I nodded. “Maybe Hank will make an appearance.” I looked at the nursery door expectantly.
Kit followed my eyes and laughed. “A ghost cat or an imaginary one?”
I smiled. “Both. Since moving in here, we allow him to go outside. He makes rare appearances, but a portion of his kibble is gone each morning.”
Voices from the first floor drifted into the nursery. So far, no shouting or door slamming.
Kit studied my face and then leaned in. “Does Peter treat everyone with such disdain or just…?” He paused, and scouted over his shoulder with the skill of a Nazi spy, hardly showing his true intention. “Or just people like us?” He stressed the word us.
“Uh, Peter can be a bit much at times. I wouldn’t take it personally.” I placed a hand on his shoulder. Why wasn’t Sarah here? She’d know how to handle this conversation. I was better at analyzing the downsides of the Versailles Treaty and how it led to the rise of Hitler and World War II than I was at explaining why my only sibling was a complete asshole.
Kit plucked up the plush sea otter Peter had mangled earlier and fluffed it back into recognizable form. “So cute.” He tickled the toy’s belly. “My friends call me Otter. You know what I mean?” He exaggerated a wink.
I smiled, remembering the otters at the Denver Zoo and how I could watch them for hours, at peace and happy. “I do. Deep down, we’re all otters.” I motioned to him, the stuffed animal, and then tapped my chest.
Kit’s face screwed up into a question mark, but then his facial muscles relaxed. “Yeah, right.” He nodded. “We are, aren’t we?”
Peels of laugher from downstairs caught my attention, and even though I was one floor up, I distinctly made out Sarah’s SOS laughter.
“We should head downstairs.” I motioned to the door.
“Rescue Sarah.” Kit grinned.
“Exactly. We’re definitely on the same page.”
***
“Who’s this?” Maddie’s attention locked on to my new buddy Kit, or should I say Otter?
“Maddie, I’d like you to meet Tie-Fannie’s brother Kit.” Like a salesperson on a showroom floor, Sarah waved across the library as if Kit was the most expensive and special item in the joint.
“Hi, Kit.” Maddie sashayed toward him and grasped his hand delicately, not her usual crushing clutch to test someone’s moxie. Was that one of Peter’s dating criteria? Blondes with the grip of death?
Kit placed one palm over their conjoined hands. “It’s lovely to meet such a bewitching creature.” He stared into Maddie’s Mediterranean blue eyes.
Maddie blushed. Another first.
“You’re the one Peter let get away?” Kit squared his shoulders.
Peter, for a brief moment, lost his usual swagger, but then raging emotion flared in his eyes.
Tiffany jumped into the fray, sidestepping the Peter storm. “Now, Kit, don’t be naughty. It all worked out for the best.” She affixed her arm on her husband’s. Peter didn’t physically shake her off, but his stiffened spine and condescending sniff indicated not all had worked out according to his plan.
Maddie’s genuine smile conveyed much. “Tiffany’s right.” She turned to Peter, and her cat-that-ate-the-canary smile quickly became saccharine. “It worked out for everyone.”
“Tie-Fannie,” Tiffany corrected.
Maddie eyeballed the airhead. “I’m sorry?”
“My name. It’s pronounced Tie-Fannie.” She bounced on the balls of her feet like a child waiting in line for a carnival ride.
“Oh.” Maddie’s blue eyes queried Sarah’s face to see whether Tiffany was fucking with her. Sarah’s gaze pleaded Play nice.
“Is it all right if I call you Tie?”
“Of course. That’s what my girlfriends call me.” Tiffany dropped Peter’s arm in a flash and hooked her arm through Maddie’s, drawing her out of the library, destination unknown.
Maddie surveyed over her shoulder, shell-shocked. I waved and mouthed, “Toodles.” It was nice to see someone else as perplexed by the woman as I was. Right then and there, I decided to refer to her as Tie, a much more palatable choice than her hideous pronunciation.
Peter marched to the bar to refill his bourbon.
Kit followed him with his eyes, no doubt relishing seeing the usually commanding Peter off-kilter. “So, Peter, do you always have a backup girl wherever you go?”
