Page 15 of I Knew You
“What?” she asked, shrugging. “I’ve got something to say, but I wanted to get some food in my belly before you kick me out of the house.”
My hackles rose.
“If this is about Whit, I swear…”
“It’s not about your brother.”
My eyes narrowed.
“But itisabout a phone call you need to place to your brother.”
I groaned and threw down my box of half-eaten food onto the coffee table.
“Hear me out, please. Even if you don’t tell him you lost your job, you have to tell him you’re having surgery. Text him. Smoke signal him. Something. He deserves to know.”
“Why are you so insistent about this?” I asked. She sank into the couch.
“I can’t understand how you two became so estranged,” she said, her voice soft. “I would have given anything to have a sibling. And you’ve told me story after story about your childhood, and you guys were inseparable. Now you’re willing to go in for a major surgery without telling him?”
I picked up my phone off the table and looked down at it.
“It’s not like we’re at odds,” I said. “There just haven’t been many reasons to come together anymore without Grams. I’m sure it doesn’t help that we don’t talk about any of it. We’ve never even talked about what happened the night she died.” Ilooked up at her through my lashes, watching her try to piece things together.
“What does that matter?” she asked.
“He doesn’t know Bram Winchester was with me the night of the wreck. He thinks I took Bram’s vehicle, and that I was alone, that I was the driver.”
Realization settled over Kallie’s features, her eyes widening. “Oh.”
I clutched the phone harder. “Yeah. Oh.”
“It was a million years ago, though, so why does it matter? Are Whit and that asshole even still friends?”
“I-I don’t know,” I stuttered, ignoring her assessment of Bram. “Whit never talks about him. The last I heard, Bram was a forest ranger in Virginia. So it’s not like they live in the same place or do the same things. They may not even be friends anymore.” My heart dropped at the possibility. Whit and I had been close, but so had Whit and Bram. Bram and I were never truly close, but Whit was our bridge.
My best friend took the phone from me and placed it back on the table, then grabbed my hands and turned us more fully toward each other. Her face was brimming with nervous energy, but she also had a determined glint in her eye.
“You can’t let something like what happened a million years ago keep you from knowing your brother again. Don’t discuss that night right now, you’ll figure that out later. But you need him through this. Not just for his money. Although that would be quite the perk in this situation.”
I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat. “You win. I’ll call him.”
“Good.” She squeezed my hands. “And one more thing. I talked with my co-owner today. I’m going to take off for a couple of weeks and come stay with you in Mill Creek and attend to your every need after surgery.”
Guilt settled heavily on my chest, and I shook my head. “You can’t do that. It’s too far away. If something were to happen at the bakery or with Brandon…”
She shook her head fiercely. “No argument. Even if you tell me not to come, I will pitch a tent on your front lawn wherever you stay.” She smiled, her dimples showing. “Why won’t you let me love you?” She sang the last line, making me smile in return.
When our giggles subsided, I whispered, “This has been the weirdest forty-eight hours.”
“I know,” she said. “But no matter what weird gets thrown at you, you’ve got me. I will always sit with you in your weirdness.” She picked up the phone and handed it to me. “I’m going to the bathroom. Call him.”
When she’d left, I found Whit’s name in the contacts and pressed the call button before I could change my mind.
It rang once. Twice. Three times. I was ready to hang up when the call connected.
“Julianna Joy East.” Whit’s deep voice echoed, tinted with a Southern lilt. A mixture of trepidation and relief washed over me.
“Whitaker Patrick East. My old, long-lost sibling.”
