Page 24 of Wish For Me

I may be 28 years old, but whenever we’re home, Dan and I still have the dynamic we did when we were teenagers.

When I pick up the extension in the kitchen I put on my best angry sister voice. “Dan!”

“Uh, I—” the voice on the other end of the line stutters.

My older brother reverts to his regular voice. “Sorry man, just messing with you.”

“DAN!”

He hangs up.

“Hello?” I say the word tentatively even though I know who it is.

“Hey.”

My heart patters in my chest. It’s not just Dan. All of this is making me feel like a teenager again.

I grin as Leif’s voice sends a shimmer of warmth over me. I need to grow up, but for the moment, I sink into the feel of him.

“Sorry about my brother,” I say. “I don’t think he matured past fifteen. It’s some kind of condition.”

Leif laughs and the sound makes me close my eyes and lean back against the wall.

“Well, my grandfather’s 83 and he snort-laughed when he heard me say, ‘I’m sorry Mr. Pritchard, sir’,” Leif says.

“Okay, I would have loved to hear that too.”

“Well, I just called to say I’m leaving my grandparents’ place now. I’ll be there in five.”

“See you soon.”

After he hangs up, I stand there a moment, my back to the kitchen wall, the receiver cradled against my chest. Then the sounds of the action game grow louder, and Dan appears, wearing one of two Santa hats mom stuck on our heads when she picked us up at the airport yesterday.

Dan waggles his brows at me as he heads for the fridge. “How’s your boyfriend?”

I roll my eyes, hanging up the phone. “He’s a friend.”

“You get Mom to help you put makeup on for all your friend hangouts?”

I scowl, grabbing the beer he’s pulled out of the fridge from his hand. I crack it and take a sip.

“Never seen someone need liquid courage to hang out with a friend either.”

“Shut up.” I hand him back the beer.

“You’re welcome.”

“Thank you.”

“It’s okay to be interested in someone new, you know,” Dan says with uncharacteristic seriousness. “From what I hear he’s better than that dipshit Patrick.”

I laugh. “The bar is low.”

Dan hands me the beer again, but I shake my head. “Not good form to show up tipsy to a date.” At his look, I glare. “Frienddate. But even if we were more than that, it’s not like there’s any future for us. Our lives have us attached to the opposite sides of the country.”

“Nothing wrong with an occasional hookup.”

I roll my eyes. “What a very dude thing to say.”

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