Peter raised his glass and swallowed half, quickly pouring more Blanton’s into the tumbler and alleviating my fear that the booze would be wasted. I should thank Maddie later. I was intrigued to know why she’d shown up tonight, knowing Peter and Tie were here.
“Maddie’s a good friend of ours, always popping by when least expected.” Sarah threw me an accusatory look, but I gave a slight shrug of Don’t blame me. I only called her to find out what kind of bourbon to buy Peter. Not once did I say, “You know, it’d be wonderful for you to stop by and say hi to the man you jilted an hour before the two of you were supposed to tie the knot for life.”
“She’s the most beautiful woman.” Kit’s attempt to needle Peter worked like a charm.
“Hands off!” he shouted. Realizing his error, he squared his shoulders and added, “You’re engaged, remember?”
Kit waved him off. “We haven’t set a date.” He flicked a piece of lint off his shoulder. “No reason not to test the waters, ensure I’m making the right choic—”
“The right choice about what?” Tie and Maddie returned, and his sister released her hold on Maddie’s arm to swoop up her nearly empty wineglass from the coffee table. She promptly handed the glass off to Peter, the new waiter for the night, to refill.
“About Courtney.” Kit knocked back the dregs of his grappa.
Tie stopped in her tracks. “Are you thinking of breaking off the engagement?”
Kit motioned for Peter to refill his grappa, too, not bothering to affirm the answer, which seemed so obvious to everyone except Tie and Peter. I wasn’t the famed code breaker Alan Turing, but it didn’t take brilliance to decipher that Kit was hiding something.
Maddie thrust her hip out, pushing Peter to the side of the bar so she could pour herself a glass of merlot. Apparently, she’d decided to dig in for the night. What game was she playing? After taking a sip, she said, “In my experience, if you’re doubting the relationship, you should end it. Now.” Without a glance at her ex, she added, “I waited too long, and I suffered for it.”
“You suffered?” Peter growled. “I was the one standing in front of everyone—”
“Wait?” Kit sprang up. “Did you stand him up at the altar?”
Tie whipped her head around at spine-cracking speed to give her husband a withering look. I wondered if this was for show. Was it possible Peter had been able to keep this tidbit under wraps?
“I regret that.” Maddie placed a hand on Peter’s arm, but he brushed it off and hoisted the tumbler to his lips. “It was cruel.”
She turned to Kit. “I don’t recommend doing that. As soon as you know it’s not right, break it off. That’s what I did tonight.”
“What?” Sarah turned the word into two syllables.
“Doug asked me to marry him. I said no.” Maddie whirled the wine in the glass, looking as unsteady as the liquid sloshing inside.
“You were dating a man named Doug?” Peter’s lips curled up. “D-ou-G or Dougie?”
“Because Petey is much manlier.” Maddie held her glass to her mouth, eyebrows raised, inhaling the wine fumes.
“No one calls me Petey.”
“I did. If I remember correctly, you used to love it when I did. Or the moments when I did.”
I tried to shake off the slimy feeling of listening to this conversation between my rigid brother and my best friend—in front of Tie.
“I’m going to start calling you Petey.” Kit moved closer to Maddie, staking his claim.
“No you won’t. No one will. Ever.” Peter distanced himself,
literally, storming to the other side of the library and selecting a book off the shelves. He instantly pretended to peruse the pages.
“Do you know what I’d call you if we dated?” Maddie purred in Kit’s ear, loud enough for all to hear.
“Otter,” I said.
Kit choked on his grappa, while Sarah and Maddie reeled around to glare at me as if I’d said the absolute worst thing possible.
“What? Otters are cute and playful. Not to mention highly intelligent. They’re one of the few animals that make tools,” I rambled, trying to cover whatever blunder I’d committed.
“I like that name,” Tie cooed to her brother. “I’m going to start calling you that.”
I studied her face and detected a glimpse of malice.
Maddie and Sarah appeared ready to throttle me.
“And, you’re hairy and skinny, like an otter. You have been since birth.” Tie appraised her sibling with cold eyes, not entirely clueless to the blood rage coursing through the atmosphere.
