The Lie

“Oh, don’t give me that,” he says, his tone surprisingly sharp. “Don’t try and wallow in that again. You’ve done enough of it. You don’t let me sink into my mistakes and I’m not going to let you sink into yours. I’ve said you looked haunted by what you’ve done. Well, guess what. You don’t look haunted now. You look like you’re bloody in love. Let the wallowing go—it’s comforting to hold on to the darkness, I know this. It gives you identity. It gives you purpose. But you’re finally getting out of it. Allow yourself to be happy.”

I look away and he puts his hand on my shoulder, staring at me. “Hey,” he says louder. “I’m not kidding. Did you think I wouldn’t understand, that I would judge you, that I would want to push you back into that spot we’ve all been dying for you to come out of? Fuck that. I’m your family, Brigs. I don’t care if you and Natasha have known each other for years or days. I just want you to be happy. That’s all anyone ever wants for you, and it’s what you should want for yourself too.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Kayla asks, coming around the corner. When she sees his hand on my shoulder and the grave looks on our faces, she stops. “I’m totally interrupting something, aren’t I?”

“It’s fine, love,” Lachlan says, putting his arm out for her. She comes over and leans against him, staring up at me. “Brigs and I were just talking about women.”

“Good things, I hope.”

“Then we definitely weren’t talking about you,” he jokes.

“Hey,” she says, going for his chest with her pointy fingers and squeezing his nipple.

Lachlan buckles over, letting out what sounds like a giggle and a squeal, a sound I’ve never heard him emit before. Had I known all along nipple pinching was his kryptonite, I could have made some money selling this information to opposing teams.

“Anyway,” Kayla says, finally letting Lachlan go. “I just wanted to tell you that Natasha is fucking amazing.”

“Well, good. I think so too.”

“No, I mean it,” she says. “I hate to say this, but I’m starting to look at you like my brother now. Weirdly secretive and strange, but still my brother, and before I met her I had some reservations. I mean, what girl is going to be good enough for you?” She elbows Lachlan. “Right, baby?”

He grunts in response and she continues, “But now I’m starting to think that maybe you’re not good enough for her.”

“Kayla,” Lachlan warns her.

She smiles at me. “I’m just kidding, Brigs. But really. You’ve done good. And I mean it. Because I hate everyone.”

“Oh, you don’t say?” I say caustically.

“It’s true. My only complaint is that the two of you are in London and I am up here. Doesn’t make for easy girl times. Like when Lachlan acts like a jerk and I need a friend to braid my hair while I eat a tub of ice cream.”

“Yeah, that sure sounds like Lachlan.” I give him a look and roll my eyes.

She leaves the kitchen after that, taking the honey to Natasha, and before we head back, Lachlan says to me, “I’m not going to say anything to Kayla. I’m not going to say anything to Jessica and Donald. I’m leaving that all up to you. I just want you to know that no one is going to think anything less. Of either of you. But you can’t keep this inside forever. You’ve kept it inside for long enough.”

He walks away, and I’m left in the kitchen wondering how a rugby player got so much smarter than a professor.

Later that evening, when it’s time to turn in, me in my old bedroom, Natasha in Lachlan’s, I knock at her door.

“Are you decent?” I whisper.

“No,” she says. I smile, looking down the hall to the shut door of my parents’ room before walking in.

She’s sitting cross-legged on the bed in her pajamas, flipping through an old magazine.

“Hey,” I say, disappointed. “You’re completely decent.”

“Oh,” she says. “I thought you meant in general.”

“Well, that too.” I close the door and sit on the bed beside her. “Sorry this couldn’t have been a bit more romantic. I barely fit on the bed myself.”

She gives me a delicate smile, placing her hand on mine. “It’s lovely. It’s nice to be in a house where you can feel the warmth, you know?” She scrunches up her nose. “So how do you think I did?”

“With my family, are you kidding? You were incredible. They loved you.”

“You sure? One moment I’m trying to be all proper and the next I’m telling them that my ass was hanging out at the Rome airport.”

I squeeze her hand, grinning. “That story only endeared them to you. And you further to me. I’m a bit jealous of that airport, to be honest.”

“You can see my ass at any time,” she points out. “In fact, my ass belongs to you and you alone.”

“Oh really?” I raise my brow. “Can we get that down in writing at some point?”

“So they really liked me?”

“Yes,” I tell her. “Just as I knew they would. How could anyone not be as charmed by you as I am?”

“Well, my mother for one,” she says, looking away.

“Your mother doesn’t count. Your own family is always complicated. But I bet even your mother thinks you’re marvelous deep down. Just as everyone else does.”

“Do you think Lachlan liked me?”

“I know he did.” I peer at her inquisitively. “Did you recognize him in any way?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve met him before.”

“I have?” She shakes her head. “I would have remembered. When?”