I crawl back into the bed with him.
He opens his eyes. He sees me. And smiles. As if he’d been waiting for just this moment to wake and see me.
Ah, God. How he sees me. My heart aches for him. All of me does.
“Hi,” he says in that broken voice. “Okay?”
I nod. “I need to go home.”
He waits.
“I want you to come with me.”
“To the Green Monstrosity?”
“Yeah. There’s something I need to do.”
“I’m not going to like this, am I?”
I kiss him lightly. “Probably not. But if it ends like I think it will, then none of that will matter anymore.”
“I need to call Stacey,” he says. “Check in with her first.”
“She says to call her tomorrow, that Ben is fine. They had a blast on their trip. Seems Ben likes cotton candy far too much and Mickey gave him a hug.”
He smiles. “Oh yeah? And when did she say that?”
“Earlier. We talked.”
“Good?”
“Good.”
He holds me close.
“YOU SURE about this?” I ask, looking out the window at the Green Monstrosity.
He snorts. “Are you asking for me or for you?”
“For you, of course.” That’s a total lie.
“I’m fine,” he says cheerfully.
Bastard. “Lucky you,” I mutter. I get out of the SUV. He meets me around front. He kisses me once.
Then the door opens.
Bear.
I don’t know which one of us runs first. Maybe we both start at the same time. But one moment we’re watching each other, and the next we’re crashing into each other and I’m struggling to maintain composure as my brother hugs me as hard as he can. I allow myself to think how high that kite flies for just a moment, but then it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that despite everything that happened to us, Bear and I survived. We might not be perfect. Far from it, in fact. We think too much. We worry too much. We never stop talking. But that’s okay. We’re alive and there’s the possibility of a future, however uncertain it might be.
That’s enough.
“SO YOU guys are fucking now?” Bear asks evenly as he leans against the counter.
Okay, maybe it wasn’t enough. “Bear!” I yelp, shocked.
“Oh Lord,” Otter groans.