How was I suddenly in more trouble than Peter? Not that he bothered to notice. He was still busily thumbing through the pages of the book.
Maddie regained her composure and fastened her arm on Kit’s. “I would call you Kitty.”
“Ha! That’s wimpier than Petey,” Peter said, proving he was listening and absorbing every word.
Maddie turned her back on him. “Kitty’s love other pussies, don’t they?” she purred.
I met Sarah’s eye, trying to grasp the unreal scene playing out in our library. Was I dreaming? My wife seemed just as perplexed.
Kit whispered something in Maddie’s ear, something saucy, from the way her face flushed. The two of them continued their private conversation.
Tie looked on with interest. Peter devoted his attention to the book in his hands, leafing through the pages like a mad librarian trying to locate a passage that would save the world.
Sarah cleared her throat. “Maddie, are you staying for dinner?”
For the first time, Maddie’s brazen attitude wavered. “Uh—”
“What? Do you have another man’s life you need to ruin?” Peter spoke without looking up from the pages.
I’d never considered the possibility that my brother had been in love with Maddie. I’d always thought she was just a piece of his master plan. Yet, the man in my library was acting every bit like someone who’d had his heart crushed by his one and only. I knew what it felt like to lose the one and only. When Sarah left me for weeks after I made a horrible mistake, I didn’t think I’d ever get her back. Those were the worst days of my life.
Tie looked to Peter and then to Maddie. A new energy coursed beneath the surface of those icy blue irises. I shuddered.
“Thanks for the invite, Sarah, but I should be going. I wouldn’t want to intrude on your family dinner.” Maddie downed the rest of her wine.
“Don’t be silly. You’re family.” Sarah’s words, I assumed, were meant for Peter, letting him know not to say anything snide.
He didn’t.
Maddie wavered. “No, really. I’m meeting up with some friends at a club.”
Kit whispered something in Maddie’s ear again.
“Oh, my! You’re fun!” Maddie thwacked his arm. “You’re more than welcome to join me. What do you say?”
“By all means.” He signed for Maddie to lead the way.
“What about dinner?” Tie asked.
“Que sera sera.” Kit sang a few more lines of the song.
“You can’t leave.” Peter chucked the book onto the couch, and for a moment I was unclear as to whom he was bossing around: Kit or Maddie. “I forbid it.”
Maddie smiled. “Forbid what, Petey?”
“Forbid you to leave with… with… that thing.” He stretched a finger at Kit.
“And you think you have the power to stop us?” Maddie stood closer to Kit, placing a hand on his chest. I cringed, remembering my glimpse of his chest hair.
Peter stared her down but didn’t physically try to block the exit. After the two disappeared from the room, and we heard the front door close, Peter grabbed another book from the shelf and hurled it across the room, nearly hitting Sarah.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Watch out for my pregnant wife.” Surprisingly, it was easier to rein in my older brother than I remembered.
He waved an apology to Sarah before straightening his sweater and his expertly creased trousers. “I think it’s time we left.”
“Why?” Tie asked. “Kit’s never been one for finishing things, you know that.” She met his glare with steely eyes. “Besides, we shouldn’t be rude to your sister and Sarah, who were kind enough to invite us into their home.”
I stifled a laugh with the palm of my hand. Tie had gone to great lengths to force an invite from Sarah. Was her reason just to piss off her husband?
Peter’s defeated, though still defiant, grimace indicated he had backed down.
“Shall we have dinner?” Sarah valiantly asked, barely any emotion in her voice.
I was in Peter’s camp. It was time for him to leave, but the set look on Sarah’s face made it clear I shouldn’t tell him that. My mind was racing with everything that had transpired over the past thirty minutes. It’d take me weeks to process everything.
***
“Why in the world did you out Kit in front of Tiffany and Peter, of all people?” Sarah shook her head at me as she carried a stack of dishes to the kitchen sink.
“Out him? What are you talking about?” I tailed her, my hands full with water and wineglasses.
“Otter. Ring a bell?”
“He told me his friends called him Otter. Why can’t I call him that?”
