Even the shy, toothy smile he flashed me in greeting was all Alex. My God, did he ever look like my brother. My voice was surprisingly shaky as I said, Alex? He did not look up as I approached so I cleared my throat. Alex, or his lookalike, was sitting at the counter perusing the menu. I stood, but as I walked past my sister she clamped her hand on my wrist. He’s my brother and I’m gonna talk to him. Well, knowing Dad, that wouldn’t surprise me. I don’t know, but I’m telling you, if it’s not Alex it’s.like I said, maybe Dad had another son he never told us about. Sure, Vi.that’s exactly what I was thinking. So what? You’re thinking Alex miraculously recovered from whatever happened to him, de-aged, and teleported to New Mexico just to say hello? Okay, the hoodie is kind of a coincidence. "I know, right? Exactly the way Alex looked in college. In fact, he looks the way Alex used to look back when he was in college." Forget the fact that Alex is in Atlanta hanging on to life by a thread and could not possibly be sitting at the counter of a diner in New Mexico. " sure looks like him, I’ll give you that." I promise you, either it’s him or he has a twin Dad never told us about. Just assuming you’re not using our brother’s life-threatening medical condition to play some sort of practical joke. Hey, I’m just giving you the benefit of the doubt. You don’t have to be such a bitch about it. Kyle’s worried he might die and he wanted the family to be together. Or something pretty damn close to a coma. And why are we here? Don’t remember? Because we’re going to Atlanta to be with Alex who’s in the hospital. So Wednesday I drove something like seventeen hours to pick you up at your dorm, then yesterday we drove another twelve hours to get here. Tuesday afternoon I received a text from Kyle that something was wrong with Alex and he wanted us to come down ASAP. Maybe you’re suffering from some sort of stress-induced amnesia and have forgotten the events of the past two days, so let me recap. Because you are my favorite baby sister, I’m going to try and be patient with you. She picked up the fork and resumed her assault on her short stack. Looks like he got a haircut and maybe lost some weight, but it’s him. What about Alex? She fixed her dark eyes on me and put down her fork. My God, Kim, what? She glanced at me briefly to show her annoyance, then went back to her gratuitous carb-fest. Hmm? She did not look up from her plate of pancakes. Actually, it was pretty darn near impossible for him to be there at all, so the fact that he had just walked through the door either meant the impossible had happened, or I was crazy. MY BROTHER WAS THE last person I expected to see as I sat across from my sister in that half-deserted diner in Who the Hell Knows Where, New Mexico. Please do not engage in unauthorized redistribution. This book is the copyrighted property of the author.
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