My Best Friend's Brother

by Mia Madison

Claire dumped the little bottles of shampoo and moisturizer on the bed and then rushed over to hug me. “It’s my grandma. She had a heart attack.”

  “Oh, no,” I said, as Claire flew into my arms, her tears renewed. “That’s awful. Do you—do you know how she’s doing?”

  “We don’t know much. She was in the emergency room when Aunt Maureen called, but they were planning on taking her to the ICU. If she—you know—if she… makes it.”

  “I’m so sorry.” I patted Claire on the back, stunned by her news. I’d met her grandmother—Mrs. Grant’s mother—dozens of times over the year. She was old, but she’d always seemed like a strong, rather formidable woman. Though she’d never shown the warmth that Claire’s mother did, she’d always had a soft spot for Claire, her only granddaughter. “She’s a strong woman.”

  “I know.” Claire’s face was buried in my hair. “But a heart attack… it’s just so scary.” She pulled away from me. “I have to pack. Dad says we have to leave for the airport in ten minutes to make our flight home.”

  “Oh my God, ten minutes? I’ll never make it in time.” I rushed over to pull my suitcase out of the closet.

  Claire grabbed my arm as I passed. “No, it’s just the three of us going back.”

  For a moment, I stared at her blankly. “What?”

  “Dad could only get three tickets last minute like that. And besides, she’s not your grandmother. You can still stay and enjoy the trip.”

  “But…” I trailed off. As much as I was enjoying the trip so far, I couldn’t imagine being here without the Grants. “But… by myself?”

  “You won’t be by yourself. Parker’s staying, too.”

  Parker? The one who’d been ditching us every chance he’d gotten so far? “But… what does he say about all this?”

  Claire’s face fell even as she continued packing at top speed. “I texted him, but he hasn’t responded either.”

  “So you’re just leaving him here?”

  “Not leaving him. He’s a grown man. And you’re a grown woman. The trip’s all planned, the hotel and rail passes are paid for. You can take a vacation with two people as easily as five.”

  “But… won’t he be…” I wasn’t even sure how to finish that sentence. I didn’t want to admit that Parker might be less than pleased to find himself suddenly chaperoning his kid sister’s friend.

  “He’ll be fine. He can’t stand grandma, and she doesn’t like him, either. He wouldn’t want to fly home for this.”

  A new voice made us both turn.

  “Claire, we have to go.” Mrs. Grant stood in the doorway, her eyes red as well. “Oh, good, Lanie, you’re here.”

  “Mrs. Grant, I’m so sorry about your mother.”

  “I know, dear,” she gave me a half hug with her free hand. In her other hand, she held a large black folder. “I’m sorry we have to rush, but everything is in here.” She handed the thick folder to me. “The rail passes, the itinerary, the vouchers for all the cable cars and museum and, well, pretty much everything. And the travel agent’s info is in there, too. If you have any problems, you can just call her and she’ll take care of everything. Well, you can call us, too, but I’m not sure if we’ll be able to pick up in the hospital…”

  Her voice broke down, and I knew that this wasn’t the time to burden her with my doubts about doing all of this without them. I didn’t know anything about the trains, or buses, and quite frankly, I didn’t have all that much experience about even normal travel situations like taxis and fancy hotels. But this wasn’t about me. “I’ll keep your mother in my prayers.”

  “Thank you, Lanie. You’re such a good girl. Don’t worry about us—you just enjoy the trip. I know how eager you are to get up in the mountains.” She whirled around and picked up Claire’s carryon. “You’ve got all our numbers, right, dear?”

  “Of course she does, mom.”

  “Right, of course.” Mrs. Grant paused on her way out the door and looked at me. “Be sure to give Parker a copy of the itinerary. And his rail pass. And tell him… tell him I’m sorry we had to rush off like this.”

  I nodded. She looked like she meant it. I knew that she and Parker didn’t always get along, but in the last few years, she’d made more of an effort to be respectful toward him. It was probably easier now that he wasn’t living under her roof, chafing at every rule the Grants made. And Mrs. Grant looked genuinely concerned for him now.

