He waved her over to a table along the wall. Not hidden in the back, but not in the middle of the room where everyone could stare at them either. It was a surprisingly discreet move.
“How are you?” Adam asked.
“Fine.” She could handle small talk. For a while.
“How’s Allison? Tyson said she was starting chemo.”
Bree nodded. “Tomorrow. It’ll be hard, but she’s a fighter.”
“You’re a good friend to help out.”
Opening move. Neutral. “I was happy to.” Bree braced her feet on the floor, ready to shove her chair back at the slightest provocation.
Adam took a big gulp from his glass. “I owe you such a big apology. Massively big. I was such an asshole. I’m sorry, Bree. Really sorry.”
She waited for thebut.
“I fucked up. Twice. What happened wasn’t your fault at all,” Adam continued.
It must be a hell of abut.
“I miss you, Bree. I want my sister back.”
The world tilted a bit, so she hung onto the table for balance. It couldn’t be this easy. A straight-up apology and then moving on. Bree wasn’t sure she had that in her. Anger wasn’t useful, but it kept her fed and gave her the strength to keep going. Letting it go meant… what? A year ago might as well be a lifetime. She wasn’t the same person for her brother to come back to.
“I don’t know what to say, Adam. Can you tell me why?”
“I want to but it’s not my story. It’s Eric’s. All I can do is apologize for my own actions. Can you stay and have a beer with me. It’ll be a start.”
So they talked. Carefully. Adam had been promoted to sergeant the previous fall. He’d upgraded his bike. His girlfriend of two years, whom Bree really never had a chance to know, took a job out east after Christmas, and they decided to end it neatly rather than have a long distance relationship die a slow death. It went well until Adam mentioned their father’s birthday was coming up and there was a barbecue planned.
“Have a good time.” She’d gone as far as she was willing to.
He opened his mouth, like he wanted to say something, then snapped it shut again. “I should probably get going. We have a joint meeting with Sex Crimes tomorrow morning,” Adam said.
“Okay.”
“Can you give me your number?”
She took a breath and texted him. “For your eyes only,” Bree said. If it ended up with anybody else, she’d get a new one and learn from the experience.
He stood to leave, but she didn’t stand to give him a hug. It was going to take a while to close the distance between them. Adam nodded at her and headed out.
Bree slumped in her seat. She’d had workouts that were less exhausting. She waited to see Adam walk by outside the window before she got up to leave. She was reaching for her purse when the waitress appeared with a fresh drink.
“I didn’t order that,” Bree said.
“It’s from the gentleman at the bar.”
Bree had half-expected Eric to learn about her meeting with Adam. She wasn’t prepared for the sight of him. His surprise appearance outside her house had reminded her of what she’d lost.
This was rubbing it in.
Unless a shirt and tie was the new dress code for sergeants, he’d dressed up for somebody. Eric in his usual jeans and a tight t-shirt covered in sawdust was hot. This new look was a whole different type of sexy. Green eyes. Light brown hair. Lips that made a woman weak in the knees.
It wasn’t fair.
She hadn’t been a nun since they’d separated but there hadn’t been anyone serious either. She’d quietly gone out for drinks a couple times with Quentin Trask, an RCMP officer she’d met on the Zane case, but he’d received an undercover assignment before they could decide if things were going to develop.
Eric, on the other hand, had shown up at Bree’s favourite restaurant with television reporter and local celebrity Leandra Northman on his arm. He’d made certain she saw them together. Now he was here, and at least three women in the bar were giving him the eye. Bree didn’t need to see that.
The waitress set the drink on the table. Bree didn’t tell her to take it back, but she didn’t touch it either. It sat there, condensation dripping down the side of the glass, as Eric moved away from the bar. Bree watched every step he took to the table, so she could play it back in slow motion later that night in her bed.
“Can I sit?” Eric asked.
She nodded wordlessly.
Eric slipped into the seat Adam had just vacated.
Then he stared at her.
