Page 116 of His Virgin Romance Series

“Hey, you,” she said.

“Hi,” I said, unable to match her tone.

“Is everything all right?” she asked, and immediately her voice changed. It was almost like she was dreading what I might say next.

“Uh… I’m not sure,” I said honestly.

There was a second or two of silence on the other end. “Whatever it is, Jared, you can tell me. Don’t worry about anything; just tell me.”

I paused for a moment. “It’s about my brother,” I said.

“What?”

I could tell that she hadn’t expected that even a little bit. I’d taken her by surprise, but there was also relief in tone. I realized that she had probably thought I was calling to tell her that I wanted to make a clean break and just end things with her for good.

“My brother…Paul,” I said. “I’ve been thinking about him a lot since my arrest.”

This was obviously violating our unspoken rule, but I didn’t care. I wanted to talk to Rachel. And that made me realize that she was more than just my girlfriend…she was my best friend, too.

“Of course,” Rachel said, after a moment. “You haven’t seen him in a long time, have you?”

“Two and a half years,” I replied. “We’ve had absolutely no contact. And, I think I owe you an apology.”

“Me?” Rachel asked in shock. “You owe me an apology?”

“I accused you of turning your back on me when I did the same thing to my own brother,” I said.

“That’s sweet of you to say, Jared,” Rachel said gently. “But your brother was guilty of the crime he was accused of. You were not.”

“I feel like it’s a small detail.”

“Is it?” she asked. “I’m not so sure.”

“Yes, he was guilty.” I nodded. “He admitted that himself… But there were a hundred different reasons he chose to make those decisions. I may not have agreed with him, but turning my back on him was not the right thing to do, whether he was right or wrong. At the end of the day, he’s still my brother.”

“I agree,” Rachel replied.

“He was my hero, you know,” I said.

“You mentioned that he was.”

“I looked up to him like no one else,” I continued, thinking about how nice it was to be able to talk to someone about Paul. “It wasn’t like I had a lot of role models in my life. My father was a drunk and a deadbeat. But Paul… He was everything Dad wasn’t. At least, I thought so at the time. He was confident and sure of himself. He was decisive and in control. He commanded respect, even when he was sixteen years old.”

“He was forced to grow up fast,” she observed softly.

“I suppose he was.” I nodded. “It wasn’t until I was sitting in my cell that I really allowed myself to think about him. Can you imagine, going years without speaking to a sibling?”

“Right now, I can,” Rachel said. “But my situation is a little different to yours. We may both have brothers in jail for the same crime, but I never respected or admired Brent like you did with Paul.”

I paused. This was the first time we were discussing Brent, and I could tell from Rachel’s tone that there was a lot there that she hadn’t told me. I hadn’t even asked if her parents knew about Brent. I hadn’t asked her if she was planning on visiting him. The questions were all on the tip of my tongue, but Rachel spoke before I got the chance to voice any of them.

“You feel guilty, don’t you,” Rachel asked. “About not having visited Paul in so long?”

“Guiltier than you can imagine,” I said.

“Well, then you have to correct it the only way you can,” Rachel said. “Which is to go and see him. It’s better late than never.”

I smiled. “That is exactly what I’m planning on doing,” I said. “I’m going to New York this coming Sunday.”

---