  “I will.”

  She hurried out, and Claire came over to hug me before she left. I opened my mouth, but she cut me off. “I know this isn’t what we planned, but you can still have an amazing trip. Find Parker. Tell him what happened. Maybe now that we’re gone, he won’t run off so much. You guys should have a good time. This is our graduation trip, so go out there and celebrate. Don’t worry about us.”

  That was a little easier said than done, especially since I had no idea where Parker was, but for Claire’s sake I nodded. “Text me when you land.”

  “Will do.”

  She shut the door behind her as she left, and I sat down heavily on the bed. It had all happened so fast. One moment I was on the trip of a lifetime with my best friend, and now I was on it alone. Well, not alone… but the only other Grant left didn’t seem to have much interest in sticking together. With a shaking finger, I flipped open the folder. Inside were at least twenty pages and all sorts of envelopes holding tickets and who knew what else. I flipped through a few pages but other than the itinerary and the rail passes, I couldn’t figure out what anything else was. At least not now when my mind was still reeling.

  Carefully, I shut the folder, feeling a bit desperate. The logical part of my brain knew that I’d be okay. I could figure this out. Claire and poor Mrs. Grant were the ones who had reason to be upset.

  As for me, I was on the vacation of my dreams with the man of my dreams. That was the glass-is-half-full version of things. But on the half-empty side, the aforementioned man of my dreams didn’t seem to want to have anything to do with me. And I had no idea how he’d react when I found him. If I found him.

  Which probably depended on whether or not he wanted to be found.

  Lanie

  When I woke up the next morning, there was a text from Claire saying that they’d landed and were on the way to the hospital. It didn’t say anything about the condition of her grandmother.

  It had felt strange last night being alone in the room. Except for school holidays, Claire and I had shared a room every night for the last four years. I wasn’t used to staying by myself, especially in an unfamiliar place.

  Last night, I’d been too bemused by the sudden change of circumstance to eat dinner, but after showering and getting dressed, my stomach was starting to rumble.

  After loading my backpack with Mrs. Grant’s black folder, my guidebook, and a map, I headed down to the restaurant. As I stepped off the elevator, I hesitated for a moment. It was a fancy restaurant in an expensive hotel. Would I be expected to pay for it now that the Grants were gone?

  Moving off to the side, I tried to recall the end of dinner the night before last. Had Mr. Grant actually paid a bill or had it been charged to their account? I couldn’t remember. Hmm. Maybe I should go find something cheap like a muffin… or yum, one of those pumpkin seed pretzels. That thought made my stomach growl again. But I didn’t know where to buy either of those things.

  Making my decision, I headed toward the restaurant. Even if it was expensive, I could at least sit down and look through all the things in the travel folder while I ate. Then maybe I could try to find something cheap for lunch.

  A waitress met me at the entryway. Since it was after nine, the restaurant was fairly empty, and as I followed the server, I saw a familiar figure out of the corner of my eye. Parker looked up as we neared, seeing the waitress first before spotting me behind her.

  “Morning, Lanie.” The chair across from him slid out a little, seemingly on its own. He must have shoved it with his foot. To the waitress, he said, “She’s
with me.”

  Setting my bag down on the other chair, I sat across from him, my head down to hide my blush. I know he hadn’t meant anything special by it, but it still felt good to have Parker indicate that we were together in any way.

  The waitress handed me a menu, and I ordered some tea. After she left, I finally looked up at Parker. He was halfway done with a large plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, and toast.

  His eyes followed my gaze, and he chuckled. “When I’m traveling overseas, I’m more than willing to try the local cuisine for lunch and dinner. But given the choice, I’ll always pick a massive, artery-clogging, western-style breakfast whenever possible.”

  I started to smile, but then my jaw dropped a little.

  Parker flinched as if he’d just realized what he’d just said. “Crap, I didn’t even think. I’m not trying to make light of her heart attack.”

  “I know,” I said quickly. “I wasn’t sure if you’d heard.”

