Reese warred with how much to say, but her need to be honest was mounting. Neither of these women deserved to have Grant in their lives, and Brynn didn’t have all the facts.
Still, she wanted to couch her language as much as possible, mostly for Brynn’s sake. “I know that most people want to present the best version of themselves in a new relationship, but Grant didn’t break up with Sydney. It was the other way around.”
There, she’d set the record straight without divulging too much.
Brynn squinted, clear she was trying to make sense of this information. “You’re saying that Sydney broke up with Grant. Why?”
Oh, the list was endless. Narcissism. Selfishness. Infidelity.
This is what it had all been building toward, which some part of Reese had known from the beginning. Could she pull the trigger and upend Brynn’s world? Would it even matter?
Lots of women stayed with men even though they were cheaters.
And once Brynn found out, she may shoot the messenger. Metaphorically, of course.
But Reese didn’t owe her brother anything, and she didn’t want Brynn walking into her marriage blind. She should move forward, or not, with all the information available to her.
“He cheated on her,” Reese said before she could talk herself out of it. It was strange, how saying the words felt so good and so awful at the same time. She was voicing the truth but knew that it came at the expense of a good person caught in the crossfire.
Brynn’s face crumpled. “No. He said that long distance had gotten to be too much. And that even though Sydney wanted them to make it work, he was ready to settle down and get more serious, which wasn’t possible with her career.”
Reese pinched the bridge of her nose. In for a penny, in for a pound.
“I believe what Sydney’s told me, Brynn. And maybe it was a fluke, but she caught him.Thatis why they brokeup.”
Brynn began to pace the room, back and forth in front of the coffee table adjacent to the bookshelves. Reese walked over to the sofa and sat down. She stared at Brynn, who looked like a video game character who had to turn around when she got to the edge of the screen.
“Why are you telling me this?” Brynn asked. She stopped and stood with her hands on her hips. The emotion in her voice wasn’t anger or sadness, but genuine confusion as she tried to make sense of what Reese had just told her.
“I like you, Brynn,” Reese said with a soft smile that didn’t alleviate the tension radiating through her body. There was no stuffing the cat back in the bag, so she pressed on. “Let me be clear, I’m not doing this to hurt my brother, even though he and I don’t have the best relationship. I’m doing this because I think that you deserve the truth, and I don’t think that Sydney’s name deserves to be disparaged. And I’m a big fan of having the facts in order to make decisions.”
She could see Brynn thinking, slotting everything new that she’d just heard into place. “Grant didn’t mention that he’d dated anyone else after Sydney before we met. I’m just having trouble fitting the pieces together.”
Oh.
Oh no.
Sweet, honest-to-a-fault Brynn hadn’t taken the last step in working out the logistics.
It was coming. Reese couldfeelit coming.
“So… Grant cheated on Sydney with someone, but for whatever reason, they didn’t work out. And then he met me.” Brynn’s voice wasn’t hopeful enough that Reese believed she was trying to find an alternate possibility to the truth she knew deep inside.
Reese squinted, her whole face tight. She didn’t want to do this. She didn’t want to dothis.
The idea of giving someone the facts and watching the realization play out in real time were orders of magnitude apart,and it was something Reese herself hadn’t understood until this moment.
“You said Sydney walked in on them? Did she know the woman?” Brynn ran a hand through her hair. A piece stuck out at an odd angle when she dropped her arms back to her hips. Reese would have laughed except she was on the verge of crying.
She needed to put an end to this. The feeling gripped her, overwhelming, like she’d crumple if she didn’t get to the finish line soon.
“Brynn,” she said, sitting up straighter and looking her in the eye. “It was you.”
Nineteen
“You were a natural,”Gary, one of The Tennis Network’s producers said, clapping her on the shoulder. “They loved you, I know it. The way you clearly articulated where Makarova was off her game, it built a story that fans could follow through the rest of the match. That’s what tennis needs these days, especially as we work to attract newer fans.”
Sydney removed her headset and hopped down from her chair. “She has a tendency to struggle against left-handers with single-handed backhands,” she said, repeating essentially what she’d said during the match.
