“Trey?” He was too out of context, too unexpected to be real.
“Hey, Shell,” he said, sauntering over to my table with a goofy smile and pulling me out of my chair.
It wasn’t until I smelled his Drakkar Noir aftershave that I believed he was really there. If he’d been taller, I think I would have climbed him like a tree. He was Trey. Trey was here. My brother, Trey, was in Germany, in the same room as me and . . .
I turned on Scott. “You knew he was coming?” My voice was a little too loud for the environment, and every German head in the room turned to frown at the insensitive American making a scene.
“I did.” He was smiling with so much affection that I didn’t know whether to leap across the table and strangle him or leap across the table and hug the living daylights out of him.
“This is Trey,” I told him with all the love of thirty-five years of tandem survival.
Scott stepped forward and shook Trey’s hand. “Good to meet you, man.”
Trey shook back. “You too.”
“Well, sit, sit!” I forced Trey into a chair, mainly so I could sit too. My legs had been through a lot recently, what with performance jitters and first kisses and long-lost brothers showing up, and they weren’t doing a very consistent job of keeping me upright.
I just stared. I stared and grinned stupidly and occasionally opened my mouth to say something, but lost my train of thought before the first word was even out. I looked from Trey to Scott, from Scott to Trey, and just kind of beamed—like the Cheshire cat on crack. I was kind of happy.
“How was your flight?” Scott asked when it became clear that I wasn’t conversationally competent yet.
“No problems. Just a three-hour layover in Frankfurt before the flight to Basel. Gus drove up to the curb just as I walked out, and . . . here I am!”
I found my tongue. “When did you get here? Where are you staying? When did you decide to come? Who else knows about this? How did you get to Ötlingen?”
Scott and Trey exchanged glances, then did a kind of tandem shrug. It was the gesture of men who knew me well and found my weirdness endearing, so I allowed it.
“Well, 2 p.m., on your couch, three weeks ago, just Scott and the Johnsons, and . . . what was the last one?”
I smiled. I was going for the gold medal in smiling.
“Want something to eat?” It’s a good thing Scott was playing host, because my hosting skills were comatose.
Trey, my brother Trey, who was supposed to be in Illinois—that Trey—shook his head. “Maybe just coffee. I had something to eat at the Johnsons’.”
“Are you exhausted? Have you slept?” Me again—still slightly demented.
“Easy on the decibels, Shell. I took at nap at the Johnsons’ before coming out here, so I’m good to go. Bev told me I had to sleep because you were going to keep me awake all night, and she’s a pretty convincing woman.”
“She’s the best.”
There was something a little odd going on at the table. We were all being friendly, but there was an underlying vibe that was making me a little uncomfortable. Trey leaned over to give me a sideways hug, then turned his attention on Scott.
“So . . . you’re Scott.”
“Been practicing that opener all the way over here, Trey?” I smiled.
“I’ve heard a lot about you,” Scott said.
“Yeah? I’ve heard a little about you too.”
On a scale of one to ten, this conversation was scoring a twenty-three for lameness. It felt like a face-off—subtle, mind you, with no guns drawn, but something was definitely going on here.
Trey stared at Scott for a little too long and Scott returned the stare, unflinching.
“So what’s with the two of you?” Trey asked.
“Oh, great, Trey. Way to be smooth.” I was finding this comical—in an unfunny kind of way.
“I’m serious. I’m the brother. I’m supposed to know.”
“Shelby and I are . . . What are we, Shell? Dating?”
“You don’t have to answer him, Scott. He’s just playing King of the Sandbox with you.”
Scott turned his eyes on Trey, smiling. “We’re dating.”
“Cool. And . . . what are your intentions?”
“His intentions? His intentions! Maybe you should have taken a longer nap, Trey.”
Scott sat back in his chair and crossed his arms. “What do you want to know?”