Page 88 of Lost Track

GET ME

DAVE

“Dave, this is my brother André.”

The handsome man was her brother.

That both eased his mind and frustrated him.

Because he had absolutely no business wanting Sabine to be anything other than a friend. He’d just reiterated those facts to himself.

But then she’d hugged someone much more attractive than Dave (objectively speaking), and Dave had almost cried.

No, really.

Sure, he was shaking hands with André and smiling but inside he was still recalibrating.

“Nice to meet you, André.” Dave clasped the offered hand.

André was tall, much taller than Sabine. He had dark hair, verifying what Dave had always thought Sabine had under her lightened locks. And matching hazel eyes. He wore a red V-neck sweater that hugged his torso like it was tailored.

Maybe it was.

What had Sabine said about their upbringing?

“Pleasure to meet you,” André replied in a slight British accent. Dave remembered something about her brother being raised somewhere else. Right? Or was that a movie he’d seen?

Sabine introduced her brother to Max and Leslie, and all three immediately slipped into easy conversation.

Dave was proud of his friends. They had worked hard to establish the careers they had. It only made sense that they’d fit comfortably into the places he just…didn’t.

“Sorry about that,” Sabine said, returning to him. She slid onto the stool beside him and clinked her wine glass against his. “What’s going on with you?”

“What do you mean?” he hedged, facing the kitchen again and giving his back to the things that made him uncomfortable.

“I mean,” she dropped her voice. “You’re very quiet today. And I noticed.”

“Sometimes people are quiet,” he replied, that old defensiveness kicking in. He forced a smile to try to cover it.

Sabine’s smile was immediate and warm. And she didn’t push. She just drank her wine, sitting beside him, not pestering. Though he doubted he’d ever see her as a pest. She could pepper him with questions for hours and he’d soak up all her attention the way grass soaked up sunlight.

And that should have settled him.

But he was decidedlyunsettled.

He couldn’t stop thinking about how much fun his friends had had with her. And not with him. It was as confusing as it sounded. Was he jealous?

How stupid would that be?

He wasn’t a jealous person.

Never had been.

Max and Leslie were his friends. And Sabine was his friend. (The hottest friend he’d ever had, but whatever.)

Separate parts of his life were mixing when he wasn’t around, and it made him uneasy. How could he make sure everyone still got along if he wasn’t there to smooth everything over?

Except they had gotten along just fine. So well in fact that Dave was sad he hadn’t been able to be a part of it.

---