Stepbrother Dearest(32)

My heart tightened in agony at the thought of what might have been going through Elec’s mind wherever he was at that very moment.



***



The smell of lilies made me sick. Everyone seemed to be sending the Stargazer kind that stunk the most. I offered to drive a bunch of the arrangements that had been sent to the house over to Thomas’ Funeral home.

The service would be starting at four, but before then, we were supposed to be going over to Greg and Clara’s again for a light lunch.

My mother accompanied me as we laid out the flowers in the corners of the room surrounding the spot where the coffin would go. We also dropped off pictures of Randy and us from over the years. It made me sad that there wasn’t one photo of Randy and Elec.

The funeral home smelled liked a mix of musty wood and air freshener. I wasn’t looking forward to coming back later and having to see Randy’s body or my mother’s reaction.

On the drive back to Greg and Clara’s, I held my mother’s hand. She was doing better than expected, although I was fairly certain she’d taken some Xanax to take the edge off.

When we got to the house, I was relieved that there were no cars that I didn’t recognize out front. That meant it would just be the four of us for lunch.

My relief turned to panic almost immediately when I entered the house and spotted a black suitcase outside of the closet in the foyer.

Clara hugged my mother as I looked around anxiously.

Too nervous to ask the question I wanted to, I stood in silence as my chest tightened. Then, finally, I took a deep breath in and out and asked, “Whose suitcase?”

“Elec is here, Greta. He’s upstairs.”

My heart started to pound furiously, and I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I suddenly needed air. “Excuse me,” I said, walking out the back door and into their yard.

Unprepared to face him, I stared over at the red tulips in the flower garden. A part of me truly didn’t think he’d be here because of his volatile relationship with Randy, although the dread I’d been carrying around the past couple of days was proof that another part of me was readying for it.


I didn’t know what I was going to say to him.

The cool spring air blew my hair around, and I looked up at the sky as if to shun the universe for dropping this bomb on me. Perhaps, I got my response because thunder rumbled in the distance.

Call it intuition or instinct, something made me turn around and look up at the French doors on the second floor balcony that overlooked the garden where I was standing.

From behind the glass, I saw him.

Elec.

He stood looking down at me with a white towel wrapped around his waist. I always imagined what he might look like after seven years, but even my wildest dreams couldn’t have conjured up what I was actually met with.

His messy black hair had now been replaced by longish sexy waves that curled around his ears. He was wearing glasses.

He looked even sexier in glasses.

Even from here, I could see the piercing gray of his eyes through them.

His inked body was bigger, even more built than before.

He lifted a cigarette to his mouth and even amidst the shock of seeing him, disappointment set in that he was smoking again.

Elec blew out the smoke as his eyes stayed fixed on mine. He wasn’t smiling. He just looked at me intently. His powerful stare alone had put all of my senses on high alert, throwing my body out of whack.

My head was pounding, my eyes were teary, my ears were beating, my mouth was watering, my nipples were hard, my hands were trembling, my knees were shaking and my heart…I couldn’t describe what was going on inside my chest.

Before I could process any of this, a woman with blonde hair came up from behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist.





CHAPTER 13



Once I finally built up the courage to go inside, I sat at the dining room table and downed the water at my place setting. My mouth was still dry. It felt like the room was spinning.

“Are you okay?” my mother asked.

I should have been asking her that. I nodded, grabbing her water, too and drinking it all. Needing to be strong for her, I couldn’t allow myself to lose my shit today.

They hadn’t come downstairs yet.

After the mystery woman appeared behind Elec through the glass, he’d immediately turned around and disappeared from sight. It took me a few minutes to move from my spot in the garden.

He had a girlfriend…or a wife.

Even though this should have crossed my mind as a likely possibility after seven years, it wasn’t something that entered into the equation when I imagined seeing him again.

The sound of two sets of footsteps descending the stairs in unison caused me to stiffen and sit straighter in my chair.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

When they entered the dining room, my body went into fight or flight mode as adrenaline pumped through me.

Maybe I should have stood up or said something, but I just stayed glued to my chair.

My mother walked over to Elec and pulled him into a hug. “Elec, it’s so good to see you. I’m so sorry about your father. I know you and he had a rough time, but he loved you. He did.”

Elec’s body was rigid, but he didn’t back away from her. He simply said, “I’m sorry for you.”