“When we moved last year, I came across him and thought it would be good to give him some air. When we heard you were ill—though why you didn’t call, I don’t know—I thought I’d bring him over. Finding Alexei Nazarov here and no sign of Thad was surprising, to say the least.”
Iggy had belonged to Sadie when she was a girl, and she’d passed him onto me, though I hadn’t known that detail until later. A touch of melancholy checked me. I wished for a time when things were simpler.
“I need to tell you something, but you can’t tell Gunnar.”
“Is something wrong?” She pressed a hand to her chest. “Are you ill? Or more ill than before?”
“No, not ill. It’s just … I screwed up, and while I can get myself out of it, it’s made things complicated for Thad and me.” I rushed on. “I married someone by accident in Vegas. Months ago, before Thad.”
Sadie stared at me, unblinking.
“Did you hear me?”
“Yes, I did. That’s—wow! What does Thad think?” At my wince, her eyes went wide. “You haven’t told him?”
“No, I have. He’s been very understanding. He knows it happened before I met him and that it takes time to resolve.”
“Okay. Who’s the—oh, it’s Alexei, isn’t it?” At my nod of affirmation, she went on. “Well, that answers that question.”
Did it? Frankly, it left me more confused than ever. I proceeded to tell my sorry tale. Once done, she took a moment before speaking.
“So, you knew him in college?” She waited a beat as awareness dawned. “He was the guy who broke your heart.”
My defenses reared up. The problem with someone knowing you so well was that they had all the goods on you. Sadie wouldn’t have forgotten my teary-eyed return to Chicago post-graduation, the one that had all the hallmarks of boy trouble.
“‘Broke my heart’ is overdoing it, sis. More like a tiny fissure that I managed to paper over with lots of meaningless sex.”
“Oh, Lo.” Sadie blushed, probably because thinking about the little sister you saw through adolescence as a sexual being was weird. “But why do you think you married him?”
“Did you not hear the story? We were drunk. Elvis. Marilyn. Wouldn’t it be hi-lar-ious? I’m not saying he took advantage, but he fucking took advantage!” I fisted my hands against the bed covers, feeling furious all over again.
“Gunnar’s not going to like this.”
“What won’t I like?”
Damn. I turned to the door where Gunnar stood, a V of sweat dampening his chest, his dark blond hair slicked back with the water he’d poured over it after his run. Now in his late fifties, my brother-in-law was still a very fine specimen and one of the most decent men I knew. I hated the idea of disappointing him.
“It’s not important.”
A very skeptical eyebrow raise was his response to that.
“I got married in Vegas. Last year.” I waved a hand as if it was the in-thing. All the kids were doing it.
Gunnar’s expression hardened. “And Thad didn’t come to see me?”
“It wasn’t Thad. It was pre-Thad.” Gunnar had rather traditional ideas about family. Anyone about to propose had better talk to him first and ask for his blessing.
Note to self: heads-up to my boyfriend once I was rid of my husband.
“It’s all under control,” Sadie said in her most soothing voice. “One of those madcap adventures in Vegas, but Lauren is getting it fixed so she can move on with her life.”
Gunnar was still looking at me. “You wanted this, Lo?”
Straight to the heart of it. He understood me well enough to know I wasn’t one to be bowled over by a man.
“Maybe part of me did before I came to my senses. Both of us had a little too much to drink, and we didn’t realize it had happened until later. Now we’re trying to get out of it. There’s no relationship here, just an unfortunate confluence of events.”
“It’s Alexei Nazarov,” Sadie said.