  He shrugged in a self-defeating way and picked up his fork. “Say what you want about my family, but when they run off in the middle of the night and leave me behind, they at least have the decency to text.”

  My heart went out to him even though I wasn’t sure if I was imagining the pain behind his cavalier words. “It wasn’t like that. They wanted to find you, but there wasn’t time. It was only by sheer luck that I got back in time. Ten minutes later and I would’ve shown up to an empty room.”

  Parker raised an eyebrow. “Where were you? Boozing it up at the hotel bar?”

  “Writing postcards down in the lobby.” I flushed at his chuckle. I wished I could’ve given him a different answer. It was almost like my self-consciousness was determined to show him that I was still the little girl in pigtails that he first met. Trying to change the subject, I said, “Have you heard anything else about your grandmother?”

  “She’s not my grandmother.” Parker’s growl made me wince. Mentally, I scolded myself. I knew they didn’t get along. I really needed to really start thinking before speaking when it came to him. “She’s treated me like a bastard, both literally and figuratively, since the day my dad met Susan.” Susan was Mrs. Grant’s first name.

  “I got a text from Claire a little while ago saying that they’d landed.”

  “Guess it’s good that one of us is in the loop.” He spread butter on a toast triangle and then added a spoonful of something orange that looked like marmalade. Then he handed it to me. “It’s not a giant pretzel, but you look hungry.”

  His preparing my toast made me feel eight years old, but I took it and thanked him because it had been sweet of him. Though I wonder what about my expression made him think I wanted to eat something. Because food definitely wasn’t the only thing I was hungry for.

  The waitress came, and I ordered eggs and a croissant. I wasn’t sure what a traditional Swiss breakfast was, but the croissant, at least, sounded European.

  “And bacon,” Parker added. I handed the menu to the waitress and raised an eyebrow at him. “I’ll finish whatever you don’t.”

  While waiting for my food, I opened my bag and pulled out the travel folder. “Here’s a copy of the itinerary.”

  “Thanks,” Parker said. He folded it twice and then put it in his pocket without looking at it. He was wearing a long-sleeve brown shirt that somehow made his green eyes look brighter.

  “First up today is the Swiss National Museum.”

  He finished up his eggs and the last of his bacon. I hoped he had room for more, because there was no way I was going to eat more than one piece. “What’s at the Swiss National Museum?”

  “I’m not really sure.” Flipping open my guidebook to a page I’d marked with a Post-it note, I found a picture of a large building with several towers and spires. I turned the book around and slid it across the table.

  “Looks like Hogwarts,” was his only comment.

  I laughed. “That’s what I told Claire the first time I saw that picture.” Pulling the book back, I read from the page. “The National Museum has collections of art from the Middle Ages up to the twentieth century.” Parker grunted in a noncommittal way, so I continued skimming the entry. “Let’s see… there’s also a feature on Swiss Furniture and an armor display, and Swiss coins from the fourteenth century on. We’ve got passes to get in and to attend a guided tour in English. Parker?” His eyes were closed for some reason.

  “What? Sorry. I fell asleep somewhere around the part about art from the Middle Ages.” He was teasing me, but somehow he still looked hot as hell, blinking and brushing his hair back from his forehead as if he’d just gotten up. Briefly, I wondered what it would be like to wake up next to Parker. No way I’d ever find that out, though. “Lanie?”

  “Yeah, uh, just thinking about something else.”

  “Whatever it was, you were smiling—so I’m pretty sure it wasn’t about Swiss furniture.”

  “I think there’s other stuff there, too,” I said a bit defensively to cover my embarrassment. Quickly, I ran my finger down the page. “There’s a diorama of the Battle of Murten.”

  “And who wouldn’t want to see that?”

  He had a point there. The word “diorama” brought forth images of grade school projects consisting of little Popsicle-stick people in shoeboxes made to look like important historical events. And that was boring enough even in one’s own country.

  I took a deep breath. “If you don’t want to do that, we could do something else. In the lobby last night, I heard someone talking about Uetliberg. It’s only an hour’s train ride away, and we’ve got the rail passes. I’m sure the concierge or someone could tell us how—”

  “What’s Uetliberg? And I sincerely hope your answer doesn’t include the phrase ‘fourteenth century’.”

