“No, I hadn’t.”
“I was scared.”
“So was I.”
“I know.”
He nodded once.
Then left with Tyler.
Michael stayed.
We talked until almost midnight.
I didn’t forgive him.
Not that night.
For months afterward, our relationship moved slowly.
A phone call.
Coffee.
Another argument.
Another apology.
Then silence for a week.
Noah struggled too.
He and Tyler ended their romantic relationship immediately.
There wasn’t even a discussion about that.
They were first cousins.
Neither had known.
For a while, they avoided each other because neither knew what else to do.
Eventually, though, they started talking again.
Not as boyfriends.
As two people who’d been dropped into the same impossible family story.
Six months later, I walked into my kitchen and found them arguing over a video game.
“No way,” Tyler said. “You cheated.”
“You’ve been losing since we met.”
“That was before I knew we shared DNA.”
Noah looked at me.
