She clearly didn’t want to talk, which was unacceptable. I was hungry and impatient.
“Okay then, we’ll do this my way. Since you don’t want to talk now, we’re going back to my place. You’re going to cook for me. And then you’re going to tell me what the fuck is going on. You look like shit. You got engaged and then came to visit—
the day after
.
Then
some
Nobody
sees you at the airport, and you don’t want to talk about it.”
I was glad I’d ordered groceries online already; we wouldn’t have to stop anywhere. My stomach growled as I shifted the car faster to get ahead of a truck that wasn’t going a speed I liked.
She didn’t answer, so I continued, “There’s no way I’m letting this go. So figure out how you want the story to sound because you’re telling me everything.”
The sooner I had her lasagna in my belly, the better. I didn’t focus well on an empty stomach, and now I had two women to figure out.
It felt unusual having drinks with my sister in my new place. I was already accustomed to having them with Nora, but wine always helped.
Blake cooked. We drank. I listened.
She was a mess. A
real
fucking mess. Bags under her eyes like she’d been crying and hadn’t slept for days. I didn’t like to see Blake so not herself.
As she finished cooking, she spilled her guts.
She’d been cheating on the robot. Well, she’d cheated on him
once
—with the shaggy guy. What was strange though, was how she lit up when she talked about this other dude, compared to how she looked when she talked about Grant.
She was even jealous of the drunk chick. I’d never seen Blake jealous in my life.
“What the hell am I doing?” she asked me after what I’m assuming was the bulk of the story.
In my current state of personal upheaval, I didn’t know if I was qualified to give her advice. I didn’t want to fuck her up any more than she was.
However, I wasn’t sure about the other guy, but Grant was a chump.
“I don’t know. I need to think about this.”
Then I heard a knock at my door and forgot everything I was thinking.
Nora
.
Shit.
Then, I remembered I’d plugged my phone in to charge in my office when we’d gotten back from the airport.
What if she’d needed something?
There was a lot going on. “Just a second,” I told Blake, then rushed to the door.
As I looked out the peephole, I took a deep breath. My sister was going through something, but I really wanted to see Nora.
I opened the door enough to talk.
“Hello,” I said around the steel.
“Hey, I sent you a text. I have some time to kill before I head out and thought we could have a cocktail or something.” She smiled brightly.
I looked her up and down.
Time to kill before what?
How fucking tall were those shoes?
“How’s the toe?” Obviously, it felt better.
“Good. You like?” She said as she lifted her foot for me to inspect the heels.
Goddamn.
I didn’t have time to appreciate them. “Nora, my sister is in town.”
I’d lose my mind trying to play cool in front of Blake with her dressed like that. Those fucking shoes were sky-high.
Was she going out?
“Your sister?” she asked eagerly, then peeked around me and waved.
Blake said, “Hello,” from across the room.
Great, she was watching.
There was nothing I could do. Nora pushed on the door and stepped past me, right into my apartment headed straight for my messed up sibling.
“Hi, I’m Nora. I live down the hall from your brother. You’re Blake, right?”
She had a good memory.
They shook hands, and I surrendered—it was best just to roll with it.
“It’s nice to meet you. Have you eaten? I made plenty,” Blake offered before I could. I inwardly cringed and ran my hand over my flexing jaw.
I could do this. I could multitask.
If I could have stopped looking at Nora’s ass in that fucking dress, then I would’ve been fine. I attempted to quell my on setting nerves with the fact that she came to me again.
“It smells so good. I don’t mind if I do. Reagan told me before that you’re a chef,” she told Blake, who perked right up when Nora said Reagan. Then Nora looked at me, “Right?”
I nodded, hoping she’d keep talking before Blake started in on the Reagan thing.
Jesus, what a clusterfuck.
“So, I’d be a fool to pass up this cooking,” she politely added.
Nora knew where my dishes were. Hell, she’d put them away the night before.
When she saw we had wine, the Kathryn Hall Cabernet Sauvignon—the same as the one she’d lied about buying me—she gave me a knowing smile.
