I sigh. "Regular customers are not stalkers, Everly. We're a coffee shop. People come in, they get coffee." I walk past her to help the man waiting at the counter and place a big smile on my face, ready to help.
“Sophie.” The man says my name and pauses, and that split second is all I need to realize that something is not quite right. Why is this man referring to me by name? I know it’s pinned to the front of my apron, but customers rarely use it.
“Could you sit with me for a few minutes?” he asks, gesturing to the empty tables filling Grind Me.
What the heck? I glance sideways at Everly. She’s wearing a smug told-you-so expression on her face.
“Um,” I reply, unsure how to proceed. “I’m working, but thank you.” I give him my best professional smile.
“I can wait until your break,” he offers. “Or meet you after?”
Shit.
I try again. “The thing is, I have a boyfriend. So I don’t think I can meet you after my shift.” I try my professional smile again. I hope I’m getting it right.
The man smiles in response, but it’s not dejected, it’s amused. “I’m afraid I might be giving you the wrong impression. I wasn’t asking you out.”
Oh.
“Besides, I’m far too old for you.”
“A little young for her, actually,” Everly mutters and the man shoots her a look.
He pulls a wallet from the breast pocket of his coat and opens it, revealing a badge and an ID, which Everly promptly swipes out of his hand. “My name is Boyd Gallagher,” he says, still looking at me. He pauses, apparently expecting this to mean something to me.
I shift from foot to foot behind the counter. Am I in some kind of trouble?
“Feds aren’t really her fetish, but I know a girl at school who’d be so into you,” Everly pipes in, still reviewing the wallet in her hand.
“Everly!” The stranger and I reply at the same time and it breaks the tension a little. I smile as the man retrieves his wallet from Everly's hand and places it back into his pocket.
He sighs and runs a hand through his hair before moving his attention back to me. “Sophie, I’m your brother.”
Chapter 23
"So what did he want?" Luke asks me later that afternoon.
"What did he want?" I repeat, slightly annoyed.
"Yes, Sophie. What did he want?" Luke's voice is clipped. "You wait until today to mention that a man has been hanging out in your coffee shop for over a month watching you work, then today announces that he's your long-lost brother. Why? What does he want?"
"I don't know," I say quietly. I'm lying down on my dorm bed staring at the ceiling and talking to Luke on the phone. "But I have a brother." I breathe into the phone for a moment before continuing. "You have Meredith, Luke. And Alexander and Bella. I've always wanted a sibling, or even a cousin. It would be nice to have someone else in the world besides my grandparents.”
"How do you know he's telling you the truth, Sophie?" Luke says. I can hear the hospital buzzing in the background. I know he's busy but he insisted on talking to me after I texted him this bombshell.
"We share the same father," I say, my voice wobbling. "His father”—I pause—“our father, was a US Congressman running for a Senate seat when he met my mother. He was twenty years older than her, and married to Boyd’s mother.” I’m humiliated recapping this to Luke.
“Go on,” Luke encourages.
“My birth certificate lists my father as unknown. My grandparents had no idea who he could have been and my mom refused to name him. She died before I was two, so I never had the chance to ask her myself. She volunteered for Congressman Gallagher’s Senate campaign the summer before her freshman year of college.”
"Sophie, whatever your parents did twenty years ago has nothing to do with you and the person you are today."
"I guess."
"I know," he counters.
"He had a picture."
"What kind of picture?" Luke asks, with an edge to his voice. I can hear hospital alarms beeping in the background, but Luke doesn't rush me, just waits for my response.
"It was a picture of our dad with my mom. It’s the night he was elected Senator, at the campaign headquarters. They’re in a room full of people and she’s looking at him like she worships him while he’s smiling for the camera.” I swallow and Luke is quiet, listening. "Boyd was ten when I was born. He doesn’t think his mom had any idea about the affair.”
We're both quiet. Silence on my end of the phone, the buzz of the hospital on Luke's end.
"I was born during my mom’s freshman year of college.” Straight A’s and she ended up transferring back to a local college. Because of me. “She died in a car accident sometime during her sophomore year of college.” I take a breath. “But until she died, she was receiving monthly payments from Senator Gallagher.”
"Wow,” Luke says, his voice gentle. I know that voice. It's the I feel sorry for you voice. I've heard it my whole life. I hear a door close and it's suddenly quieter on Luke's end of the phone.
“Boyd works for the government. Apparently I came up during a background check. He’d never heard a word about me until then.”
"Sophie, I…" He trails off.
He what? Feels sorry for me? Is appalled? Needs to cancel all future plans with me?
"I have to go, Sophie. I'll call you as soon as I can." The line goes dead.
I can't process anything right now. I'm… no one. I have a half-brother.
I already called my grandparents in Florida. They had no idea I had a sibling. I look at the silent phone in my hand and scroll through the contacts and make a call.
A short time later I'm walking into Shay's, a bar I've never been to before, located off campus. It's early when I walk in, quiet. Boyd is sitting in a booth and waves me over as soon as he sees me.
"Sophie," he says with a warm smile. He looks relieved to see me, like he was afraid I wasn't going to show up.
"Hey," I reply and take a seat. We stare at each other, neither of us knowing what to say, so I say the only thing possible. “I need a drink.”
Boyd grins and signals to the waitress. "Thanks for calling, Sophie. I wasn't sure you would."