Page 96 of Sing For Me

“It’s not that I don’t like him…”

She raises a brow.

“Okay, it’s not that I don’t love him. I do—he’s my brother. But Jude and I have always had a…complicated relationship. We’ve just always been competitive. He has to beat me at every goddamned thing.”

“And you don’t?”

I tip my head back, wishing very much that our conversation didn’t turn this way. But she has a point. Jude doesn’t always start every competition—I do too.

“You ever think he just looks up to you? That he’s seeking your approval?”

“By kicking my ass at sprints?”

Reese sighs. “I don’t know, Eli. I just see the way he looks at you. Like he wants you to see him.”

I clench my jaw. “Jude doesn’t need any help being seen.”

“You’d be surprised,” she says softly.

Something prickly goes over me as I take her in, the way she looks down a moment before meeting my eye again. Reese needed help being seen. She still does. It’s why she wants to bring Nora to the show. Reese confessed to me Nora and Michelle are the only other people besides me who ever mention her singing. Everyone else either doesn’t know or is afraid to ask.

“You’re right,” I say, running my thumb along her chin. “Okay. I’ll ask Nora and Jude.”

Reese grins, then rises up and kisses me.

And I forget all about singing for the time being.

* * *

I release a breath when we walk into Bean There that night—just as I hoped, the crowd is small. Though there aren’t more than twenty tables in the whole place, at the concert we went to here, almost every table was full. Tonight, it’s only about half. But Jude and Nora are already seated at the table in the dead center of the room. Jude’s sprawled out in his chair while Nora’s sitting primly, tapping the video camera on the table. They haven’t seen us yet.

“Did Nora tell you she was going to be filming?” I ask, as much as I want to direct Reese’s attention away from the camera, lest it make her even more nervous. I take her guitar so she can take her coat off.

To my surprise Reese doesn’t seem to be rattled about that. Maybe that’s because she’s already nervous as hell. Her eyes are pinned to the stage, which is currently empty. “Nora films everything,” she says absently.

It’s true, Nora’s never without that camera.

“There she is, the star of the night!” Jude exclaims as we approach. He claps his hands overly loudly, and a few heads turn toward us.

I cringe. “Can’t take this guy anywhere,” I mutter under my breath.

Reese smiles tightly. “I’m going to get us some drinks,” she says, kissing my cheek.

“I’ll go with you,” Nora says quickly, before I can offer.

“Something I said?” my idiot brother asks as I settle in the seat across from him.

I hook the guitar strap over Reese’s chair. “Ya think?”

Jude looks genuinely confused.

I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose. I told him on the phone that she didn’t want to make a big deal about being here. “Maybe just give her a moment to adjust to being here, or there’s no chance she’s going to get up on stage.”

Jude looks genuinely wounded, and I remember Reese’s words last night. That Jude just wants me to see him.

“I like the enthusiasm though…” I almost saybuddy, like Jude’s a little kid again. Maybe that’s the thing. Jude’s a lot like Peter Pan or something—he seems like he never grew up, even though he’s the first of us siblings to have a kid. “Jude,” I finish lamely.

“I just think it’s cool,” Jude says, shrugging.

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