“His friends? Did he mention these friends?” Sarah melted against the kitchen counter, one hand protectively placed on her belly.
“Come on.” I pulled her arm. “You’re exhausted. Let’s sit, and then you can lecture me properly.”
She didn’t put up a fight, but as soon as her butt made contact with the chair in the TV room, she picked up where she’d left off. “Don’t you know what an otter is?”
“A mammal. Thirteen different species. Only the sea otter spends the majority of its time in the water. Many think they’re related to the beaver, but they aren’t. They’re actually distant cousins of the skunk.” I grinned at my superior knowledge. Ever since my first visit to the zoo, I’d been watching documentaries about these fascinating creatures.
Sarah’s mouth formed an O. “You really have no idea, do you?”
I collapsed on the couch, slipped my Keens off, and propped my tired feet up on the coffee table. “About what?”
“Gay men who look like Kit are called otters?”
“Ooo-kay. I didn’t know that.” My mind went into warp speed, trying to ferret out the problem. “But why does that matter?”
Her brown eyes scorched my clueless blue ones.
I pitched my hands up.
“Seriously, sometimes I wonder how you’ve been able to survive for so long. Kit’s friends call him Otter because he’s gay!” Sarah slapped the armrests of her chair.
“What are you talking about? The man is engaged, although that didn’t stop him from hitting on Maddie.”
Sarah rested her elbow against the armrest and rubbed her forehead wearily. “It took Maddie less than two seconds to figure out Kit’s situation, and she went into absolute hyper-drive to throw Peter and Tiffany off his scent. Plus, I think she enjoyed getting a few zingers in. Didn’t you wonder why she was putting on such a show with Kit in front of Peter?” Sarah sighed audibly. “Maybe I should offer classes for the clueless on how to act around normal humans. You can’t be the only one on this planet who is utterly stupid.”
“Geez, Sarah. Don’t hold back.” Although, the lessons would help me write my guidebook for the clueless, at least.
She took a deep breath and then another. “Kit may be engaged, but I’m telling you right now: h
e’s gay. He’s as gay as they come.”
“If he’s engaged, doesn’t that make him bisexual?”
“No. No, it doesn’t. It means he’s in the closet. He’s hiding his sexuality, although I suspect not from everyone.”
“From whom, then?”
Sarah leaned her head back and closed her eyes. “My guess is from his family and from Peter.”
“That’s absurd. Why would anyone in the twenty-first century hide their sexuality. It’s legal to marry now.”
“That doesn’t mean everyone is on board. Peter doesn’t exactly accept you.”
“No, but I don’t care.” I shrugged.
“Listen, we don’t know Kit well enough to understand his motive, but I do know one thing: he’s gayer than Liberace.”
“Prove it. Kit’s mint-green shirt wasn’t even close to one of Liberace’s outfits.”
“So only men in outlandish outfits are gay?”
“Of course not. But when you say he’s gayer than Liberace, it paints a picture—and that picture doesn’t match Kit.”
Sarah, too tired to argue over Kit’s sexuality, whipped out her phone and motioned for me to come over to the chair. I perched on the arm while she showed me the most recent text from Maddie, containing a photo of Maddie and Kit in a gay bar. Kit wore a tiara and was dancing with a burly man—the way you dance with someone you want to fuck.
“So I can’t call him Otter, but Maddie can post a photo of him dancing with a dude?”
The faint lines around Sarah’s eyes crinkled like they usually did when she thought I was being melodramatic. “She didn’t post it online—she sent it to me to show you. Maddie probably knew I’d have to sit down and explain a few things to you.”
“Bu-but… Peter’s just as dumb as I am. He won’t know what otter means, will he?” I sounded too hopeful.
“He probably doesn’t. But Tiffany isn’t as dumb as she pretends to be. You need to watch yourself around her, Lizzie.”
“Only gay people know, right? It’s like a secret code?”
“You’re gay, and you didn’t know, which goes to show you can’t count on people knowing things because of their so-called labels or lack of them.”
I waved her off, which she took in her stride since I had never been in tune with anything gay. I’d only known Liberace was gay because we recently watched a documentary on him.
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