The wheels were turning in my head. What could it possibly be?
“I’m confused.”
“I know. There is still a lot that is unknown, even to us. But please be patient with him. He’ll tell you when he’s ready. I know he will. Don’t give up on him. Wait for him if you can. That is…if you really want to be with him.”
“I have wanted to be with him from almost the very beginning—from the night of the toaster oven fire. I felt a connection stronger than anything I’d ever felt before.”
Ty’s mouth curved into a smile. “That was the night he set you up on that dating site, right?”
“Yes. He told you about that?”
“I’m so gonna go to hell for this.”
“What?”
He took his phone out. “I’m gonna show you a text he sent me that night. Give me a minute because I have to go through my messages. At the time, I remember thinking it was funny as hell and so unlike him to be saying the shit he was. Let me find it.”
As Ty scrolled through his phone, my heart was palpitating. This felt like an invasion of Damien’s privacy, but Lord knows I wasn’t a newbie in that arena. I was dying to know what he’d said about me.
“Okay.” He faced the screen toward me. “Here. Look.”
I took the phone from him and read their exchange.
Damien: I’m so fucked.
Ty: What’s up?
Damien: I’m SO fucked.
Ty: What the hell is going on?
Damien: The blonde I told you about next door.
Ty: You sleep with her?
Damien: No.
Ty: What happened?
Damien: SO fucked.
Ty: Bad? Or good?
Damien: SO fucked.
Ty: Yeah, I got that.
Damien: She almost burned down the building.
Ty: WTF?
Damien: Toaster fire. I put it out. Everything’s fine. She came over after.
Ty: And now there’s a fire in your pants? LMAO.
Damien: Basically. Yeah. She’s gorgeous. But it’s not just that. She’s amazing. Sweet as hell. Honest. No bullshit. What you see is what you get.
Ty: So this is good!
Damien: No. I can’t mess around with her.
Ty: Why not?
Damien: She’s a good girl, already had her heart broken once by some asswipe.
Ty: Why can’t you date her?
Damien: How many times have we talked about this?
Ty: It’s bullshit.
Damien: I set her up on a dating site.
Ty: That’s fucked up. You’re crazy about her and you set her up to date other men?
Damien: I had to do something. She scares the shit out of me.
Ty: I’ve never heard you say that before.
Damien: You probably never will again.
Ty: Well, damn.
That was the end of the exchange.
My hand was shaking as I held his phone. While I felt a little guilty for prying into his personal messages, my heart felt like it was going to burst. It overwhelmed me to know that Damien had experienced all the same things I’d felt that night. Our chemistry had been off the charts. That confirmed it wasn’t my imagination. Even though he’d left me feeling so rejected at the time, there was apparently more to it than simple disinterest.
Ty took the phone from me. “You never saw that, okay? And we never had this conversation, either. It’s just…when I found out you were moving, I knew I really needed to say something to you. I love my brother more than anything. I don’t like going behind his back like this, but ultimately, I feel it’s for his own good.”
“What do you suggest I do?”
“I think you should continue with your plans. If I know Damien, he’ll come to realize the mistake he’s made some time after you’re gone. Just continue to be his friend. I can’t guarantee he’ll come to his senses, but I suspect it will really hit him once you’re not around anymore.”
“I can’t say I necessarily agree that he’ll come around if he hasn’t already, but I won’t stop being his friend. Ever. I never planned to. Living practically on top of each other, though, is just too much for me under the circumstances. So, that’s why I’m moving.”
“I get that. You know, even though we’re a lot alike…deep down, Damien is more like our mother—complex and emotional, like how he expresses himself through his art. Those images. What do they even all mean, you know? I guarantee you there is meaning to each and every one of them. I’m more like our dad was, laid back and easier to read.” He looked down to check the time on his phone. “I’d better go before he hears me. Remember, this visit never happened.”
“What visit?” I joked.
It was difficult to get to sleep after Tyler left. Even though his revelation filled me with newfound hope, it wasn’t enough to totally convince me that things with Damien would ever change.