“I noticed.” I take a seat in one of the chairs across from him. “Don’t worry, I’ll only be ten minutes.”
“I can cancel my next meeting.”
I put my hand up. “Not necessary.”
His lips twitch into a smile. “You ready to talk to me without chopping my head off?”
“I can’t promise that last part, but yeah,” I say with a smile.
“Sit,” he says, taking a seat across from me.
I take a breath and let it out, trying to figure out where to begin. “You tried to kill Oliver,” I say, pausing when he rolls his eyes and shakes his head. “The guy who beat up those guys who were making fun of you and kicking you into the ground in sixth grade. The one who was there for you when you didn’t make the varsity baseball team in school and decided to quit, even though he would have been starting pitcher. The guy who left his house, numerous times, in the middle of the night to pick you up at parties because you were too drunk to drive. The one who would take you home and make sure you made it all the way into your room.”
“How did you know about that?” he asks quietly.
“Because he told me. Because every time he did those things for you, he would come up to the roof to talk to me, because I was up.”
Victor looks away, his eyes settling somewhere between the big globe bar in the corner of his office and the bookshelf beside it. “I was pissed off. We already hashed it out, Elle. It was just a tough thing to come to terms with like that . . . and it’s Bean, you know? I freaked out.”
“He’s a good guy,” I say quietly.
“He’s a great guy, but you’re my baby sister. Nobody’s good enough for you,” he says, flashing a smile my way. I return it and lean forward, resting my elbows on his desk.
“I don’t know if it’ll work out,” I whisper, dropping my eyes to the stack of papers on his desk.
“Why not? Because of the job?”
I nod, looking at him again. “Yeah. He lied to me. Or omitted the truth, I guess.”
Victor shrugs. “That doesn’t hold up in court, you know?”
I frown. “What?”
“Omitting the truth . . . it’s not really the same as lying. If you were getting a divorce . . .”
I put my hands up before he can finish his sentence. “Victor. For five minutes can you please not talk about work or divorce or court?”
He makes an apologetic face. “Sorry. Anyway, I think you should just talk to him, Elle. Hear him out.”
I nod slowly, tearing my eyes away from his.
“How did you know?” he asks. “That you were in love with him, I mean.”
I shrug, smiling. “One night, he dropped you off after a party, and I was crying over my blown knee. It was the day I found out I wouldn’t be able to dance. He came up and talked to me. I asked him to come back, and he did. It was innocent. We were just talking, but you know how Oliver is when he tells a story. He gets all animated, and his eyes light up, and well . . . I fell in love with him. I fell in love with the way he was, with his caring heart and his loyalty to you guys. I guess I’ve been in love with him since,” I end in a whisper.
“You were engaged to another man. Obviously it was puppy love, and you grew out of it,” he points out. “Just playing Devil’s Advocate,” he adds with a shrug.
“Sometimes I wish it had been. You don’t know the amount of times I’ve wished so badly that what we had was just a stupid fling. I tried to lie to myself and say it was about the hook ups. I tried to bury any remnants of my feelings for him countless times. Nothing works, Vic. The heart wants what it wants, and mine is clearly a sucker for pain.”
He rubs his temple. “I was so mad at him. At first, because he went behind my back, and then the more I thought about it, the angrier I became. He’s a serial dater, you know? If you can even call it that. He likes women. He likes older women. I think in all these years, he’s only dated one girl our age, and that was in middle school, so when I found out about you I was just . . . at a loss, I guess.”
“I know. I get it. You see Bean, the player . . . the guy who has a different girl every month . . . so I get it. I grew up with him too, but I truly believe he loves me. Despite the fact that I’m younger than his usual,” I add with a laugh.
There’s a slight smile on his face as he shakes his head. “I think he loves you too.”
“But it doesn’t matter,” I add. “His profession comes first, and honestly, I don’t blame him. I get that, too.”
He closes his eyes for a moment and takes a deep breath. “He’s always been the planner . . . the perfectionist . . . the one who needs to have all his ducks in a row before he attacks. I don’t know anybody else who sets up a spreadsheet for a fantasy football draft.” He raises his eyebrows. “And I know a lot of nerdy guys.”
His secretary buzzing in the next client interrupts our laughter, so I stand. Victor goes around his desk and wraps his arms around me.
“I love you, and I’m with you, okay? If you want to be with him, I’m okay with it. I’m sorry I freaked out like that, because you’re right—if it weren’t for Bean, none of us would be where we are today. I wish you weren’t moving though.”
I kiss his chest and rear back to look at his face. “You just want me to stick around so I can cook for you.”
He laughs against my face. “Yeah, that’s part of it, but I like having you around.”
“I’m not moving far, Vic.”
“I know, I know. So this weekend?” he asks.
“This weekend,” I respond with a smile as I back away. “And for the record, I am really pissed off that it happened the day you admitted to hooking up with your friend’s little sister.”
Victor lets out a loud laugh. “Bean said the same thing.”
“I’m sure he did,” I reply, shaking my head as I leave. I bump into an older man in a suit and excuse myself.
“Did hell freeze over, or did I just hear you laughing?” the man says as I walk.
Vic’s secretary thanks me for putting him in a good mood, and I make a mental note to send these people a box of donuts or something for putting up with my jerk of a brother every day. Then I smile, because I know how lucky I am to have him.