entire understanding of his own history.
“A few years. My mom ended up telling me, and I did some digging. I didn’t want to uproot his life or mine, so I left well enough alone, but then...” He looks away, out toward the window. “Anyway. That’s a longer story. The point is, I’m here now. I figured he didn’t know about me.”
“No.” I exhale through my nose. “He definitely doesn’t know about you.”
Mateo nods.
“How old are you, out of curiosity?” I ask.
“Twenty-seven,” he says. Younger than Calvin by a good stretch.
Out on the floor, a timer beeps. Roman calls something to Sarah, and the normalcy of it lands strangely against what’s happening in this room. There’s a whole gym full of people going about their afternoon ten feet from this door, and in here the ground is shifting under my feet.
I look at him for a long moment. He’s got a quietness to him, a steadiness, but there’s an edge underneath it that tells me life hasn’t been easy on him. Our parents raised us to believe that blood doesn’t make a family, that love does, that showing updoes. But they also taught us that when family does show up, you don’t turn them away.
If this guy is Calvin’s brother, he’s family. Simple as that.
I sigh. “You got somewhere to stay?”
Mateo blinks, clearly not expecting that. “Uh, no. Not yet, at least. Car’s in a junkyard, and the planning part of this trip wasn’t exactly my strong suit.” He glances at the duffel bag by his feet. “But I can figure it out, really. I just wanted to meet Calvin. The crash kind of threw off my timeline.”
“If you’re family, we’ll figure out somewhere for you to stay while all this gets sorted. That’s not up for debate, so don’t bother arguing.”
