SEBASTIAN
I blink and shake my head. “Sorry. What were you saying?”
Sarah rolls her eyes. “I was asking where you wanted to go for dinner. I called your name a bunch of times.”
We’re walking around East Hampton and had just passed Delia Cooper’s gift shop.
That’s why I’d lost track of what Sarah was saying.
The shop is closed, which is a rare occurrence.
I can count the number of times Delia Cooper has closed her gift shop on one hand — I hope this isn’t a sign the old woman is sick.
I don’t visit Delia as much as I should, or as much as I used to.
It isn’t just that I’m busy with the ranch -- especially with it being our most active season -- but it’s too painful to be surrounded by so many memories.
Delia Cooper is the grandmother of ‘the one that got away.’
Lana Cooper was my best friend in high school. We did everything together, and I often helped her out on weekends when she worked in her grandmother’s gift shop.
It didn’t matter that we came from two completely different worlds -- mine a rich, white family, and her a poor Caribbean-American family -- she was my everything.
By the time we graduated high school, we were more than just best friends. Lana was my first, and I honestly thought she was the one I was going to marry.
Then my world changed.
First, I lost my parents in a traffic accident. Suddenly, my oldest brother Ryan was head of the family, and he and my next oldest brother Antony struggled to take over the resort our parents had built up over the last thirty years.
Not long after my parents were killed, more tragedy befell our family, when Antony’s wife, May, was also killed in a traffic accident, leaving him alone with two infant twins.
It was a time of turmoil for our family, and throughout it all, Lana was there by my side, supporting me so I could be strong for my brothers.
Slowly, we came out the other side, and that’s when I thought mine and Lana's future together was about to begin.
I’d decided to turn my love of horses and horse riding into a way to boost the family resort, by offering riding lessons, and horseback tours around the area. I even had ideas for the future involving horse-drawn carriages for people getting married at the resort.
I thought Lana was going to be by my side for every step.
Lana was a brilliant artist, and her work was finally getting noticed by important people, especially people in New York.
She had a few major sales and was contemplating setting up a gallery in her grandmother’s gift shop when the offer came -- a big money contract for an exclusive gallery in New York.
It was her dream, and I fully supported her.
After all, New York was only a forty-minute flight away, or a two-hour drive. Not so bad in the grand scheme of things.
We tried to make it work at first, with Lana coming back to East Hampton, and me flying out to New York as often as possible.
The problem was the time we had together was sparse and limited.
We were both so focused on our careers, neither of us able to slow down for even a moment, that we couldn’t devote the time to our relationship.
It wasn’t the same as it had been when we lived in the same town.
Slowly, we stopped visiting each other, the frequency of our calls dropped, until eventually, we both had to admit it just wasn’t working anymore.
That was five years ago, and since then I’ve tried to keep in touch with Delia and help out in her gift shop when I can, but it’s just been too difficult.
Sarah turns around to look in the direction I’m gazing, and her frown deepens.
“That damn gift shop. If you’re so worried about Delia Cooper and her granddaughter, why don’t you just go in there and visit?”
I shake my head. “I’m sorry. I’m not giving you the attention you deserved. I can visit Delia tomorrow. Why don’t you choose where we go for dinner?”
Sarah bites her bottom lip. “I could go for sushi, if you’re good with that?”
I smile and entwine my fingers with Sarah’s. “I’m good with sushi.”
We walk away from Delia’s gift shop and turn onto the street where Undon Dreams is.
As it’s a Tuesday evening, we’re quickly shown to a table, and then we browse the menu.
As I think about what I want to eat, my thoughts drift back to Delia Cooper.
It’s been about a week since I’ve seen her, now that I think about it.
Our paths don’t cross often since Lana moved to New York, but in a small town like East Hampton, it’s rare that we don’t see each other at all.
I’m always popping into town to buy lunch or grab something for the ranch. Why haven’t I seen Delia recently?
“Sebastian?” Sarah calls my name at a volume louder than she’d typically use in a restaurant, clueing me in on the fact my focus drifted away again.
“Sorry, I was just thinking about Delia?—”
“Oh, for god’s sake, what’s your obsession with that old woman? Are you hoping she’s going to tell you Lana is coming back or something?”