I enjoyed how it felt to have a secret with her. Something we shared. Her small smile was a comfort.
She got a plate and sat down across from us like I had the first time she was over.
“So, what are we talking about?” she asked.
Then my brain started turning. I couldn’t have the conversation I wanted with Nora, to ask her more questions, to tell her what I knew, but it was a chance for me to get more in her head, without it being about me.
I started, “Well, this is right up your alley.”
Okay. Cheating wasn’t, but I wanted
her
to acknowledge that, not me.
First, I needed to make sure it was okay with Blake before I went any further. “Do you mind if I tell her?”
She didn’t think too long on it and answered, “No.”
Perfect
.
Here we go.
“My little sister here is in a situation. She’s been dating the same robot—sorry Blake, excuse me—guy for over a year. He’s a decent guy. He’s good to her, and they love each other. A few months ago, she ran into a man—we’re still calling him Nobody—when she was out of town, and they had a one-night stand.”
I met Nora’s eyes, and she took a deep breath realizing what she’d walked into. I held her gaze, causing my thoughts to run wild again.
Where in the fuck was she wearing that to?
Was she going on a date?
Was she seeing them?
She shot me a look that accused me, then she looked kindly at my sister to confirm my story. I beat down my apprehension and fought to focus on one thing at a time. Blake.
“It’s true,” she admitted. “I’m a terrible person.”
I was going to need more to drink but went on to get it all out in the open. “So, according to her description, it was pretty fucking good, without going into too much detail. I’m her brother, and I don’t want or need the particulars.”
That amused Nora, but she stifled her laugh for my benefit.
Then I recognized she, too, had an opportunity to get some things across to me.
Shit.
“Good, huh? Better than the
robot
?” Nora asked me, not Blake.
Was she teasing me?
“I think so,” I said and looked at my sister for confirmation. She looked so ashamed and lost.
“Keep going,” Nora insisted, eating up every word.
I shook my head at her. “You’re loving this aren’t you?”
“Oh, you bet I am. Now talk.” She wasted no time, already pushing my buttons, knowing I couldn’t react to her with my sister sitting right there.
“Okay, so they’ve been sending each other messages—”
Blake interrupted. “Clean messages.”
Somehow I doubted that. Then again, I wanted to fuck Nora’s brains just shy of out of her head, so I knew it was possible to do.
I went on. “So they text back and forth every day. She feels bad, but she still doesn’t stop doing it. Then yesterday, a woman who claims to be Nobody’s girlfriend—which Blake didn’t know about—sends her messages telling her to, pretty much, fuck off.”
I wasn’t being very sensitive, but my sister was in a mess, and I actually wanted to know what Nora thought about it before she had to leave.
Maybe it’s a work thing.
Maybe it’s an orgy.
Cool the fuck down.
Then, Blake looked at me like she was about to fall apart and it brought me back to the moment. Moisture collected in her brown eyes. She confessed, “She called
me
Nobody.”
My sister wasn’t anybody’s Nobody, but now I understood.
“So that’s where
Nobody
got his name. Gotcha.” She’d been hurt, but not directly by the shaggy guy, which was good for him. I’d let him live. “You’re not Nobody. What a bitch.”
I leaned over and gave her forehead a quick kiss. I didn’t do it to earn anything or benefit with Nora, although I was glad she saw it. I wasn’t ashamed. Blake was my little sister and I loved her.
Despite what she might think, I cared about people. Especially ones who were close to me. If she would be open to hearing me out, I’d show her how I took pride in caring for others.
“So, then…” Nora led her to continue. Blake rattled off the rest and put her head down on the counter.
I gave Nora an I-don’t-know
expression, and her eyebrows lifted sympathetically, seeing I was at a loss.
She silently mouthed, “Do you want me to be honest?”
Of course I did. I made a face like
come on don’t you know me at all
?
She mouthed, “Okay. Okay.”
Then she spoke in full voice, “Wow. Reagan, do you have more red? We need more wine.”
