Page 12 of Harboring Secrets
The driver took my suitcase and stowed it in the trunk while I slid into the back seat. My stomach clawed at my insides and I tried to remember the last time I had a real meal. Had it been dinner with Brodie? That was a lifetime ago.
“The short answer is I don’t know. The longer answer is I don’t know and I don’t really want to talk about it anymore. Don’t tell John and Marsha where I am. If they need me for anything, they can talk to my lawyers.”
“Liam.” Carol was using her mom-voice. Her concern wrapped around me like a soft, warm blanket. “Are you sure?”
“I know they were family, but I can’t… they make it impossible to move on.”
“As long as you’re sure you’re not doing something you regret.”
I choked on a laugh. “I already have regrets.” Brodie’s broken heart had been written all over his face and I’d hated myself every moment since then. I hated myself now because, despite my determination to see him again, I still couldn’t tell my sister that I was bisexual.
“I have to go, Carol. But we’ll talk soon, okay?” I ended the call before she could argue. Before I could blurt out that I was in New York to chase a man.
My secret bisexuality was a silly hang-up to have and I knew it. But my circle was small. I had a few friends from university, but I’d drifted away from a lot of people after Piper died. People didn’t know how to be around the grief-stricken. And I didn’t know how to be around people.
Brodie was easy to be around from that very first rain-soaked meeting. He’d dragged me out of the hotel lobby into the sun afterward. The light glinted off the fresh puddles, blinding us both.
“Breathe deep,” Brodie told me.
I still wasn’t sure why I’d followed him out there. Or why I’d listened to him tell me to breathe deep. Maybe it was how free he looked. How alive.
“Smell that?” he asked.
“It smells like wet.”
Brodie bumped his shoulder against mine. “The scent doesn’t change much no matter where you go. Petrichor smells like petrichor. Sometimes it’s earthier. Wetter. Sometimes it’s drier. But it’s the same no matter where I go.”
“Have you been many places?”
Brodie shrugged. “I’ve been to a few. What about you? Is this your first time in Greece?”
“Yes.” It was the simplest version of the truth. It was a place Piper had wanted to see, but hadn’t made it. An unchecked item on a bucket list.
“Where to?” the driver asked me.
Reaching into the breast pocket of my jacket, I pulled out a postcard. Torn in half. Taped together. I gave him the address of a hotel near the address on the postcard. I wanted to scrub the scent of travel and despair off my skin before I saw Brodie again. Though, maybe showing up looking like roadkill would work to my advantage.
The town Brodie lived in was cute. It was a bit too large to be called a small town, but it definitely lacked the big city vibe. Flower pots hung from street light posts. Petunias draped down in billowing curtains of color. The fire hydrants in the city were painted to look like people. I wasn’t sure I understood why, but it was endearing.
“Where’s a good place to eat around here?” I asked the driver.
“For casual, you can’t go wrong with Bennett’s. If you want a drink with your food, you’ll want to go to The Anchor. For fancy food, Ulysses is a nice little Greek place just off the main drag. Or there’s a steak house by city hall that’s just opened. It has good reviews, but I haven’t eaten there yet.”
My brain had been fuzzy for days so I put all his recommendations in my notes app. The car came to a stop outside a hotel that wasn’t anything special, but this wasn’t the type of town to have anything flashy. Clean was good enough for me, and the reviews had been promising.
The driver fetched my bag from the truck. “I’ll valet the car and leave the keys at the desk for you, sir.”
I pulled my wallet out and tugged a couple bills out and handed them to the driver whose name I didn’t care to learn. “Thank you.”
“When you’re done with the car, you can call us for pick-up. If you’ll be heading out via the airport, you can always arrange for us to drive you there. Until then, she’s all yours. If you have any issues, you can call, or text. The numbers are in the glove box if you need them. Enjoy your stay.”
My room was on the top floor of the hotel. The fact that it was the third story made me rethink my assessment that this wasn’t a small town. I tossed my suitcase on the bed and stripped out of my clothes.
I had no plan, but I had to win Brodie back. I had to at least explain to him all the things I hadn’t been able to before.
We’d been men escaping our lives in sandy beaches and sparkling tourist traps. We’d gotten to know one another, but I felt like there was so much more we could have shared. So much more we could have learned about one another.
I knew he had two brothers, but I didn’t know their names. He knew I had a sister and that I came from money. I knew he didn’t. There were a million little things that I knew and even more that I didn’t. But I knew Brodie. I knew his touch. I knew how his breath sounded in my ear. How he scrunched his face every morning before he opened his eyes.
