“I found her choking on another guy’s dick.”
I exhale like the air is punched out of me.
“In our bed… She’s lucky I didn’t fucking kill her.”
The bandage. The black eye. “Was it Reeze?”
“Bad news travels fast,” he mutters.
“He was here helping her move stuff out.”
“Was he inside?” Eden snaps.
“No. Jeeze. She had stuff strewn across the front lawn, he was just packing it in his van.”
“Did he say anything to you?”
“I asked if he knew you and where you were, and he said he was sorry. It looked like he wanted to crawl inside his own asshole.”
“Spineless piece of shit. I’ve never known someone so desperate to be liked.”
“God, I don’t care. It’s not about them.”
“Like fuck, it isn’t.”
I stand up as I yell into the phone. “Like fuck it is! I’ve just flown half way around the world expecting to be greeted by my brother, and instead I’m met with nothing but Shawn’s bad attitude and an empty goddamn apartment!”
“And what about me, huh? We were together for five years and she was sleeping with one of my friends behind my back. What did you expect me to do?”
“Not to act like a child? To put someone before yourself.”
“I did. For five years!”
My voice softens and I flop back onto the futon. “So that makes it okay to forget about me?”
“I didn’t, I… I just didn’t think it through properly.”
“Are you really not coming back?”
Eden doesn’t say anything for a moment. “I can’t, not now, but… You’ll be fine,” he says at last. “You always are. You moved to Hawaii at eighteen, then to Indonesia for a year. If youcan handle that, you can handle three months without me in Broadrock.”
It’s not the same. I want to say it, but I know it won’t matter.
“Why don’t you head down to the shop? Tek’s there on his own now. He won’t admit it but he could really do with an extra pair of hands.”
“I’m not a charity case.”
“Then go back to San Diego,” he says, as if it’s a kindness. “Spend Christmas with Mom and Brian. The surfing is better.”
“I’d rather fuck a broken glass table."
He laughs, and it almost sounds genuine. “Suit yourself. The futon’s yours if it's still there. Try not to bleed on it.”
There’s a click, and he’s gone.
I should still be angry. I should want to punch something or call Eden back and scream. But all I feel is this dull, spreading numbness. Like I’m floating, not quite here, not quite anywhere.
I’m an idiot for thinking that this is the place where I’d finally feel at home.
