Page 70 of Falling For My Ex's Older Brother

"The job's good?"

"The job is great."

He nods. He looks out the window at the street for a moment.

"I heard you were in New York." It’s a statement, not really a question. His tone is calm, as if he is building up to something bigger.

"For the Hargrove gala. It was a work event," I respond as a matter of fact.

"With Logan." The two words come out like a soft rebuke.

"Yes."

He looks back at me. The easy manner is still there but something behind his eyes has sharpened.

"My mom called me after. Said she met someone Logan brought. Said she was really… impressive." He pauses.

"Took me a minute to put it together."

I don't say anything. I wrap both hands around my coffee cup and I wait.

"How long?" he asks. His voice is still calm. Still dressed in casual. But the question isn't either of those things.

"Caleb—"

"I'm not asking to start a fight." He leans forward slightly.

"I'm asking because I think I deserve to know."

I look at him.

"We ended things in October. Actually—youended things—over the phone…while I was in the middle of a work crisis. And then — yes. Things developed with Logan. Not immediately. But they did."

"Things developed." He repeats the words with a flatness that says everything he's not saying directly.

"Yes."

He exhales. He looks at his coffee. A long moment passes and I watch him work through whatever he's working through — the specific process of a man deciding which version of this conversation he's going to have.

"I made a mistake," he says finally.

"Ending it the way I did. I know that."

"Caleb—"

“—Let me say this." His voice is quiet. He looks at me directly.

"We had something real. I know I wasn't always — I know I wasn't present the way I should have been. But what we had was real and I let it go and I've been thinking about that since October."

I look at him. I feel something for him in this moment — not the old feeling, not anything that pulls me toward him, but something human and genuine. He means what he's saying. That's the complicated part. He means it and it doesn't change anything and he doesn't fully understand that yet.

"I know you mean that," I say.

"I do. And what we had — there were real things in it. I'm not going to pretend otherwise."

He looks at me with something like hope and I hate that I have to be the person who addresses it.

"But Caleb." I keep my voice even.