Reeve helps me sit on the couch, gently pushing my head between my legs. “Deep breaths, babe, and keep your head down. It will get rid of the dizzy spells. I’ll grab you some water.” Training my eyes on the ground, I inhale and exhale, trying to calm down. I see Reeve’s feet moving away. “It’s been a particularly stressful time for both of us recently,” Reeve tells Dillon. “Stress isn’t good for the baby, and I’ve been trying to get Viv to take it easy, but she’s been worrying too much about me.”
“Congratulations. This is your second child, right?” Dillon says, and I almost choke on air, emitting a strange gargled sound.
“Shit.” Reeve rushes back to my side, setting a bottle of water and a glass down on the coffee table. “Maybe you should lie down upstairs.”
“No!” I blurt. “I’ll be okay in a minute.” There is no way in hell I am leaving Reeve in a room alone with Dillon. God knows what he might say!
“Take a seat,” Reeve tells Dillon, pouring water into the glass for me.
Dillon sits directly across from me, and like the coward I am, I keep my head between my legs, pretending I’m still dizzy. I’m sweating bullets, and my brain is rapid-firing questions at me from all angles.
“Drink this, babe.” Reeve holds the glass out to me, rubbing his other hand up and down my back.
Wiping my sweaty palms down the front of my summer dress, I lift my head, ignoring Dillon, and focus on my husband. My hand visibly shakes as I take the glass from Reeve, and I almost drop it. Reeve’s brow creases with fresh concern. “Perhaps we should call the doctor.” He wraps his hand around mine, helping me to drink. Then he places his other hand against my brow. “You don’t feel too hot, but you’re a little clammy.”
“I’m feeling better now. Stop worrying.” Shucking his hand off, I grip my glass more firmly, taking sips of water and purposely avoiding looking at my ex.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.” Grabbing Reeve’s arm, I place it around my shoulder, snuggling into his side, hoping his body warmth will heat up my ice-cold limbs. “I’m sorry I derailed your meeting. Talk to your brother.”
Let me freak out in silence while I try to figure out why Dillon is here. I just need to survive this ordeal and then call Audrey. I’m deliberately not thinking about the most pressing question, because if I go there now, I’m liable to pass out stone-cold.
Charlotte enters, depositing a tray with tea, coffee, and cookies on the coffee table. I spot the curiosity on her face as she looks at both brothers, but she remains discreet, leaving as quickly as she arrived.
“Would you like something to drink?” Reeve asks Dillon, gesturing with his hand to the tray and the bottles of water sitting on the side table. “I can get something stronger, if you like?” If I wasn’t pregnant and it wasn’t only eleven a.m., I would be demanding vodka.
“Coffee is fine.”
“Why do I get the feeling I know you from somewhere?” Reeve asks Dillon, as he pours coffee into a mug.
I clamp my lips shut, saying nothing. Reeve doesn’t know I listen to the band’s music or I saw them perform tons of times on stage while I was in Ireland, so I can’t be the one to tell him without rousing some suspicion.
“I’m the lead singer for Collateral Damage,” Dillon confirms, taking the mug from his brother.
His twin.
Oh my God. How did I never realize it? I knew Dillon’s birthday was in January, but he never said the date. There were occasions when I felt a familiarity around him that was odd, but I never stopped to analyze it. Then again, who would? I was on a different continent, Dillon is Irish, I had no idea he was adopted because no one told me, and we had no idea Reeve had a brother back then. Why would I have gone looking for meaning behind that familiarity?
Dillon looked totally different with his bleach-blond hair and green eyes, and he wasn’t as tan back then. With his ink and piercings, his bulkier frame, additional height, and the little facial differences like his dimples, he didn’t look identical on the surface. But I slept beside him. I knew every inch of his body. Surely, I should have noticed something? Now that I reflect on it, the way he used to tilt his head to one side and rub the back of his neck is so like Reeve.
The clues were there, and I never picked up on them.
I feel like such an idiot until I remember Audrey met him too and she didn’t notice any resemblance either.
“Yes! That’s it,” Reeve exclaims, pulling me out of my inner monologue. “We saw you perform at the Oscars in February, didn’t we, Viv?”
“We did.” I force a smile on my face.
“Congrats on your win, by the way,” Dillon smoothly says. “I loved your acceptance speech.”
I sink a little lower in the couch. To anyone else, it would appear Dillon is sincere in his compliment. But I know it’s bullshit. I want to throw him out of my house, rewind to two weeks ago, and tell Carson Park not to tell us anything. That secrets are best left to die with their owners. Because there is no scenario where this ends well.
“Thanks. I’m sorry things didn’t go the band’s way that night,” Reeve says. Collateral Damage walked away empty-handed, but it’s still an enormous honor to be nominated for such a prestigious award.
Dillon shrugs, but I notice a muscle clenching in his jaw, and it’s clear Reeve inadvertently hit some kind of nerve.
Reeve drums his fingers on his knee, a telltale sign he’s nervous. “So, you grew up in Ireland? Viv spent some time there, and she loved it.” He smiles at me while my pulse throbs in my neck as liquid adrenaline courses through my veins. If Dillon is going to say anything, it will be now.
Dillon eyeballs me, and he has a pleasant smile on his face, but it’s as fake as mine. Reeve glances between us, his brow puckering in confusion.
“I did. Ireland is great,” I say, snuggling in closer to Reeve, wishing I could bury my face in his shoulder and cry my eyes out.
“Did you like growing up in Ireland?” Reeve asks him, his shoulders relaxing a little.
“It was good. I grew up on a farm with my adopted parents, three brothers, and my sister.”
Reeve’s eyes pop wide. “Wow, so you have brothers and a sister. That must’ve been nice.”
Dillon smiles, and it’s the first genuine smile I’ve seen on his face. “Yeah, it was cool. Things were fairly wild growing up as teenagers in Ireland.”
“Are you close to them?” Reeve asks, and I know he’s internally gauging where he’ll fit in Dillon’s life while I’m trying to figure out how to extract Reeve from this mess before he gets hurt.
“We’re a close family.” Dillon smiles as he looks pointedly at me, but this one doesn’t meet his eyes. “I’m especially close to my sister, Ash. She manages the band. And my younger brother Ro is our drummer.”
Ground, gobble me up now.
I swallow thickly over the messy ball of emotion clogging my throat, squeezing my eyes shut.
“Are you okay?” Reeve asks, tightening his arm around my shoulders.
“I’m fine.” I fake the biggest smile while it feels like my heart is breaking anew. Sitting here is excruciating on a variety of levels, but sitting across from the other love of my life and pretending like I don’t know him, like we don’t share tons of incredible memories, is tearing strips off my heart.
I don’t know why Dillon hasn’t said anything or what his motives are for being here, but the longer I sit here with the knowledge I have, the more painful it becomes. I’m close to cracking.
How can I keep who Dillon is to me from Reeve? If he is to form any relationship with his brother, I need to tell him about Dillon and me. How do I do that? And if I tell him, what will it mean for their relationship? What will it mean for ours? And what about Easton?
Oh God. The smile drops off my face, and I almost suffocate on the pain crawling up my throat.
Reeve opens his mouth, to ask me if I’m okay, I assume, and I need to redirect this conversation ASAP. “Did you know?” I blurt, looking at Dillon. “Did you know you were adopted?” Why didn’t you tell me? “Did you know who your bio parents were?”