Page 133 of Play With Me

I bite my cheek this time to keep from showing anything but pleasant surprise. “Well, that’s great, Murray. I’m so happy for you.”

I really am. It explains why Murray hasn’t been lurking around the hallways since I’ve gotten back. I thought he was taking an eavesdropping break. I can’t wait to tell Sasha.

“Well, Happy Christmas,” I say, and go to close the door.

“You too,” Murray says.

Except just as I begin closing the door, he clears his throat.

“Was there something else?” I ask, both hands on the edge of my door.

“Your man friend isn’t here?” Murray asks.

My stomach twists. I forgot he saw Jude that day he slept over here. “No, he’s…” I swallow, surprised at the knot in my throat. “He’s back at home, with his family.” I think about how the Kelly family will be crowded around the table tonight, laughing and teasing each other. Will Cap put on a show for them with his little karaoke set like he did last year when I went there for dinner? Jude invited me over and even though things were awkward between us then it was the best Christmas I can remember in…ever.

“Well, that’s good because there’s another gentleman calling for you.”

My stomach jolts, my head clearing in a second. “What? Like right now?”

“Yes. He’s downstairs. Made a racket banging on the glass. Was going to shoo him away but he said he knew you. Thought I’d come and check, and give you my gift. Two birds and one stone, as they say. Anyhow, he’s got stripes on his shoulders and a wheelie bag. Is he staying?”

“Murray!” I’m aghast at him, waiting until I’m about to close the door to tell me. But my heart soars because I know just who it is.

“Bye, Nora!” Murray calls after me as I race down the hallway in my socks.

I burst into a grin when I reach the bottom of the stairs, because there, holding his hat and looking irritated, is my big brother, Christian.

I open the door and practically leap on him.

“Damn, Nor!” he says after he hugs me back. “It’s only been a couple of months!”

“You didn’t tell me you were coming,” I say. To my surprise, tears begin streaming down my cheeks.

Chris looks panicked. He comes into the foyer and places a hand on my shoulder. “Shit, what’s wrong? Why are you sad?”

“I’m not sad,” I say, my voice wobbling. “I’m happy. So happy.” Then I begin to sob.

* * *

It’s a whole day before I tell Christian what’s going on with me.

We’re at the pub down the street from my place, and I’m honestly the happiest I’ve been since coming home. But telling the story still makes my heart hurt.

While we still check in when we can, my big brother and I were closer several years ago, when I was in college. But he got hired by a huge airline and spent a lot of his time traveling. He moved with his wife to Cincinnati to be close to the airport, and since then, I haven’t seen much of him at all. I miss talking to him. Which must be why I tell him the whole thing, going back all the way to the beginning of Jude’s and my friendship, which may be unnecessary. But I feel like our story makes the most sense when you start at the beginning.

I tell him all the way to the end, when I met Farrah and Cap at a board game cafe and the three of us had an amazing time playing a game the way it was supposed to be played (Cap insisted this was one of the few he’d do this with). We’d had a surprisingly great time, like Farrah and I were old friends with one of our sons.

When Cap had gone to the bathroom—with no chaperone, he insisted—Farrah said she’d told Jude about Japan on the train ride home.

“How did he take it?”

“He was nice. I was very surprised.”

I’d smiled, relieved. Jude had come a long way in his relationship with Farrah compared to the beginning of the trip.

“Have you told Cap?”

“No. But I’m going to today, after we see you. I wanted to make sure I could tell him we would both be there for him—on the phone or the computer. Will you be… Are you going to talk to him still?”

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