Page 86 of Houston, We Have a Problem
Cam stops measuring cocoa to glower at me, which is not the kind of look anyone should be on the receiving end of. If he was intimidating before, now he’s terrifying.
“You can’t be in love with two people at the same time,” Oliver says warily, like he’s worried how I might react to that. Or maybe he’s worried he might witness a murder with the wayCam is glaring at me. “You canlovetwo people, but you can’t bein lovewith them.”
I meet Kit’s gaze. He seems on the verge of following Cam’s example and punching me for being a tool, but I think he recognizes that there’s more to this than what I’ve said. “Talk,” he orders, pointing a whisk at me.
This is going to sound completely crazy. “I think…I think they’re the same person.”
The silence that follows my claim is perfectly understandable, and a part of me wishes I hadn’t said it out loud.
“Tamlin Park lives in Sun City?” Cam asks eventually. Thank goodness he’s willing to keep listening rather than trying to murder me with his eyes. “I thought Enhance Media was back east somewhere.”
“Missouri. She’s been in New Mexico for the last couple of weeks.” I take a slow breath. This would probably be easier if any of them knew Darcy, but I can try to explain. “Darcy moved into my duplex around the same time Tamlin showed up.”
“So, naturally they’re the same person,” Oliver says, raising his eyebrow. “Do they look the same?”
I don’t like the way he asks that question like I’m stupid. “No, they don’t. But at the same time, they do. I don’t…I’ve never seen Tamlin without a lot of makeup.”
“Makeup,” Ben repeats. He’s the quietest of the bunch, but his skepticism somehow hurts more.
“I think she wears colored contacts,” I say, my voice rising in pitch in my desperation. “And a wig? I’ve never seen them in the same place, even when they were both in the house at the same time. Tamlin wouldn’t give me her phone number, even when I took her on a date, and she’s really good at flipping a switch and being something different. Darcy always has vague answers to questions about her job, and they were both inAlbuquerque yesterday. When I kissed Tamlin today, it felt just like when I kissed Darcy on Halloween.”
“I’m going to stop you there,” Cam says. Apparently he’s forgotten about the brownies, now leaning his hands on the counter in a total power move as he stares me down. “You kissed Darcy on Halloween, two days ago, and say you’re in love with her. Why in the world would you kiss someone else today? I thought you were one of the good ones, Briggs.”
“I am! I mean, I try to be. And I didn’t kiss her. She kissed me.”
Well, that isn’t entirely true. Tamlin kissed me first, but something snapped in me and made me forget where I was and who I was with. It was like deep down I already knew that it was Darcy underneath the perfect surface, and I was desperate to kiss her again. And it all felt so right, like I had known her my entire life and had found my center in her. Just like I felt with Darcy. Either I am desperate for connection and a complete jerk for playing with the emotions of two great women, or she kissed me because it has been two days since our kiss under the stars and she couldn’t wait any longer.
I moan, stuffing my hands into my hair. “This is such a mess. If they’re not the same, I don’t want to hurt either of them, but it’s like half of me wants the familiarity and friendship I feel with Tamlin while the other half wants the stability and comfort I feel with Darcy. Tamlin shares my passions, but Darcy understands me. Am I just trying to convince myself they’re the same person so I don’t have to choose?”
Could I really be that terrible of a person? It’s what my dad did. He said he loved my mom until someone new came along, and he didn’t bother waiting until the divorce before he rushed off to find his pleasures elsewhere. More than ten years of marriage thrown away for a month-long fling. I wouldn’t have even known about the affair if Chad hadn’t gotten drunk afterhis own cheating girlfriend of six years dumped him. I picked him up from the bar and took him home, and he spent the whole drive cursing himself for falling into the same trap our mom did. I never knew why she left dad—not until Chad spilled the beans—and I still haven’t decided if knowing is a blessing or a curse.
I already hated my dad, but finding out what he did to hurt my mom made me hate him more. And fear him. What if I turn out just like him? Learning about the affair is the reason I started thinking I should change my ways and find real connection, but what if that’s not enough?
“This Tamlin Park person works for Enhance Media?” Oliver asks, pulling his phone out of his pocket. “Give me a minute.”
“Are you going to hack into their records or something?” Cam asks, and he seems both curious and appalled.
“I have neverhackedanything in my life,” Oliver replies, turning slightly red. “I’ll leave that to Isla’s boyfriend.”
I meet Kit’s gaze, and I’m pretty sure we’re both wondering if Oliver lied just now. (Whoever Isla is, I hope her boyfriend doesn’t actually hack anything.) I can’t imagine Kit would be friends with someone who did anything illegal, but what do I know? I also didn’t think Brook would ever go for someone shameless and loud like Jordan, and they’re probably going to end up being a long-term thing with the way Jordan looks at my sister. Nor did I think Chad could fall so head-over-heels for someone so quickly.
Whatever those two found—whatever Kit and his friends have with their wives—I want that. Am I going to find it with Darcy? Or is this budding relationship about to fall apart and leave me alone at the worst possible time?
I’m already losing my career, and my siblings have all found significant others and don’t need me as a seventh wheel. If not baseball and my family, what do I even have? Severalbusinesses that don’t need me because they’re already run by the people who started them. A bank account full of more money than I could ever spend in a lifetime. A heart that feels like it’s on the verge of breaking.
The kitchen is mostly silent as Oliver taps away at his phone. Cam continues working on the brownie mix, while Kit and Ben seem to have a silent conversation between the two of them.
Ben clears his throat. “How’s baseball going?” he asks me.
I groan and drop my head on my arms. That movement pulls at my tight shoulder, and I groan again, this time from the pain. I shouldn’t have thrown like I did at the park today. At least not without warming up. The tendons in my shoulder are still just as strained as they were a week ago, and without warming up my arm, I exacerbated the problem. Wanting to see what Tamlin could do not only made me wildly more attracted to her but also hurt like crazy.
“I’m done,” I say into my arms, not sure why it’s so easy to admit that to these men who are basically strangers. “I don’t even know if I have another game in my shoulder, but I hate that I’ll be abandoning my team if I retire a year early. We don’t have another good pitcher to take my place in the starting rotation, so what are they going to do if I tap out? What amIgoing to do?”
When no one says anything, I slowly lift my head and take in their expressions. Ben looks mildly sympathetic, but I’m pretty sure he’s not really a sports guy. Cam should understand since he played ball in school, though he was a shortstop if I remember right and probably didn’t have any issues. Besides, with how fit he is, he looks like the kind of guy who will still be spry at eighty.
Oliver is still swiping around on his phone and likely didn’t listen to a word I said. But Kit? Kit issmiling.
He leans on the counter, commanding my attention with his warm expression. “Do you remember when we met last year?”
