Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 95080 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95080 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
“I want to come home, Tracy.”
I cleared my throat, and when I did, Katie drifted away from me, giving me space. “I heard you’ve got a nice place in Pacific Heights with your new salary bump. Why would you want to come back to Noe Valley with me?” I sounded petulant, I was sure, but my arm hurt.
“You know why.”
And I almost got sucked in; I was that close to tumbling into the trap of the same old argument, the familiar back-and-forth. But I stopped myself before it escalated, because even though my brother’s ex-partner, Cord Nolan, didn’t think my brain worked, it most certainly did. And wasn’t that an odd thought… What was that about? Why was I thinking about Cord right now?
“Tracy, please, just listen to me. You know we need to…”
I checked out of the conversation, losing track of what he was saying because why in the world had Cord Nolan popped into my—
“Tracy!” he yelled.
Shit. “Yes,” I replied automatically because it was the polite thing to do and I was my father’s child. “I’m here and I’m fine,” I soothed him, lying, my voice cracking a little with how scared I still was. The adrenaline had left by the time the police arrived, and I couldn’t seem to stop shaking. “No worries.”
He huffed out a breath. “But I do worry. I’ll leave for the airport now and—”
“Where are you?”
“I’m in Chicago. I’m supposed to be here until Friday, but—”
“Are you there on business?” I asked before I could stop myself, regretting it instantly.
“Of course I’m here on business!” he snapped defensively, and I understood I’d triggered that. He was reacting to my blurted question. And it would’ve never occurred to me to ask before that day in May, when I came home early from my five-day family reunion and found him fucking his friend and fellow attending, Sean Granger, on our couch. I had left my dad and my brothers in Tahoe because I had missed my partner. He hadn’t been able to get the time off—an ER doctor’s schedule was not his own. But it turned out he had the weekend off. My fairy tale had ended right that second, and now all I could think about was how beautifully it had begun.
People were forever looking at us, the gorgeous, hot blond doctor and his…assistant? No one ever looked at us and thought, oh yeah, they fit, they’re a couple. When you saw most couples, it was easy to spot the connection, but not with us. And I actually loved that. I loved the way eyebrows would rise when the most breathtaking man in the room passed everyone else up to reach me. I got a charge out of it every time. It was an ego boost that was very high school, but I didn’t care. Sometimes after a few drinks—bravery by bottle—we would get asked, How? When what they meant was, what had made Breckin Alcott ever stop and look at a plain guy like Tracy Brandt?
“He had to stop,” I always said. “I was bleeding, after all.”
“No.” Breckin would grin—the one that made his eyes sparkle—and then he’d run his fingers through my hair. “It was his sense of humor. I’m in thrall to his laugh.”
My sense of humor runs to the absurd, and it was that, above all else, that drew him to me. I had never stopped traffic; I did, however, stop Breckin Alcott in his tracks.
On that fateful day, almost three years ago, I was on my way to work, late, as usual, with the four other people I carpooled with, when we were hit by another car. It was one of those accidents where the person at fault is easily recognizable, as well as the victim—the latter being the five of us. The car rolled over what felt like seventy-five times but I guessed was actually only once. We ended up on a hill.
Now, the hill part is relative when you’re talking about San Francisco. People call them hills, but they go straight up and straight down, so the angle can be more precarious than the word hill implies. Everyone got out but me and my friend Matt. That was okay with me as he was, and remains to this day, one of my favorite people in the world. The two of us were on the crushed side, so we were pinned in there pretty good. I heard him start to breathe a little weird, so I asked him if this little fix we presently found ourselves in was going to keep him from his hot date later on.
“Oh shit,” he swore from the front seat. “I do have a date tonight, don’t I?”
“Yes,” I said, then added a leer to my voice, “with the hot sportscaster.”
“Tracy, honey, that man is so fine.” He sighed, turning his head to look at me. “And the package was lookin’—oh, Jesus, your eye’s bleeding!”