He ducked into a corner during a break to send Lisa an update and then checked his email. Shit. Another one from Dawn.

To: Ben Stephens

 From: Dawn Stephens

 Re: Just checking in

Lol no, absolutely not, this has nothing to do with our dad. To be honest, I’m not really that in touch with him either—I hear from him every so often, but he wasn’t that great of a dad to me. Just like to you, I assume from your email.

I guess I partly got in touch because of that—I wanted to see if I had more family around somewhere, since he wasn’t so good at that part. It’s mostly just been me and my mom, and I’ve always sort of wondered what it would be like to have siblings, so when I saw that there was one out there, I just wanted . . . I don’t know, to get to know you. But if that’s not what you want, it’s totally cool.

 Dawn

 

Shit. He reread his email to her from the night before, and it hadn’t been particularly friendly. He didn’t have to be a dick to this woman, no matter how he felt about his dad.

He hit reply and typed in a flurry with his thumbs.

To: Dawn Stephens

 From: Ben Stephens

 Re: Just checking in

Hey—Sorry about my email, I didn’t mean to sound like I was accusing you of something. It’s just that I haven’t talked to my dad in a long time, and it was a lot to get your email. If we do have the same dad, I’m sure you can understand that.

Anyway, sorry if I sounded like a jerk. Tell me more about yourself. What kind of work do you do with kids?

 Ben

 

There. That was better. He didn’t know if she was actually related to him, but at least now he didn’t feel like a dick.

Oh God, he had therapy tomorrow. He really didn’t want to tell his therapist about this—she would want to know if it brought up stuff about his dad, blah blah, and they’d had enough of those conversations. At least, he knew he had.

He’d worry about that later.

As he sat in the bar that night waiting for his brother, Ben swiped through pictures on a dating app. Not her, not her, or her . . . yeah, nope to her, too.

“Finding any new victims?” Theo asked as he slid onto the stool next to Ben.

Ben dropped his phone into his pocket and turned to his brother.

“I prefer to think of them as the lucky ones, not victims, thank you very much.”

Theo rolled his eyes and waved to the bartender.

“Why aren’t you out with one of the ‘lucky ones’ tonight? To what do I owe this pleasure?”

Ben ignored that question.

“Why did I have a missed call from Mom today?” he asked. “It’s Tuesday; she never calls on Tuesdays.”

Theo sighed.

“She can’t just call her son on a Tuesday?” he said, in a perfect imitation of their mom. Ben laughed and pushed Theo’s drink in front of him.

“Ahh, so you talked to her.”

Theo nodded.

“Carrie’s having a baby. It’s still supposed to be a secret, which is why Carrie hasn’t told the family group text yet, but of course, Aunt Cynthia told Mom, who called to tell us.”

Ben took a sip of his drink.

“This is going to be another one of those secrets that the whole family knows but we have to pretend we don’t, right? At least Carrie will probably tell us for real via text, so it’ll be easier to pretend we haven’t known this for months.”

“Exactly. Hey, how is that work thing going you can’t tell me about? You said that thing that you had to do went well—any updates?”

He’d reread the NDA, and it was all about the phone itself. He didn’t give a fuck about the phone; he just wanted to tell his brother about Anna, and he was in the clear.

“Okay, I’m going to tell you part of it, but you can’t tell anyone. Obviously, you’re going to tell Maddie, but she really can’t tell anyone.”

Theo looked suspicious.

“I promise. This had better be good.”

Ben couldn’t keep himself from rubbing his hands together.

“Oh, it is. Okay, so . . . that day I called you, it was to pitch an ad campaign starring Anna Gardiner. I can’t tell you what that is about, but we got it. And I’m the lead exec on it. We started shooting yesterday.”

Theo’s mouth dropped open.

“Are you serious? Holy shit, Ben. That’s incredible, congratulations! And you’re the lead on it?”

He still couldn’t really believe it, either.

“Yeah—I killed it at the pitch, and so the client wanted me to be in charge.”

Theo clapped him on the back.

“See? I knew it. I told you you’d kick ass.” He stood up and inspected the bottles behind the bar before he waved at the bartender. “Can we get some of that Booker’s, please? One for each of us, neat. Thanks so much.”

Good alcohol was one of the ways his brother showed love. Also bossy advice, detailed spreadsheets, and alphabetizing things. Very occasionally, blowing off work, but that was only for a true crisis.

“Thanks, man,” Ben said, when the bartender set the bourbon in front of them.

“So does this mean that you’ve met her? Anna Gardiner, I mean? What’s she like?”

Ben grinned as he took his first sip. Holy shit. He wasn’t going to ask how much this cost.

“She’s great. Really great. Good at her job, not a diva—except when she needs to be—really good to work with.” He put his drink down. “And, can I just say—incredibly fucking hot.”

Theo laughed.

“That sounds right—she’s pretty gorgeous on-screen; I bet she’s amazing in person.” He narrowed his eyes. “You’re flirting with her. Aren’t you?”

Here came the bossy advice, right on schedule.

“I am NOT flirting with her. Okay, fine, I am, but, like—I’m not hitting on her.”

Ben could tell Theo was fighting back a smile.

“You’re so predictable.”

His brother had a point.

“I know, but don’t worry—first of all, you know I don’t try shit with women I work with. But secondly, this is”—he lowered his voice—“Anna Fucking Gardiner. I’m not going to be that asshole who flies too close to the sun. Even though we did have a vibe going last night.”