“I’m in love with someone, but he’s not in love with me. We’ve known each other for years, and while I think he feels something toward me…” I bit my lip and looked away from her. My cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “I don’t know if what he feels is the same as what I feel or if it’s more brotherly protectiveness.”
“Have you told him how you feel?”
“It’s complicated and not at all that simple. If it was only me that would be affected by what I feel for him, I would have told him long ago, but his brother is my best friend.” I omitted the fact that Dean was also my stepbrother, and our parents were still happily married.
“Tale as old as time, Sweetheart. You are not the first woman to be in love with her best friend’s brother. Your love story isn’t unique to just you. I’m certain other women have faced that particular situation before, hell, I’ve faced it before.”
“You have?”
“Yep. When I was a girl about your age, my best friend had an older brother. I was head over heels for the man. He had looks like Harrison Ford and Cary Grant, with the sex appeal of Elvis. Every girl in our town wanted him and I was no exception.”
“What happened?”
“Well, I kept my crush on him secret from everyone, including my best friend, for a long time. I knew other girls wanted to be her friend because of her brother, and I didn’t want her to think that was why I was her friend, too. She was a good person and didn’t deserve to be used that way.
“Anyway, one day we were hanging out at her house. Her brother was there, and I must have been looking more than I thought I was because they both caught me watching him. He smiled, and she rolled her eyes. My friend nudged me with her elbow and whispered,“Melba Rae, just go tell him how you feel. It’s not like everyone else doesn’t already know.’.”
I gasped and my heart faltered in my chest, could Drew know? Could my parents know? I wiped my suddenly damp palms on my yoga pants.
“She wasn’t mad at you?”
“No. Not at all.” She smiled. “I told her I was scared to say anything because I didn’t want her to get hurt. She brushed it off,‘You’re my best friend and he’s my brother. If you make each other happy, who am I to stand in your way?’”
“What happened with you and her brother?”
“I married him the next summer, and we were married for thirty-five wonderful years.”
Melba and I talked for the rest of her break before she had to get up and go back to work. She brought me my food and filled up my coffee as we chatted between her customers. Speaking with the quirky waitress and hearing her story gave me hope, even if I was terrified of allowing myself to feel that spark deep inside.
When I left, I gave her a big tip with a thank you scribbled on a napkin. The post office would be open by the time I got there, and I could find out what he had said to his Georgia Peach.
Then I had to figure out a way to tell him who I was and everything I felt. I would never get over him if I didn’t at least confront my feelings and his. One way or another, I was going to put it all out there and let the chips fall where they may.
CHAPTER10
DEAN
After Nora left the house, I was going stir crazy thinking about her with some guy named George. How many times had she snuck out in the early morning hours to go see this guy? What were they doing? Were they really just friends or was there more going on?
Jealousy raged through every fiber of my being. She was keeping this guy from Drew, and she told Drew about every guy she dated. I know because he would tell me about the next loser in line trying to get into Nora’s pants.
It wasn’t long after she left before I pulled on my tennis shoes and went for a run. I had too much energy to sit still in the house without waking anyone up. If I stayed, I would just go crazy thinking about the man she was with and what they were doing. If I were him, I damn well know what I’d be doing with her.
Son of a bitch. Being away, I could handle this, but her being with someone else while she was right under my nose—I couldn’t accept it. It’s the major reason I left and didn’t come back.
My mind rolled as I pounded the pavement with every stride. No matter how hard or how fast I pushed myself, I couldn’t escape the Nora sized hole that was tearing apart my very soul.
The terrain changed from pavement to sand and the sound of the waves crashed against the shore in a powerful, chaotic rhythm. The riot of colors as the sun started to rise over the rolling waves was just as beautiful as the sunrises I’d left behind in Hawaii, but this one hit me deeper because I was home.
I sat down on the sand to catch my breath. Thoughts of Nora, images of her flashed through as memories of us played like a sick montage in my head. I was obsessed with her, and I’d waited too damn late to tell her.
It felt like my heart was ripping out of my chest. I had so many regrets for the past four years of my life. At first, I’d used the army as an escape hatch, but I’d come to love what I did and serving my country. I loved being in Korea and the culture, but nothing beat home. Nothing could make up for the time I lost with my family and with Nora.
I inhaled deeply, enjoying the comforting scent of home. I’d lost too much time being away. If nothing else happened this trip, I could at least make a firm decision that it was definitely time I stopped running. Whether I re-enlisted or got out, I was coming back home.
* * *
The sun was fully up and cars were passing by when I finally pushed up from the sand and headed back towards home. The jog back was longer since I didn’t push myself as hard.