Well, she sure was calling the shots, wasn’t she? I pulled another bottle out and asked her, “Do you want to open it, Nora?” She was grabbing life by the balls. She might want to open the wine bottles, too.
“Very funny,” she countered.
She wasn’t going to think it was funny if I got a second alone with her. I was about to pull her to my room and get a few things straight.
First, where were those goddamned shoes going?
And, second, who was she going to meet?
Nora stepped around me and took my seat next to Blake.
I mouthed, “Thank you,” and she gifted me her perfect grin.
She didn’t know my sister. Hell, she barely knew me, but I liked how quick she was to help when she thought she could. I also liked how she’d made sure I was cool with her sharing her point of view before she dropped a bomb on my family.
“Okay, I know I’m going to be in the minority here, but this is what I think. How do I put this?” She looked to the ceiling, and I wanted to lick her neck.
Yes. How would she put it? I’d like to know, too.
She stalled, and I already felt like I was running out of time. She had other plans.
Stay focused, Reggie.
“Nora is polyamorous. She doesn’t believe in monogamy.” I refilled her glass. “Isn’t that right?”
She looked at me like I’d made a mistake, but I hadn’t. Like what I’d said was cruel, but she quickly put on her work smile and let it go. Was I wrong?
“I love how you pour my glass,
thank you
.”
Then she returned her attention to Blake, who watched us with a keen eye.
Nora spoke to her. “Blake, I understand what you are feeling. Do you love the robot?” Then she smiled and laughed, it was the big one. She was doing it for Blake’s benefit, trying to make her relax. “What’s his name?”
“Grant,” Blake and I answered.
She graciously blinked and nodded in my sister’s direction, “Right. Do you love Grant?”
I’d never heard Nora talk about love.
Lover. Lovers. But never
love
.
The word made her lips look more beautiful.
Blake made an unsure face, but answered, “Yes, I really do.”
Interesting.
“Are you curious about your feelings for Nobody?”
Blake answered with a slight nod, clearly confused with how she felt.
“You can be in love with more than one person at the same time, Blake.”
I corrected, “
Some
people can.”
She shot me a side eye, but went on, “Yes,
some
people, but you have to be very honest. About
everything
.”
We agreed on that.
“Tell, Grant? No way. It would kill him,” my sister said, her voice raising two octaves. I watched Nora’s hand squeeze my sister’s, and I felt something heat in my chest.
“Then tell Nobody how you feel. You need to own up to it—
for yourself
—with someone.”
She’d given my sister good advice. I hoped all three of us were listening to it. I took another drink.
“So do you think I’m polyamorous?” my sister asked, causing me to damn near spit my wine back into my glass.
“No,” I said and was surprised when Nora agreed.
“Why? I’m thinking about two men?”
Yes. I was curious why Nora say no, too.
Her eyes found mine, and it was like she was trying to tell me something, but I wasn’t sure what it was. She blinked slowly, took a breath as if she were preparing herself and asked Blake, “Can you picture either of them with another person and be happy for them?”
My insides pulled and tied themselves in knots. I didn’t want to picture her with anybody but me.
Did I want her happy? Yes. I wanted her happy
with me
.
“No,” my sister finally answered.
Same here.
“Then you aren’t polyamorous. It makes me happy to see my lovers with other people who make them feel good, both emotionally and physically. So, I side with your body, not your brain.”
Blake all but deflated, and I wanted to do the same.
“Reggie, what do you think?” my sister asked.
“Reggie?” Nora repeated, and her posture straightened. She was going to have fun with that.
Maybe Reggie to everyone else, but to you I’m Reagan.
I silently pleaded with her to drop it. I could only handle one of them at a time.
And in Blake’s case, I’d never seen Grant react to anything. He bored me to tears. The guy reminded me of a man who always had things his way, and that was that. What a dull life. I didn’t want that for Blake.
But, fuck, when I thought of it that way, it sounded a lot like me.
Am I being a hypocrite?
I didn’t want to be a robot. Who in the hell wanted to fuck a robot?
It was time for me to speak my mind, too. “Honestly, I don’t think that Grant would have ever run after you like I saw—”