Incompatibly Yours: Charity Anthology Supporting Fertility Research Read Free

tomorrow."
    Ryleigh offers a two-finger wave then sits up in her chair to watch her best friend walk away.
    "So," I start, dismissing the silence and getting the awkward conversation we need to have out in the open. "You and Myles."
    Ryleigh shrugs and tells the table, "Me and Myles." She takes a small drink from her bottle of beer then says, "Looks like me and you are going to be family."
    "That we are," I agree. "Though, I'm wondering…" I stop, wanting to ensure my thought comes across as I mean it to. "Why the rush?"
    She shrugs again, and this time I can see she's uncomfortable. "No rush, really."
    Ryleigh's not met my eyes once, and I ache to see her. "Look at me, Annie."
    Sighing, her gaze comes to mine. She smiles shortly and softly says, "It's been a long time since you've called me that."
    Taken off guard, I reach for understanding. "What?"
    "Annie. No one ever called me that. You used to say it to bug me when I was little," she remembers. "It's been a long time."
    "You've always been Annie to me."
    Her eyes bask in remembered hurt, then narrow. "I remember. Women don't forget the first man who…."
    "Right," I concede after she trails off. I try to keep my tone level while asking, "You're here, so where might my little brother be?"
    "He's out with his friends. I'll see him in the morning."
    I know what "out" means and it's doesn't necessarily mean with his friends . As she and Myles dated in high school, I'd catch him with other girls around town. It never mattered what I'd catch him doing with them, either. He always blew it off, telling me those girls meant nothing and justifying it as if Ryleigh wouldn't care. I wonder if he's up to much of the same tonight.
    "So, you graduated?" I question, hoping for light conversation to keep her talking.
    "You were invited to the ceremony," she replies. "But you didn't come. I thought you would because it was for Myles, too."
    I didn't go. And for obvious reasons. Even after all these years of tolerating the fact she belongs to my brother, I knew watching her graduate and move on with her life would instill further distance, and I didn't want any part of it.
    "I'm sorry. I don't have a good reason."
    Her disappointment is obvious. "I didn't think you'd come anyway, but wanted you to know you were welcome."
    "I heard you're staying with your parents until the wedding," I tell her. "They never change, do they?"
    Truly smiling for the first time, she agrees. "No, they don't. As long as I'm still unmarried and living in Summer's Bay, I'm staying with them."
    "I got Myles," I remind her. "He brought all his shit in yesterday."
    "He told me he'd asked you. I wasn't sure you'd say yes. He can be…."
    "An asshole, but you probably knew that." My voiced feelings for my brother have made her tense.
    Her mouth shuts in a tight line as she picks the label from her beer. "He's not always an asshole," she defends. "He's not to me, anyway."
    Deciding I'd rather not talk about Myles, more so her and Myles together, I throw caution to the wind and ask, "You wanna get out of here?"
    Her eyes grow wide as her lips part. And hell if I don't appreciate the blush that comes next.
    "Out of here with you?"
    "Why not? I brought the truck."
    As she grins wide, I know I've got her. She always loved my truck. "The old red one?"
    " Aged , Ry," I correct her, standing and reaching for her chair. "Don't call my baby girl old. She hates when you make fun of her."
    "Old. Aged. They mean the same," she says. "Besides, she knows I love her."
    "Right."
    Cautiously, she asks, "Can I drive?"
    My eyebrows lift and for a brief moment I don't think she's serious. "You want to drive my truck?"
    "Yes. I'll be good."
    "No," I answer. "My truck, I'll drive."
    Ryleigh humphs, but stands as I take the back of her chair. She reaches for her purse just as the voice of trouble calls.
    "Chase! There you are. I've been looking everywhere." Coming at us fast is the woman I've been dating for the past two months. We're not