“You’re thinking I have more than a cat at home, aren’t you?”
He said the words without looking up. I shrugged. “Not that that’s entirely my business… but the thought had crossed my mind.”
“Well you have nothing to worry about,” said Julian.
“I’m not, I’m just sayin—”
“Ariana is my sister.”
I blinked three times. “Oh. Okay.” The knot untied itself.
“I’ll call her back later,” he said. “It’s still early in Colorado.”
“I didn’t know you had siblings,” I said, suddenly interested. “Or… wow, Colorado? Really?”
He nodded and tipped back his beer. “I’ve got two sisters and a brother. All younger. All still back home.”
“What are their names?”
“Ariana, Jenna, Antonio,” he replied. “Ariana’s the oldest. She runs things over there.” He chuckled, looking nowhere in particular. “Or maybe Antonio does by now, I’m not really sure.”
It occurred to me how little I actually knew about the man sitting across from me. He’d never offered. But at the same time, I’d never asked. It wasn’t an excuse though. After all, he’d made so much time for me.
“How old are they?”
“Sixteen, twelve and nine.”
“Wow,” I gasped. “You’re the older brother!”
“Twenty-four,” he confirmed. “Yeah.”
I tipped a glass of wine his way. “Cheers to your mom,” I smiled. “She must be a busy woman.”
Julian’s uncharacteristic smile faded almost instantly. Right away, I regretted my words.
“Sorry,” I said. “Did I say something wron—”
“No. No, you didn’t.”
I took the plates to the sink. Rinsed them. Dried them.
“Then what?” I finally asked.
Julian leaned back in his chair like always. He gave me a hard look with his steel grey eyes, but somewhere in the middle, I saw them soften too. After a moment of consideration, he let out a long sigh.
“Get yourself a beer,” he said. “And I’ll tell you.”
Thirty-Three
JULIAN
“I came from hardship,” I began, choosing the words slowly and car
efully. “We didn’t have much, but at least we had each other. For most of my childhood, that was all that mattered.”
She was sitting across from me, eyeing me intensely. Really listening to what I had to say, which was something I’d always found rare.
“Is that what this means?” Madison asked, reaching out to touch my arm. She slid a slender finger along one of my tattoos. The one that said MEMORIES OVER MATERIAL.