Picture Perfect

Dillon watched each other, and as always, it niggled something in my head that I still couldn’t access.
    It wasn’t until we were all saying our goodnights and everyone went to leave that I realized what it was about the two of them that I’d noticed but couldn’t quite put my finger on. When everyone had been gathering to leave, Dillon had gotten Dominique’s purse for her. No one else noticed, but I did.
    The reason I noticed was two-fold. One, the purse was brand new. She’d been out with Tessa yesterday and they’d bought matching purses in different colors. The second reason I noticed? Dillon hadn’t been at my house yet when Dominique put her purse down, which meant he shouldn’t have known which one was hers.
    What had niggled me about them from the very beginning was the odd sense of familiarity that they had around each other. They tried too hard to stay away from each other, spent too much time avoiding contact. Now I realized that what my brain had been picking up on the whole time was that they knew each other- probably intimately. I couldn’t be sure that I was right about that part, but I was damn sure that they liked each other. I was also sure that no one else knew that, because they really did go out of their way to act like polite strangers. Interesting. Maybe I was finally starting to figure out the complicated maze that was my puzzle of a sister.
    The next morning I was up bright and early, barely able to contain my nervous energy. As soon as Tess left the house, Jess and I went to the jeweler. I’d made arrangements to park in the back and enter at the employee entrance, and the entire appointment would be taking place in a private office. I had no problem letting the world know that Tessa was going to be my wife, but I needed HER to know that first.
    Two trays of engagement rings that were here size were brought out, but I spotted the one I wanted before either of the trays were set down. Reaching forward, I picked up a square cut diamond surrounded by chocolate diamonds. The platinum band was encased in chocolate diamonds as well, and I just felt like it was the ring. I twirled it in my fingers and looked at it from every angle, smiling at how perfect it was.
    Turning to Jess I said, “I think this is it, unless you tell me you think she’ll hate it. The chocolate diamonds remind me of her eyes. What do you think?”
    Eyes wet with tears she beamed at me. “It’s so perfectly her, and so funny, too. You are just always going to have a thing for her eyes, aren’t you? I’ve never seen anything like it.”
    I didn’t think I’d ever said anything in front of Jess about Tessa’s eyes, and I looked at her in confusion. “How do you know that?”
    Gasping, her hand flew up and covered her mouth as her eyes went wide. “Oh, my God. Flynn, you can’t say anything. She will literally light me on fire and burn me in effigy in your backyard for blabbing.”
    Putting up a hand to halt her from speaking, I turned to the jeweler and pulled out my black Amex card from my wallet to hand it to him. “That’s the one. Can you box it up for me right now?”
    With a swift nod, the jeweler smiled at me. “Of course Mr. Rand. I will return in a few minutes.”
    When the door closed behind him, I looked back at Jess. “Okay, what is it that I don’t know?”
    Twisting her hands in her lap, she looked around the room for a minute before looking at me.
    “I’m sure you don’t even remember this because it’s something lead singers do. You pick a person in the audience to focus on and sing to, like a talisman for the night. Duh! Look who I’m explaining this too. Jesus. Anyway, six years ago, Tessa and I were front row center at your concert in Philadelphia. For almost three solid hours, you sang right to her. Your eyes were like laser beams for her. It was, hands down, one of the most erotic things I’ve ever seen. The most intense part was during the encore when you sang Devour to her. Oh my Lord, I think the girl needed an industrial strength fire hose to cool down. I never saw you sing to another girl like that again, but I guess that’s because the subsequent tours haven’t been as wild and sexual. I’ve always teased her about that night, even bought a bootleg DVD of the concert from eBay and…” Throwing her hand over her mouth, she shook her head. “Yeah, I’m going to shut up now.”
    The lack of oxygen going to my brain was alarming, and I felt dizzy as that night