  I couldn’t help smiling at the look on his face. Guess there was a reason why he’d majored in business, not history. “It’s that huge hill on the edge of town. Maybe you’ve seen it in the distance? There’s a lookout tower you can climb. The view’s supposed to be spectacular.”

  He didn’t answer but glanced up as the waitress appeared beside us with my food. Parker stole a piece of bacon before she’d even set the plate on the table in front of me. He finished the entire strip of bacon before answering. “Don’t know why we need to go on an hour’s train ride away. The view’s pretty spectacular down here, too.”

  The eggs I’d just scooped up fell off my fork. He meant the view of Zurich from the hotel, right? Not—he couldn’t have… he couldn’t have meant me. Then I mentally shook my head to clear my mind. Of course, he meant the view of Zurich. He had to have.

  He continued on. “At least the museum is close by, right?”

  I swallowed the bite of eggs I’d finally managed to get to my mouth. “Yes, I think it’s by the train station. That’s walking distance, isn’t it?” We hadn’t walked the first night, but we’d had all our luggage then.

  “I think so.”

  “Okay. We probably need to leave pretty soon to get there in time for the guided tour in English.”

  “Tell you what. Why don’t you go, and later on, I’ll copy your notes.”

  “What?” I stared at him as he helped himself to another slice of bacon. “You’re not coming?”

  “Guided tours aren’t really my thing.”

  “But we could do something else—“

  “You should go,” Parker said firmly. “You’re the genius. This is your kind of thing.”

  Was I supposed to be insulted or flattered by that? If I really were a genius, I’d probably know. But either way, it equaled a rejection. Or at least that’s what it felt like. Parker didn’t want to spend the day with me. It didn’t matter how many things I suggested if he didn’t want to hang out together.

  Hastily, I blinked back the moisture that had formed on my lower lash line, but Parker’s attention had shifted to the waitress who’d come to refresh his coffee. He asked her to put our meals on the room account, so that was one thing less to worry
about right now. Which was good because my mind was full of disappointment.

  Taking one last piece of bacon, Parker winked at me. “Just because stepmother and daddy-dearest aren’t here doesn’t mean they can’t still foot the bill.”

  “Right,” I said, trying my best to keep my voice steady.

  He stood up. “Have fun today. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

  “Like go to a Swiss National Museum?”

  He cocked his head and grinned. “Okay, I guess that was a pretty dumb thing to say. But those kinds of things are more your scene than mine. Have fun.”

  Have fun. Just not with him. I supposed I should’ve told him to have fun, too, but his way of fun apparently didn’t include me. It hadn’t been just the museum—he hadn’t wanted to go up to the lookout, either.

  If this was going to how it was from here on out, the week left in our trip was going to be very long.

  And very lonely.

  I ended up skipping half the guided tour. The museum was fascinating, but the English-language tour had consisted of me, an American family of four, and a British couple who didn’t seem to understand our guide’s accent very well. The man kept asking me to repeat what the docent was saying in a loud and slow voice. It was my first time translating English to English, and I felt super awkward. Plus, speaking loudly in a museum felt about as wrong as in the library. Therefore, right in the middle of the Swiss Furniture display, I faked a headache and excused myself.

  For a while, I looked around on my own, but then around lunchtime, I left.

  The museum was between the main train station and a park along the river. It hadn’t been difficult to find this morning. A man at the front desk had given me easy directions to the train station. He also said that when in doubt, follow the trolleys, which turned out to be good advice. The museum, a massive structure that still looked a bit like Hogwarts even up close had been easy to spot.

  The sunshine felt good on my arms and face after the museum which had been on the chilly side. Feeling like a proper European, I walked back to the train station and bought some bread, cheese, and a soda for lunch. Back at the park, I found a bench by the river and sat down to eat. It was a beautiful day. The river was pretty and blue, and boats full of tourists and the occasional water taxi passed by. Smiling, I waved at a little boy on the one of the tour boats.