Page 26 of I Do, You Don't
The words cleave the air.
Silverware clatters louder. A baby whines. The ceiling vent hums, spilling recycled chill down my spine.
“That’s insane.”
Calvin doesn’t blink.
“What’s insane,” he says evenly, “is leaving your fiancée over a rumor.”
My jaw locks. “You expect me to believe you weren’t sleeping with Lara?”
He sneers, not to provoke, but to confirm how little I understand.
“I most certainly am not sleeping with my sister.”
The word slams into me. Gravel in the throat.
“Sister?”
Calvin snaps his fingers once. A waiter materializes, not the sluggish waitress from before, but sharp, polished, attentive.
“Yes, sir?”
“Bourbon.”
“Right away.”
As the waiter departs, I stare at the wood grain in the table, searching for something steady. The swirls only ripple outward. Descent. Slow. Unforgiving.
“She would’ve told me.”
“She didn’t,” Calvin says, “because I asked her not to. It wasn’t safe. Delilah promised too.”
My stomach folds inward. “Delilah knew?”
His expression hardens, sharpening like glass. “Funny how my sisters can’t stand each other, until they want the same man.”
The sentence lands like a blade.
I blink slowly. The diner noise dissolves into static, clinking dishes, distant traffic, the relentless drum in my ears.
“Lara and I are siblings. Delilah too. Both half-sisters. I told them to keep it quiet.”
Everything tilts. The floor holds steady, but inside, I’m falling. Off-balance. Drowning.
“You’re lying.” My voice fractures on the word.
Calvin doesn’t argue. Just exhales a long breath, as if truth itself has worn him down.
The photo flashes in my mind again. If he’s right, then Delilah didn’t save me, she used me.
I force the words out anyway. “No. She wouldn’t. I trust her too much.”
“I wouldn’t have destroyed my life over nothing.” I search his face, desperate for a crack. “If Delilah and Lara were related to you, they would’ve told me.”
The suited men flicker in my mind again. The waiter’s instant obedience. Maybe not. Maybe secrecy runs deeper than I ever knew.
Still. Am I really going to believe Calvin over Delilah?
