The Real Deal

“Like there’s a chance I won’t.” We resume our pace on the tree-lined street toward the inn, and I take a deep breath, figuring now is as good a time as any to tell her the truth. I don’t know exactly how I’ll do it, but I want her to know who I am.

Hey, I used to be a con artist and I scammed people out of tons of money to pay for college, and I’m not really an actor, but I did kind of once want to teach Shakespeare, but that shit is hard to understand, and I hope you’ll be cool with the fact that I spent two weeks in County for selling fake IDs, but that’s nothing on my brother, since he did a stint in prison for fraud. Aren’t we the most adorable family?

But before hey can fall from my lips, I notice April looks at her watch, a clever little grin tripping across her face.

“What’s that smile for?” I ask, figuring I’ll get to my confessional soon enough.

“I have a surprise for you!”

Color me intrigued. “You do?”

“Something you’ll like.”

“Something?”

“Actually, someone.”

I furrow my brow. “Who?”

“You’ll see.”

A minute later, we reach the inn and a familiar shape appears on the wooden swing on the porch. A broad set of shoulders I’d recognize anywhere, a mess of brown hair, a jaw like mine.

My heart freezes. Heath rises, an easy, loping gait to his stride as my past crashes into my present well before I’m ready.





Chapter Thirty-six

April

Heath wraps his brother in a hug, and I want to jump up and down. I want to kiss the sky. Instead, I stand on the stone walkway in front of the inn, practically bouncing on my sandals.

“So good to see you,” Heath says, his big voice booming with warmth and happiness. He’s tall like Theo, but broader. Bigger chest, bigger shoulders, more ink. His hair is a touch darker, and he has blue eyes. I wonder if he gets his eyes from their mom or their dad.

“Yeah.” That’s all Theo says, and his tone is strained, his voice dry. Maybe he’s too overcome to speak.

The woman who must be Lacey is bursting with excitement, too. Her long brown hair is cinched back in a neat French braid, and silver bracelets adorn her tan wrists. Both ears are brimming with small silver earrings. I count seven on each. A dangly bracelet with charms circles one ankle.

“I’m Lacey,” she says, extending a hand to me. We shake, then she pulls me in for a hug. “That was so cool of you to do this. Heath is so excited to see Theo. It’s been too long. He misses him.”

“They should get together more,” I say, and I can’t stop smiling. I’m thrilled I pulled this off. It seemed silly to be so close to Heath and not invite him to the reunion. Boston’s only two hours away, and since I have a crazy good memory for numbers, I didn’t even need to look at Theo’s phone again. I remembered Heath’s number from the first time I saw it flash on the screen. When Theo left the room this morning, I called Heath, told him my idea, and he drove down after I sent him the address. My mom said she had an extra room. Easy peasy.

“I couldn’t agree more,” Lacey says. “But Heath hasn’t been able to leave until now, and Theo’s been so busy.”

“Right, of course. Heath must be so busy, too,” I say, though as the words come out of my mouth, I realize I don’t know what Heath does for a living that keeps him so busy, so I shift gears to Theo. “And with Theo, he has so much going on, balancing auditions and the bar and whatnot.”

Lacey furrows her brow momentarily. Confusion seems to cross her pretty brown eyes, but then she smiles again. “I’m so excited to meet the woman that has our Theo so happy. We didn’t even know he had a girlfriend.”

I wave a hand dismissively. “It all started quickly between us,” I say, and that’s true. The last few days have been a whirlwind of falling into each other. Who cares if it’s been only a few days—or a month, as we told my family? The fact is, it sure seems like we’re together now for real, and that’s all that matters. A day or two ago, I would never have done this. But last night on the phone, Theo introduced me to Heath as his girlfriend. He could have told his brother the truth. He could have said I was a friend, or a client, or anyone. He didn’t need to keep up the act with his brother, of all people, and that admission was permission enough for me to invite the person he loves most to join us.

A jingle sounds in the air, and it’s Lacey adjusting the shoulder strap on her purse.

“I love all your jewelry,” I say.

“Thank you. I make them. I’ve started selling it at fairs and such. It’s turning into a nice business. And it’s great, since Heath is building up his brand-new business, too.”

I’m about to ask what Heath does, but then Theo breaks the long embrace, and turns to us. “So…”

His tone is flat. For a moment, I worry that I’ve made a mistake by inviting Heath and Lacey. “So here we all are,” I say with a cheery smile. “My parents are making dinner, and we have the scavenger hunt this evening, and if you want to be part of the games, that would be great. But no obligation. You can wander around town instead. Whatever you like. I have a room for both of you.”

“We’d love to be part of the games,” Heath says, his arm still around Theo, squeezing his shoulder. Heath steps closer and extends a hand to me. “And you rock. Thanks for doing this.”

Theo shoots a bright smile, but it seems forced. “And now you’ve seen me.”

Heath arches a brow. “You giving me a hard time?”

“Never,” Theo replies.

“You better not.” Heath drops his knuckles to Theo’s head and gives him a noogie. Theo slips out of his grip.

“You should arm wrestle him,” I tease.

Heath glances at Theo, a look in his eyes that seems to say something, that feels almost challenging to Theo, like he’s correcting his younger brother. But I can’t figure out why.

“Anyway, do you want to head inside and put your things in your room? Or did you already? Were you waiting long?”

“We had just arrived before you did, and we were enjoying the swing,” Lacey says, setting a hand on Heath’s arm.

They head up the stone path. I hang back and give Theo a curious look. “Isn’t this cool? I thought it would be good.”

He mutters something I can’t understand, and the worry sets back in.

“I called him this morning. I had his number from when we talked last night. It seemed like you really wanted to see him,” I say, my pitch rising as my throat closes up from nerves. Did I read everything wrong? I thought for sure he’d want his brother here.

“Sure.” His voice is monotone still.

“Are you sure?” I ask, and now all I can think is I’ve misstepped badly, and at the worst possible time.

He closes his eyes, then opens then. “I just wish…”

“Wish what?”

“I wish you’d asked first.” He doesn’t sound like the man I know.

My heart sinks. My voice wobbles. “I’m sorry. I thought you wanted to see him. I thought this could be fun for you.”

He blinks, then shakes his head like a dog shaking off water. It’s as if he’s trying to collect his thoughts. “It’ll be great,” he says with another forced smile. “Family is just hard.”

Awareness smacks me upside the head. This must be difficult because family is difficult for him. I should have known better. “I’m sorry. I didn’t even think of it like that. I honestly just thought it would be nice to have everyone together. But that was foolish of me.”

“Don’t worry, April. It’s okay.”

But it hardly sounds okay. He makes a move to head into the inn, and I grab his arm. “Please. I wanted to do something nice for you because you’ve done so much for me. I thought it was brilliant and clever, but now I can see that I was looking at it only from my side of things.”

“Hey,” he says, his voice soft, and he finally sounds like himself again. He drops a kiss to my forehead. “You’re not foolish. You’re amazing, and I really want this to work between us.”

I blink.

Did he just say what I think he said? That we’re definitely an “us”? That what’s been happening is going to keep happening? My heart skips, and I’m ready to burst into song.