“Fine, I was with Emilia. We’re dating.”
My sister’s expression lights up. Out of nowhere, she changes places, moving to the chair next to me and hugging me.
“What’s this for?” I’m confused as hell.
She lets go of me, patting my shoulder and kissing my cheek. “Going after your girl. Better to go after who you want than carry a torch forever, wondering if it would work out.”
“I haven’t been carrying a to— Wait a minute.”
Alice is being suspiciously un-Alice like. Her cheeks are pink, and she smiles coyly. She isn’t coy. Not ever.
“Are you talking about me or about you?”
“About you!” Alice says sharply, but the pink in her cheeks intensifies.
“Don’t lie to me.”
“I’m not... exactly.” She taps her fingers on my beer glass. “Fine, I was talking about me, but I’m not going to tell you who he is.”
“Which means I know him.” I run a list of possible candidates in my mind, and curse. None of them is good enough for my sister.
“Do I have to beat him to a pulp? Actually, you know what? I’ll do it now and you can answer later. Just give me his name.”
“Oh, for the love of God. That’s why I never tell you people anything. You act like cavemen.”
“Instinct. Nothing to do against it.”
“I’m pretty sure there are women out there whose brothers don’t want to abuse anyone she might want to date.”
“If there are, I don’t want to meet them. So tell me.”
“There’s not much to tell.”
“Apparently there’s years of history.”
“Doesn’t matter. He’s out of the country anyway for God knows how long.”
That should narrow it down to… half a dozen potential bastards.
“Stop trying to guess who it is,” Alice says, correctly interpreting my silence.
“So why haven’t you…? Did anything happen at all…. Is it just a crush or…?” Man, I suck at this.
Alice grins, hugging me again. “You suck at talking about feelings, but thank you for trying.”
“So?”
“Well, I’ve been carrying that torch for a long time, and let me tell you, it consumes me. I can’t make a relationship work with anyone else, and I think it’s because I’m not trying hard enough.”
“Because of the torch,” I state. For a brief moment I do wonder if I’ve carried a torch—as my sister calls it—for Emilia since I was a kid, and that’s why I never made an effort to be in a relationship before her. I dismiss the thought. I would’ve known if that was the case. Even I can’t be that clueless.
“Yeah.”
“Does he know how you feel?”
“Not sure.” My sister looks unhappier than I have ever seen her, and that reason alone makes me want to deck the guy. I’m used to Alice either being bossy, teasing, or a bubble of joy. This is… hard, and I don’t want to see her like this.
“How long’s he gonna be out of the country?” I ask.