Page 223 of Broken Brothers

Still, I walked to the elevator with some confidence.

“You feeling all right?” she said as we stepped in.

“Oh, yeah, I feel fine,” I said. “You talking about Edwin?”

She nodded.

“I know it’s hard to believe, but I really didn’t feel much for him,” I said. “He was just more of a person in the house I grew up in than anything else.”

“Yeah, true,” Layla said. “It’s still got to be sad.”

I shrugged.

“For Morgan, maybe,” I said. “But not for the rest of us.”

Tell her about your real parents. Tell her. Open up.

“I am, however, excited about something else. I’m going to see my real mother tomorrow.”

“Really?” Layla said, the excitement obvious in her voice.

“Yeah,” I said.

You’re just dodging the real reason you’re here, bud. It’s great you’re seeing your real mother tomorrow, but if you don’t figure things out with Layla, there’s no real reason for you to be here still.

“But enough about me,” I said. “You said you wanted me to come over and talk about the job offer, huh?”

I was feeling very, very, very nervous as I spoke. I hadn’t felt this way since middle school… the last time that Sarah Hill had walked out on me. I may have been able to understand abandonment wasn’t the big deal I had feared it was, but that didn’t mean I didn’t feel some serious nerves about it.

“Yeah, I found out over the weekend that the company offered me a job as one of their VPs in finance. It’s an amazing offer—six figures, equity, benefits out the wazoo, moving bonuses… it’s an amazing situation a lot of people would take in my spot.”

“I can imagine so.”

I should have kept my mouth shut then. I should have not said a word about seeing her on Saturday. I should have just let her continue.

But that little Chance who just needed to lash back… hell, he wasn’t even that little, he was around just a few months ago; hehad to get a word in. He had to say something. He had a way of coming out when I was stressed, and damnit, he really was a dick right now.

“You sure seemed very happy when you told the old man Saturday.”

Goddamnit, you fucking idiot, Chance. And don’t you dare blame it on some alter ego of yourself. You said that. No one else did.

“What do you mean?”

Well, shit, you’re already here, you might as well keep going and burn yourself down to the ground.

“I saw you outside a bar on Saturday,” I said as the doors opened to Layla’s floor. “You looked like you were telling some old guy. He, uhh—”

“He was going to be my boss at the new place, Chance,” Layla said, obviously and justifiably upset at my move. “He flew out here to try and recruit me. But you know what I told him? I needed time to think about it. Even with all of the things he was layering on me if I accepted on the spot, I told him I needed time. Do you know why?”

Oh, God…

“Because I like you so much, Chance, that I want to make it work in this city,” she said. “But… how did you see me there anyways? That’s not that close to your apartment.”

This was a moment I could have easily lied, covered my ass, apologized for having been insecure, and called it a day. I could have moved on, had a romantic and fun conversation with Layla, cemented our relationship, and texted Sarah to say I couldn’t make it. I could make all of the problems go away.

But that would have been an Edwin Hunt move. That would have been the kind of thing that might have worked for now; it might have even worked for a few months. But at some point, the truth always came out—Edwin had proved as much.

“I was out with a friend and we passed by the bar.”