Page 24 of The Dark Before Light

Leo chuckles. “You mean I’m the older, wiser brother you always wanted.”

“Yeah, that too. Thanks. Say hi to the family for me.”

“Will do. One final question.”

“Yeah?”

“You’re sure he doesn’t recognize you?”

“Absolutely sure.”

“Hmm. I find that hard to believe.”

I smile. “Trust me, I look drastically different than I did at fourteen. I’ll show you a picture sometime. It’s been seventeen years, Leo. Not only that, it was dusk, raining, and he’d just smoked a joint. I’m confident what was a memorable meeting to me was something quickly forgotten for him, a random American girl he found in a graveyard and walked back to her hotel.”

There’s a pregnant pause, and I know I’m not going to like what he says next.

“And how does that make you feel?”

I was right—I don’t like it at all.

My phone buzzes with a text, and I read it with no small measure of relief. I quickly turn off the speaker and bring the phone to my ear.

“Sorry. My date is here. I’ve gotta run.”

“Uh-huh.”

My laugh is a tad shrill as I grab my purse and leave the bedroom. “I’m not lying. He’s taking me to the Philharmonic. Ask Mia. She was the one who set us up. He’s the principal of her school.”

He groans. “Oh, no. Tell me she didn’t.”

I jerk to a stop in the foyer, eyeballing my front door. “What?” I whisper-hiss. “Leonardo Chastain, tell me right now if I need to get out of this.”

Leo coughs. “No, no, Alan is great. You’ll have a splendid time.”

“Splendid?” I screech through my teeth.

My doorbell rings.

Leo’s laughter ends abruptly as he hangs up.

Chapter 8

Kieran

Ican’t believe my eyes. Or my ears. Or anything really about what’s happening as Dr. Stirling settles gracefully in the seat directly in front of mine at the LA Phil. The man with her looks like white toast with strawberry jam smeared on his cheeks. It takes him three tries to hold down the retractable seat long enough to actually plant his ass on it.

My brother bumps my shoulder. “Isn’t that?—”

“Shut up,” I hiss at the same time Gail whacks his arm from the other side.

Toasty is sweating and babbling about the architect of the concert hall while Stirling smiles at him. She needs to stop smiling or he’s going to have a coronary. I actually feel a bit bad for the guy.

“That’s fascinating, Alan,” she says warmly.

Jesus. Is there a more tedious name than Alan?

Toasty grins like she offered him a blow job. His gaze flickers down to her breasts and he gets even redder. The skin around Stirling’s eyes tightens. I bite the inside of my cheek to keep in a cackle.

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