I point to the food pellet at the bottom of the tank. “I dropped it in before we left. It’s one of those long-time food supply things. It was supposed to last a week and well,itlasted. He just didn’t.”
“What are we going to do?”
“Well first,you’regoing to dispose of the body.” I motion toward the bowl. “Then we are going to replace it before she gets back.” I check the clock above the stove and grab my purse again. “Do you have time before you have to be at work for the evening?”
He pats my butt. “For you, I always have the time.”
“Good. Come on.”
He flushes the fish down the toilet, then we are in his truck heading to the pet store where we spend an eternity trying to pick the perfect replacement.
“I don’t know,” Tanner says about the fish the teenage girl has just chased around the overstocked tank. “It doesn’t look as goofy as the original.”
“The first one was half-dead when we got it. That’s why it looked goofy.”
The girl dumps the poor fish back into the tank and three catch and releases later, Tanner agrees on the perfect Fish-Tanner replacement.
“Do you want to talk about Dollie?” I finally ask on the drive back. The bag with the fish is on my lap and the air around us is thick with what has gone unsaid.
He sighs. “I just don’t know how I never knew. That picture has always been there. I have looked at it before, even. I’m mad at myself for never having made the connection.”
“What about your mom? Do you think she knows?”
“I don’t know how she wouldn’t have known.” He shakes his head. “I mean did he really not tell her anything about himself? Surely peopleknewhe was Dollie’s son, right?”
I reach over and squeeze his hand then he brings our clutched hands to rest them in my lap.
“If he’s half as charming as you, I have a feeling people would have believed just about anything that came out of his mouth.” I trace the veins in his hand, and I watch him fight the smile.
The glint of his necklace catches my attention, so I reach my free hand over and untuck it from his shirt.
“Dollie gave it to me when I graduated high school. It was her husband’s.”
“I love it.” I trace it to the back of his neck and feel the links against his warm, tanned skin. The necklace he had no idea belonged to his own grandfather.
When we pull into the parking lot, I lean over the console and give him a quick kiss. “Swing by after work?”
He nods. “Thank you for being there today.”
“Of course.”
Before we go our separate ways, he brings the back of my hand to his lips. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” I sneak one more kiss and skip over to the apartment.
However, three steps up, my heart nearly leaps out of my chest at sight of the man sitting on the there. Dark hair, bright eyes, strong roman nose. And the smell of fake roses.
Ethan.
“Holy shit, I’m so sorry!” He leaps to his feet and in a moment, I realize itisn’tEthan. It’s Sebastian. His brother. The much less terrifying of the two. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I tried calling."
“Oh my God.” I clutch my chest. “It’s so good to see you, but holy shit.”
“I’m so sorry.” He laughs, then pauses looking at the bag in my hand. “Is that a fish?”
“Long story, come on up,” I tell him and shuffle past him into the apartment. “Winnie will be back soon. She’s been visiting with my parents this weekend.” I set the fish and its bag into the tank to start acclimating it, put the flowers in a vase, and offer Sebastian a beer. “How are you?”
“I, uh.” He shrugs. “I’ve been okay.”
