“Are you in love with my sister?”
There it was. No clever way around it, no answer that could save me without hurting someone.
“I have feelings for her,” I said.
My girlfriend stared at me. “That wasn't what I asked.”
I could have lied again. A part of me wanted to. But after everything, another lie would only make things worse if either sister decided to compare stories later.
“Yes,” I admitted. “I think I am.”
She turned to her sister. “And you?”
Her sister looked at me before answering. “I have feelings for him too.”
My girlfriend let out a short, disbelieving laugh. “Unbelievable. Both of you.”
She asked how long it had been going on. I told her the truth about the dinner, about how I'd realized I was attracted to her sister, and about how we'd grown closer after the breakup. I left out the details that made me look like I'd been planning it all along. I wasn't about to make my own situation worse.
“So while I was trusting you,” she said, looking straight at me, “you were trying to get closer to her?”
I had no clever answer for that.
Her sister tried to defend me, saying I'd helped her through a difficult time and that her feelings hadn't been planned either.
“Don't defend him!” my girlfriend snapped. “You told me he was just helping you. You both let me believe that while this was happening behind my back.”
Her sister fell silent.
For once, I couldn't talk my way out of the room. My girlfriend stood and told me to leave. I wanted to argue, but I knew that anything I said would sound like another excuse, so I walked out.
I spent the night waiting for a message that never came. I wasn't suddenly drowning in guilt. I was wondering whether I'd just lost both sisters because I'd been too greedy to choose one.
The next afternoon, my phone finally rang.
“Come over,” my girlfriend said. Her voice was calm, which worried me more than if she'd been shouting. “My sister's here. We need to settle this.”
I arrived expecting another argument. Instead, they were sitting together on the sofa, and neither looked particularly pleased to see me.
My girlfriend pointed to the chair opposite them.
“Sit down, June.”
I sat.
“We've talked,” she said. “A lot. And before you start trying to explain yourself, we're going to tell you how this is going to work.”
I glanced at her sister. She looked nervous, but she didn't look away.
Then she leaned forward.
“First, June, you need to understand one thing.”
She paused long enough to make me regret every decision that had brought me there.
“This isn't going to happen the way you want it to.”
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