Page 76 of Sunrise Arrows

“Then forgive Hunter, or at least start to.” There’s a knock on her door and I can hear Mikey tell her it’s time. “I have to go. I miss you. I wish you were here.”

“Me too, baby. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

The video call disconnects and I put the tablet down. Across the kitchen, Hunter leans against a different counter looking like my mirror.

We start to talk, then stop at the same time, the both of us resuming as well when the other quiets.

“Shit,” I snort. “Go ‘head.”

“Why the fuck are you here?”

That wasn’t what I was expecting.

“Well, considerin’ you blow up my phone with texts and phone calls everyday, I thought you wanted to talk. My bad.”

“That’s not what I meant,” he sighs.

“Like you didn’t mean for, ‘why would Tinsley be interested in me?’ to sound the way it did?”

“Jesus Christ! I’ve always hated arguing with you. It’s not fair that you can remember shit I said that I can’t. But yes, exactly like that.”

“You know what your problem is? You don’tthink, Hunter. You just do and say whatever the hell you want, consequences be damned. Doesn’t matter who you hurt or whose lives you destroy, you just go on without remorse.”

“Destroyed?” he scoffs. “Tinsel’s playin’ the first of three sold out nights at Wembley. I’d hardly say Idestroyedher life by letting her believe Ashley was your girlfriend.”

“You’re right. Her career shines brighter than I think she could have ever dreamed. People are going to remember her for a lifetime. But I’m talkin’ about offstage. When she’d go home and cry herself to sleep thinking I’d moved on. How you fucked her up in the head so thoroughly she let them strip away everything I love about her because, after your treatment of her, she felt like she wasn’t enough for anyone.”

“For someone who never went after her, you sure are layin’ a lot of blame at my feet, Arch. Tins knows what she did and owns it. I know what I did and I own that. But doyou? I had an easier time talkin’ you out of goin’ than Mom and Ryder had tryin’ to talk you into it.”

He’s right. I can’t argue a single point. For all my wanting, I never went, and I tell him as much.

“You’re right. I didn’t go after her. Not the morning after she left, not in the ten months that followed, not after Ashley and feelin’ like I’d just cheated on the love of my life, and not in the last nine years.

“I was twenty-one, and Tinsley was eighteen. We were kids who wanted to be together forever and talked about how that would look but were too immature to make it happen, and the choices we made reflect that. I won’t argue that and yeah, I own it.

“But do you have any remorse for whatyoudid? I mean, you lied to my face for tenyears,Hunter. No matter the fault I bare, that’s not somethin’ I can easily get over. You’re my twin. You, above everyone else, should have my fuckin’ back, no matter what.”

We’re quiet for a long time, and when we both scrub our hands down our faces and card a hand through our hair before tugging on the ends, sighing, we both chuckle.

Hunter sighs again, rubbing at the back of his neck while I rub at the front of mine.

“I thought I did.”

“Hmm?”

“I thought I had your back that night. Shit, Arch—” He breathes, hopping up on to the counter. “I’ve never been so scared and so angry as I was when I came home and saw her puttin’ her suitcases in the trunk of her car. I wanted to slash her tires so she was forced to stay because nothin’ I was sayin’ was gettin’ through to her.

“I should’ve woken you up the minute I realized I wasn’t gonna be able to stop her, but I was so angry with her for even havin’ the thought of leavin’, let alone actin’ on it, I let her go. I didn’t think she deserved the way you loved her and genuinely thought I was doin’ what was best for you that night.

“You know, I nearly told you the truth every day in those first few weeks and months. You were… fuck, you weren’t you. You were there but you weren’t and I hated seein’ you like that. And the guilt of knowin’ I was part of the cause—Jesus, it was eatin’ me alive. So much so, I eventually went and got the letter from Dad’s desk.

“I was on my way up the stairs to give it to you when I heard the TV. Those two tabloid guys with the website and show were talking about that umm… what’s that guy’s name?” Hunter asks, snapping his fingers, trying to jog his memory. “You know, the one she did the tour with.”

“Landon Rhodes.”

“That’s the one. They were talkin’ about him and the pretty brunette he was seen havin’ lunch with. They couldn’t recall her name but knew she’d just released a single and one of the others in their office said her name was Tinsley Jacobs. There wasn’t much to report, but I pulled out my phone and found a flood of pictures of them with speculation about if they were together or not.

---