“Are you g*y?” He continued. “Is that why you’re confused? You know I will love you no matter what, right? I told Lucky not to push you into getting a girlfriend. I’m so sorry, bro, I never meant for you to—”
“Zane, I’m not g*y.” I laughed and shook my head in amusement. “Though, I do appreciate your support if I was.”
“I was about to say, my g*ydar is totally off.” He laughed along with me, and for a few moments we had an easy camaraderie.
“I met someone in Palm Bonita. I told you that already.” I paused. “But it’s a lot more complicated than I told you about.”
“Oh, shit.” Zane’s eyes widened. “Did you get her pregnant?”
“No.” I rolled my eyes. “And to be fair, that’s a bit of a funny question coming from you.”
“Huh?” He looked at me blankly and then laughed. “Well, you know. I’m the older brother. It’s okay if I make mistakes.”
“I heard that, Zane.” Lucky’s voice called out from behind us. “It’s nice to know our babies are your mistake.”
“I didn’t mean that.” Zane made a face at me and then looked at Lucky with pleading eyes. “You know I love you and our babies.” He continued and Lucky groaned, and smiled at me.
“Uh huh.”
“That was just a foot-in-mouth moment.”
“You mean it was a that-shouldn’t-have-been-heard-by-the-fiancée moment!” She walked over to him and socked him in the shoulder. “You’re lucky that I’m not going to get mad at that comment.”
“You’re not?” He grinned at her happily.
“No,” She smiled at me. “But only because Noah is trying to tell you something and you haven’t given him the opportunity to get it out.”
“But you’re the one that keeps talking.” He frowned at her. “Not me.”
“You’re talking right now.”
“But you’re talking right now as well.”
“But you just continued talking, even though you know Noah is waiting.”
“So did you.” He stuck his tongue out at her and she leaned in to kiss him. “Don’t start something you can’t continue.” He whispered as his arms circled her and I groaned at them.
“You two need to get a room.” I shook my head and Lucky disentangled herself from Zane and walked over to me.
“Not right now, we don’t. You guys need to go and talk about whatever’s bothering you.” She pushed me towards Zane. “Go in the living room. I’ll get dinner ready.”
“But what about the salad?”
“You’ll make it next time.” She smiled at me gently. “And trust me, I’ll hold you to that.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.” She smiled again before walking back towards the kitchen and my heart filled with even more love for her. It was weird that I had only known her for a few weeks, because she already felt like my family.
“Wait.” I called out to her and she turned around with a surprised look.
“Yes?”
“I want you to come in the living room as well. I want to tell you both what I have to say.” I looked at them back and forth and felt waves of happiness and jealousy wash over me as I saw Lucky and Zane exchange a look of love and joy.
“Really? Are you sure? You don’t have to tell me.”
“You’re my family now, Lucky. I want you to know. Plus, I’m sure Zane would tell you anyways.”
“No, he would never break your confidence,” Lucky protested, but I held up my hand to stop her.
“I don’t mind if he does. Not with you. You’re the woman he loves, the mother of his unborn children, shoot, you’re the mother of my niece and nephew. I want him to tell you. You shouldn’t have secrets. Not with the one you love. Not with your life partner.”
“You sound like you’re talking from experience, bro,” Zane questioned me and I sighed as I walked to the living room with them and we all sat down. I took a deep breath before beginning. I held up my phone and started, “The phone call I got just now was from a girl named Skylar. She’s a girl that I met in Palm Bonita. She’s the girl I can’t stop thinking about. The girl who makes me wish I could move mountains.” I paused and gave them a rueful smile. “She’s the girl who made me realize that love and family isn’t based on bloodlines and that it isn’t always pretty. She’s also the girl who hates me with all her heart.” I looked at the floor then and took a deep breath. My heart was beating so quickly that I thought that I was going to have a heart attack. I felt like I couldn’t breathe and that the pain in my chest might end my life before I had a chance to do anything meaningful.
“What happened in Palm Bonita, Noah?” Zane’s expression was as soft as his tone and I wondered at how he was able to go from angry to caring in mere minutes.
“When I arrived in Palm Bonita, I met a girl. She was exciting and carefree and we got into a relationship pretty quickly.” I sighed. “It wasn’t something I had planned or wanted, but I was angry at the situation I was in, and I was missing you and my life. I needed something to take the time and pain away. She offered me solace, in and out of the bed. And I jumped at the chance to get away, mentally and physically, from everything that was going on.” I paused to make sure that I wasn’t going too fast. “But she wasn’t who I thought she was.”
“She wasn’t?” Lucky prodded after a long silence.
“No.” I shook my head.
“How so?” Lucky’s eyes were wide.
“For one, she was married.” I saw Lucky’s mouth drop open and Zane gave me an amused look. “She wasn’t living with the husband or anything. She was actually in Palm Bonita because she wanted to get away from him.”
“That’s not so bad, then.” Lucky gave me an encouraging look. “If you thought she was going to get divorced.”
“I didn’t even know she was married until the end.” I shrugged. “Though all the signs were there.”
“Is that why you broke up?” Lucky asked again and then bit her lip. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that …”
“You don’t have to be sorry for anything.” I gave her a reassuring smile. “But no, that’s not why we broke up. I realized she wasn’t the person I thought she was.”