Regina sat back slowly. Even hearing Romeo’s squealing laughter, which usually made her smile, couldn’t shake the ugly feeling she suddenly had. Valerie had called her back and told her more? She glanced up at the stairway and listened for the shower. It was still going.

“Belly Bell?” she started very apprehensively, but if she got all the information she needed to know from her sister, maybe she could avoid having to have this conversation with Brandon at all. “I’m almost afraid to ask, so please be gentle with how you lay it on me, okay?”

“What?” Bell asked, no longer laughing and also sounding as nervous as Regina.

“All he told me,” she said, lowering her voice when she heard the shower upstairs turn off and she got off the sofa, “is that they had a moment—a kiss.”

She heard the bathroom door open upstairs, so she started for the front door. Once outside, she continued. “He said she took it back right after and that was it.” She squeezed her eyes shut, afraid to ask her next question, but she had to. “What else did he leave out?”

Bell exhaled dramatically, and Regina knew that wasn’t good, so she held her breath, chewing the corner of her bottom lip. “Okay, so she called me back to tell me what she couldn’t say in front of Alex. Sarah told her it was a little more than a kiss. But you can’t say anything, Gina. Sofia confessed this to Sarah only. Her brothers and especially Eric don’t know this.”

Feeling the same irrational anger she’d felt on that ride home begin to simmer inside her, Regina gripped the phone. “How much more? Did they sleep together?”

“No,” Bell said quickly. “Well, at least I don’t think so.” Bell lowered her voice as Regina braced herself. “Valerie said it was an actual slip that Sarah even told her what Sofia had shared with her. Apparently, it’d been so long since Sarah had even thought about Brandon after you guys left Sunday, she and Valerie started talking about the incredible coincidence and how awkward it was to see Brandon for a moment there. Then Sarah mentioned how guilty Sofia had felt about the whole thing back then. Hold on,” Bell said and went quiet for a moment. Regina heard a door close and suddenly Romeo’s screeching was gone. “I came out onto the porch because I don’t want Romero to hear. Anyway, Valerie said when she asked Sarah why Sofia felt so guilty over just a kiss it was as if it dawned on Sarah that she hadn’t actually told Valerie everything. She made Valerie swear not to say anything, but even then, Valerie said it seemed as if Sarah backpedaled and toned it down. All she said was that the kiss Sofie and Brandon shared was a little longer than she’d first admitted. It actually took place in his bedroom, and Sofie confessed to Sarah that she enjoyed it more than she should have. Val says she thinks maybe there was more to the story, but it was obvious Sarah felt bad about what she’d already let slip.”

Bell paused for a moment, and the very thought sunk into the frothing cesspool of jealousy at the pit of Regina’s stomach. Of course Sofia enjoyed Brandon’s kisses—but maybe there’d been more?

“What Sarah did tell her, and again, this was strictly between her and Sofie, was that before Brandon reported back to duty,” Bell paused again almost as if she hesitated to go on but then she did, “she ran into him one last time, and he told her he was in love with her.”

The door opened behind Regina, and she turned to see Brandon standing there shirtless and wearing a pair of basketball shorts ,the kind he always put on at night before getting in bed and stripping down to nothing. This look usually excited her, but at the moment, she felt nothing but utter seething jealousy.

“Hey,” he said, looking a bit perplexed. “I thought I heard the door close. Why are you out here?”

Val says she thinks maybe there was more to the story. He told her he was in love with her.

Regina pointed at her phone but said nothing as Bell’s words played back over and over in her head. Brandon’s brows came together for a moment before he nodded and went back inside.

“Was she in love with him too?” she whispered as soon as the door closed.

“Shit! I didn’t even think to ask,” Bell said, sounding irritated with herself. “I think Valerie would’ve mentioned it, but Gina you have to promise you won’t say anything to Brandon. Valerie said it was obvious Sarah felt very uncomfortable about having let it slip. The only reason Valerie even told me is because, like me, she agreed if it were her it would definitely be something she’d want to know, and she thought you should.”

“I won’t say anything to him about that.” Regina assured her, though she wasn’t making any promises. “Is there anything else?”

“No, that’s it. Honey, you’re not upset, are you? It really was a long time ago.”

“No, no.” Regina shook her head. “I’m fine. It was a long time ago, but like you said, it’s better to know everything upfront, right?”

The call was cut short when Romeo’s squealing started up again and it turned into whining. Bell had to tend to him. Regina was getting ready to pull the plug anyway. She knew Brandon was probably already wondering why she’d taken the call outside—something she hadn’t done once since they’d been staying with each other.

She walked back in to find him sitting on the sofa. It immediately felt odd because he was just sitting there doing nothing but waiting, yet already he appeared on edge.

“How’s your dad?” he asked.

“Better, I guess.”

He sat up closer to the edge of the sofa and patted the spot next to him, but she turned the opposite way toward the kitchen table to put her things down.

“What do you mean you guess? Something wrong?”

With her back to him, she took off the light sweater she wore, placing it on the chair and was startled when she felt him touch her. She turned with a flinch, and he backed away, looking at her confused.

Regina shook her head, bringing her hand to her forehead then reached out and touched his arm lightly. “I’m sorry. I was just . . .”

“What happened?” He reached for her hand, slipping his into it, and searched her eyes. “What’s wrong?” He glanced back at the door. “Who was that you were on the phone with out there?”

“My sister, Bell,” she said, already changing her mind about bringing up Sofia.

She hated how instantly things felt tense because she was incapable of hiding the unease that the revelation of knowing he’d been in love with Sofia made her feel. Regardless of what else might’ve happened in his bedroom that had Sofia feeling so guilty, it shouldn’t matter. It was a long time ago. Regina had been in love before him too, but it did matter because she couldn’t forget how, even after all this time, Sofia’s presence alone could change his demeanor so drastically.

He was still staring at her, waiting for more. “I just wanted to ask her one last thing about Dad before I called it a night.”

Clearly that answer was not satisfactory because he continued to peer at her suspiciously. “Did something happen today?” he asked, looking down at her hands, and she clenched them in case they did the stupid shaking thing when she was feeling unnerved.

Too chicken to just address the damn subject of Sofia, she shook her head.

“I was getting worried,” he said. “You were gone later tonight than the other nights.”

His eyes appeared to still be searching for some kind of clue in hers. If he looked too deeply, he just might find it because the visual of him and Sofia gazing at each other the way they had at the gathering, coupled with Bell and Alex’s words that were now roaring in her ears, was going to give her away.

“No,” she said as casually as she could. “Valerie and Alex were there tonight, so I sat and talked with them and my sisters a little longer.”

The tiny flicker in his eyes and his nodding seemed to indicate that answered something, but his eyes continued to scrutinize her. “Maybe next time you drop me a text and let me know you’ll be a little late? If you hadn’t been here by the time I got out of the shower, I was gonna call you and see if you were okay.”