slammed the door like that was when that nameless girl without a phone number wore your shirt home. And by the way, you’re late.”
“I know I’m late. You sound like Crosby.” Crosby, the workaholic older brother who’d traded riding Sawyer’s ass for a white picket fence outside the city. Lucky for Sawyer, Crosby still had two other brothers to take his place.
Fucking peachy.
“Liam took up your slack.”
“I’ll send him a card.”
“I’m sure he’ll appreciate that,” Ethan said without looking from the screen. Although Ethan had been quick to give Crosby the same hard time Sawyer had—to stop working so much and get a life—Sawyer had to wonder if Ethan realized how close he was to that set of footsteps. But there was a difference. Crosby had never had a serious relationship until that past summer, when he’d hooked up with Estelle. Ethan, on the other hand, had been married to his high school sweetheart for two years—two years in which his brother had been disgustingly happy. That had all come to an abrupt end when she’d been diagnosed with lymphoma and died shortly thereafter. Ethan hadn’t been the same since. Sawyer couldn’t imagine what it was like to lose anyone like that, but he imagined at some point Ethan would move forward. Hadn’t happened yet. While he wasn’t on the job twenty hours a day like Crosby had been, Ethan had fallen into an utterly predictable routine of work and home, with the occasional Friday night at Foam’s For You. Even then, he stuck to a booth or the pool tables.
Little chance Ethan would have a clue what Sawyer’s problem was. He hoped he’d forget he’d asked.
No such luck. “So why are we slamming the door this fine morning?”
Fine? It was damn near cold. Or at least the world had seemed that way after he’d left the warmth of Kelsie’s bed. He wasn’t a ginormous comforter kind of guy, but he could get used to hers. Especially if she was tucked in there with him.
“This…” He hesitated. These conversations normally started with “this chick,” and Kelsie, well, that wasn’t her. But if Sawyer led with anything else, Ethan would know something was up. Sawyer didn’t feel like explaining himself… He didn’t have an explanation to give. It was just…
“So it is a woman?”
“Yeah,” Sawyer admitted, grateful for the out. “I invited her to Sunday dinner—”
“Wait. What? You invited a woman to meet your family? Didn’t you make a vow not to do that again after that one girl’s boyfriend showed up at Mom and Dad’s looking for you?”
Actually, Sawyer had forgotten about that. Which was surprising, but mostly pathetic. Something of that magnitude really should have stuck with him. “It’s not like that,” he said. “I’m sure if she had an angry boyfriend, he would have found me the first time I went out with her.”
Ethan snapped the laptop closed and stared. “You’re actually going on a second date?”
Sawyer blinked. “Fifth date,” he mumbled.
“Fifth date?”
“Yes.”
Ethan got up and split the blinds, peering at the sky.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m looking for the asteroid.”
Sawyer took in his brother’s deadpan face and scowled. “Fuck you.”
“Sorry.” Ethan shrugged, not looking at all like he meant it. “You earned that, and you know it. So what’s the problem? She doesn’t eat?”
Sawyer sat and stretched his legs out in front of him, taking a great deal of interest in the worn leather at the tip of his steel-toed boot. What was his problem? After a long while he said, “It wasn’t supposed to count.”
“What wasn’t? What are we counting?” A long look at Sawyer’s face had Ethan shaking his head. “Might want to back up a bit.”
He really didn’t want to get into this. He’d have to better remember the consequences of slamming a door around there. “She’s my upstairs neighbor,” he said. “Her sink sprung a leak onto my recliner, so I went up there in time to wreck her date.”
Sawyer would almost swear Ethan was trying not to smile. And Ethan really didn’t smile. “Dare I ask how?”
“The date was an asshole who jumped to conclusions.” Sawyer paused. He really didn’t want to tell his brother Kelsie couldn’t get a date. That wasn’t his tidbit to tell. “Anyway, I offered to pick up the slack.”
“The slack?”
“I stayed for dinner.” If you could call it dinner. “The guy ran out on her, and she didn’t look like she wanted to eat alone so I…comforted her.”
Ethan’s smirk suggested the conversation had steered back into familiar territory.