Page 17

All of this happened in my first year of college, all without my brothers knowing a thing about it. When I came home for the summer, their familiar robotic brother was just as he had always been. Maybe a little more reclusive, a little older looking, but still Robot Eric all the same.
“I don’t drink,” I snap at Emmett. “You know that.”
“Sorry,” Emmett shrugs. “I figured you must be hungover or something, with the way you look right now. What’s up?’
“Nothing is up. Fuck off.”
Emmett’s eyes widen. Even Elijah looks surprised, looking up from his cell phone screen to scrutinize my face. I look away from them both, irritation growing by the second.
“Eric, if you -”
I cut Elijah off before he can finish the sentence.
“I need to take a piss,” I mutter, standing up abruptly. “When I come back, let’s review your phone call with Pete so we can move on with the contract details.”
My eyes scan for the restroom sign. When I spot it around a corner, I make a beeline for it, darting through the tables and chairs. But I stop when I hear a familiar feminine voice from behind a partition to my right.
“I don’t know, Mom,” Rebecca says weakly. “Does it matter?”
“Perhaps if you went back to the gym,” another woman says. Her voice is stiff yet melodic, the way a news anchor’s voice might be. It’s also way too loud, almost as though she wants to be overheard. “Did some cardio, maybe.”
“I already go to yoga twice a week,” Rebecca mumbles.
“And I think that’swonderful,dear,” the woman continues. “But are you working up a sweat with your littleyogaclass? Do you get your heart rate up? You know you need to get your heart rate up for at least thirty minutes to -”
“To burn fat,” Rebecca sighs. “Thanks, I know that. You’ve only said it to me a thousand times a year since I was thirteen.”
“Well, I’m just saying,” the woman replies. “Maybe if you put in a little more effort, you’d have more luck attracting a man.”
“Mom!” Rebecca says. “There’s more to life than finding a man. Have you ever considered that?”
“Of course there’s more to life than finding a man,” Rebecca’s mother replies. “There’s also motherhood.”
“Please stop talking about this.Please.”
My gut clenches. Rebecca sounds like she’s about to cry, her voice thin and strained.
I don’t think about what I do next. Rounding the partition, I find Rebecca sitting at a small table, facing me. Her eyes catch mine immediately. Rebecca’s mother turns to see what she’s looking at, and when she spots me, her frozen face breaks out into the broadest grin that her Botox will allow her.
“Well, Mr. Stone,” she says, her news anchor voice growing even louder in volume. “What a surprise to bump into you here!”
I take a step forward, giving her a firm shake of the hand.
“Not a surprise,” I reply without thinking. “Didn’t Rebecca tell you? She asked me to join you today.”
Her mother looks back at Rebecca, who is turning bright pink, her shoulders stiff. I drape an arm around her and look back at her mom.
“I felt it would be good to formally introduce myself,” I clarify. “Or, re-introduce myself. You see, your daughter and I are dating.”
The woman looks from me to Rebecca.
“Is this true?” she asks, her Cheshire grin still frozen in place. “Mr. Stone and you? Dating?”
I pull Rebecca towards me, giving her a kiss on her forehead.
“Wow,” her mother says. “She never mentioned it to me. How long has this been going on?”
“A few months,” I answer, and I sense Rebecca glancing up at me in my periphery. “I apologize for the secrecy…we wanted to take the introductions slowly, considering our professional relationship. We know once the news is out, the office gossip will follow.”