“Come on, what’s your dream?”

“You mean six two, dark hair, blue eyes, big bank account and nice ass?”

“Is that it?”

“Jesus, I don’t know. If anything…” His gaze went away a moment, then he shook his head. “Never mind.”

“Tell me.”

“It’s dumb.”

“And I’m your dumb, drunk, jilted brother. Indulge me.”

Minor laughed, eyes circling the ceiling. “I always figured I’d know a guy was the one by the way he said my name. My real name. My whole life, Erik never sounded like it belonged to me. It’s a word on a piece of paper. I have no connection to it. I can’t even connect it to me through Major. We both share this name that’s…” Minor gestured to the smoky air around him. “Out there somewhere. When I get really dark and broody, I think the name Erik belongs to the part of me that died with my twin.”

Kennet’s hairline tightened as his brows flew up. “My whole life, I think I can count on one hand the number of times you’ve mentioned her.”

“Yeah. Anyway, I was out at Major’s place once, digging up stumps. I heard Johnny calling him from inside the house. Something mundane like, ‘Erik, where’s the bottle opener?’ The hair on the back of my neck went up. Even though he wasn’t calling to me, it was like I heard the sound of my own name for the first time. Or rather…how my name would sound if a lover called me, wondering where something was in the house. Our house. I could imagine a life like that. I’d still be Minor Fiskare, but at home, someone who knew me best would call me Erik.

“Ever since, I’ve had this notion that if I met a guy and one day he said something ordinary like, ‘Erik, you got a match?’ And it sounded good in my ears and made the hair on my arms and neck stand up… He’d be the one.” Minor smiled. “But I’ve been taught to be realistic, so it’s wiser to say he could be the one.”

“Well, I hope someday he comes along.”

“You’re serenading me with Gershwin now? Please don’t.”

They had a last cigarette and finished their brandies.

“I’m really sorry about the baby,” Minor said. “I mean it. I don’t know why, but… Just made me so sad. Astrid was special. We all fell a little in love with her and I know it was only a few weeks, but I really thought she was your one.”

“Whose little girl aren’t you?”

“Jesus H, I’m sorry.”

“Anyway, this little Canadian jaunt has been a tonic. And I’m grateful. I’ll get over the heartbreak, but a world without you isn’t survivable.”

“Thank you,” Minor said softly.

“For?”