“What? No, of course not. It’s just that I haven’t seen her around town and?—”
“And you get this worked up about all elderly shop owners?”
“No, but you know Delia is important to me,” I say, not really understanding what Sarah is so upset over.
“I know, but it just seems like you’re way too focused on the grandmother of an ex who you haven’t seen in five years. You haven’t even met my grandparents yet, and we’ve been dating for months.”
“Well, you never invited me,” I reply. Why do I feel like Sarah’s issue is about more than just grandparents?
“Sebastian, where do you see our relationship going?”
I blink. Oh, so it’s one of those talks.
“I thought we were having fun and getting to know each other.”
“Fun. Yes,” Sarah replies with a tight-lipped smile.
“What? If you have a problem, Sarah, can you please just come out and say it, instead of making cryptic comments. I’m not a mind reader.”
“I just wonder how serious you are about the two of us -- I mean, you haven’t met any of my family yet. And you only introduced me to your brothers and their partners because I was there when Erin invited you to her and Antony’s engagement party. Would you have asked me to come along, otherwise?”
“Of course,” I say, though it’s not really true. I don’t feel quite there with Sarah, yet. Like I said, we’re having fun and getting to know each other. Why does that have to involve each other’s families?
Sarah huffs out a breath. “I think we should take a break.”
“What, you want to break up?” I question, feeling like this has come out of left field.
“No, I want to take a break. I want you to have a good, long think about what you really want.”
Sarah calls a server over and asks for food to go.
When she has her box of sushi, she turns to me, and says, “Just don’t keep me waiting too long, okay?”
“Okay,” is the only reply I manage to get out. I’m feeling too stunned to say anything more. I sit in silence watching as Sarah walks out of the restaurant, not quite sure what the hell just happened.
Knowing I won’t be able to figure this out alone, and need some outside perspective, I call my brothers.
Thankfully, it’s Antony’s night off, and he’s free to meet up, as are Ryan, and my younger brother Joshua.
Tucker is off in North Carolina somewhere, entering a surf contest, so I don’t bother asking the youngest of my brothers.
I tell them I'm at Undon Dreams, and they ask me to grab food for them too. We arranged to meet at Joshua’s, as he currently lives alone and therefore, we won’t be disturbed by kids. I buy some variety platters, then call a cab to take me across the city to my younger brother’s place.
We all live fairly close to the resort. I live in a little cabin connected to the ranch, while Antony owns a massive townhouse for himself, his twin children, and new fiancée Erin.
Ryan has recently bought a townhouse too, trading in his bachelor apartment, so he can live with the mother of his child, Alicia, and her brood of siblings.
In the last few months, the Braddock family has expanded greatly.
With both of my older brothers finding love.
Ryan had his heart thawed by Antony’s sous chef at the restaurant, a feisty redhead named Alicia, who has since been promoted to the head chef of the newly opened second restaurant at the resort.
Then Antony finally realized what me and Joshua have known for months -- he was in love with his nanny, Erin.
Erin has been in Antony’s life for almost four years, taking over the care of his twins after his wife May was killed.
She was a godsend during the difficult time and has been a rock in Antony’s life ever since.
I’m glad he finally realized just how much he loved her and made their relationship official.
Joshua owns a large townhouse in the nicest area of East Hampton, not far from where both Ryan and Antony live. When our youngest brother Tucker is in town, he usually sleeps in one of Josh’s spare rooms.
When I arrive at Joshua’s, Ryan and Antony are already there, and they’re sitting in the lounge with Josh, each enjoying a bottle of beer.
I let myself in. Me and Josh stopped bothering with making the other knock first a long time ago, and if we know the other hasn’t got female company, we just come straight on into each other’s homes.
“Hey,” I call out in greeting, placing the platters of sushi on the coffee table, and then backtracking to the kitchen to help myself to a beer from the fridge.
“Hey. I thought you were having dinner with Sarah tonight?” Josh replies as I sit down with my bottle of beer and snag a tuna roll.
“We were, and then out of the blue she said she wanted to take a break.”
“What do you mean? Did you have an argument?” Antony asks.
“I don’t think so,” I reply around a mouthful of sushi.
“How can you not know if you had an argument or not?” Ryan questions, draining his bottle of beer, and crossing the living room to the kitchen to grab another.