Page 94 of Open Secrets
Anna throws her hands up, exasperated. “Literally anyone in this universe will tell you being friends with an ex—even a one-night stand—is a bad idea. Especially when your wife asks you not to. It would’ve cost younothingnot to do it. Nothing. Butyou did it anyway, because Captain Lyle decided it was fine, and to hell with everyone else.”
Her words hit like a body blow—because she’s not wrong.
I lean back in the booth, staring at the condensation sliding down my glass. For a second, I’m speechless.
“You always had tunnel vision,” Anna adds, softer now. “It’s what makes you a good soldier. But it’s also what makes you a shitty husbandandbrother sometimes. You can’t just decide what’s right for everyone and expect us to live with it.”
My head snaps up. “How am I a shitty brother?”
She throws her napkin onto the table, eyes flashing. “You knew why Maria was icing me out. And all those times I called you, venting about how I never got to see the kids or her anymore? You told me to let it go, said she was stressed. All the whileknowingwhy it was happening.”
I open my mouth to argue, but the words die on my tongue. She’s right. God, she’s right.
“I’m sorry,” I manage, my throat tight. “I didn’t…”
“You didn’t care about me,” she cuts in, her voice trembling with a mix of anger and hurt. “Maria used to be one of my closest friends. She’d let me vent, give me advice. And suddenly I didn’t have that anymore. You just—let it happen.”
I straighten in the booth, defensive without meaning to. “I gave you advice.”
Anna barks out a humourless laugh. “Telling me to ‘hang in there’ when I mentioned being passed over for junior partnertwicewas not advice, Lyle.”
I rub the back of my neck, shame burning hot. “I thought I was—hell, I don’t know—being supportive.”
She shakes her head, reaching for her purse. “You weren’t supporting me. You were covering for her. And in the process, you left me out in the cold.”
The words hit harder than I expect, because underneath the sharpness, I can hear it—the hurt little sister who counted on me and didn’t get me when she needed.
I press my lips together, guilt churning in my gut. “You’re right,” I admit quietly. “I screwed that up.”
“Ya, you did,” Anna mutters, bracing her hand on the table like she’s about to push herself up.
I grab her wrist before she can move. “Wait—don’t go. Don’t go angry, okay? I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”
Her jaw clenches, but she eases back into her seat, folding her hands across her chest. We sit there in silence for a long beat.
When she finally raises an eyebrow and shifts like she might leave again, the panic makes me blurt, “I’m a horrible brother who didn’t think about you, and I’m sorry.”
Nothing. Not even a twitch.
“And I suck,” I add.
That earns me the faintest crack in her armour. “Yes,” she says flatly. “You do.”
The waiter appears, his eyes darting between Anna’s massacred pancakes and my untouched steak. “Anything else for y’all?”
Anna gives him a bright, too-sweet smile. “A milkshake. Chocolate.” She turns to me, eyes gleaming like she’s daring me to disagree.
I stare at my cold steak and mutter, “Make it two.”
The waiter nods, clearly relieved to escape, and disappears.
I try again, carefully. “So, what’s going on at work?”
Anna shrugs, gaze fixed on her destroyed food. “Meh.”
I don’t let it go. “C’mon. Tell me. Markus said you were handling his case really well.”
Her lips twitch, but it’s not a smile—it’s something smaller, sadder. “Of course he did.”
