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“Sorry. But in my defense, you’ve never had a life before.”
With a sigh, I rub my forehead. “Sadie, this is my little brother Isaac. He’s an idiot.”
“Hi,” he says with a wave.
“Isaac, this is my friend Sadie.”
“Please explain what’s going on,” she argues.
“Let’s sit on the couch,” I say, turning her toward the living room. “I need a drink.”
As I fill in Sadie on everything that’s happened with my brother over the years, her wide eyes are in a constant state of shock.
I reach over and touch her knee. “Sadie, no one knows that Isaac has been living with me, and no one can know that he’s back in Austin.”
She puts up three fingers. “Scout’s honor. I won’t tell a soul.”
As she stares at Isaac, who’s sitting on my chair with his feet propped up on the coffee table and a beer in his hand, I notice the way her expression changes from guarded and stern to warm and welcoming.
“Wow,” she mumbles. “Your dad is an even bigger piece of shit than I thought.”
“Cheers to that,” Isaac says with a smile.
“So, wait…” she says as she leans forward. “You signed with a record label. Don’t you think people will start to recognize you?”
Isaac shrugs. “Eventually. I like being Theo Virgil, though. I’m not ready to be Isaac Goode again.”
“Makes sense,” she replies warmly. Then she turns to me. “Aren’t you afraid Adam and Caleb will kill you when they find out you’ve been hiding him all this time?”
I roll my eyes as I lean back on the couch and take a sip of my whiskey. “It’s okay. I’ll be in England.”
“Wait…you’re really going to England?” Isaac says, bolting upright.
As I meet his gaze, I swallow down a dose of regret with my Macallan. Before I can speak, Sadie cuts in.
“He got accepted to some literature program in England that he’s been wanting to do for years.” She sounds excited for me. Either that, or she’s a good actress.
“For how long?” Isaac asks.
“A year,” I reply.
“And what about you?” he asks her.
She rubs her stomach and stares at him with a question on her face. “I’ll be living here with the baby.”
As Isaac’s gaze travels back to me, I feel about two inches tall. I don’t need to tell him the baby’s not mine. Somehow, he knows. I don’t need to tell him that Sadie is not my girlfriend either. He knows that, too.
How does he know? Because I never change. I don’t defy expectations or surprise anyone. I am who I am. I don’t evolve or shift. I put my work first ten years ago, and I’ll continue to put my work first until the day I die.
It makes my life easy, predictable, and manageable.
It also makes it boring and lonely.
For the first time in my life, I feel the sting of disappointment—my brother’s and my own.
Twenty-Nine
Sadie
