Page 23 of Go Away, Darling

Scott grunted again. “As usual, full of wisdom and caftans.”

He basically moved in after his surprise visit. With my schedule and distractedness, I hadn’t had time to pry thewhyout of my brother, but I was determined to do that soon.

“Just remember,” Scott said suddenly, “we’re all doomed until the old is new again.”

I stared at him for a few long moments wondering if he’d lost his damn mind. “What?”

He shrugged. “When we were struck by lighting. Remember what Grandma Kaine said? We wouldn’t find love until the old was new again.”

I kept staring at him because clearly Scott had lost his marbles in Hollyweird. It was one thing to entertain Grandma’s stories, it was another to believe them.

“Seriously.” He sat forward, ruffled his hair and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. “I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately.”

“Why?” Why would he ever think about Grandma Kaine’s crazy ramblings? I loved the woman, she was my Grandma after all, but she was wacky. Always had been. She read tarot cards and went to psychics. She said lots of crazy things growing up. Sure, we were only struck by lighting the once, but still.

Scott sighed like he was carrying a heavy burden on his shoulders. “You’re married to your work, Ben hides in his cabin, and I . . . ”

He stopped talking mid sentence so I prompted him like a good little brother. “And you are an asshole.”

He glared at me. “Shut up.” Then he frowned. “I mean, I am. I am an asshole. And I can’t seem to get shit right with Lucy.”

Lucy was Scott’s long time girlfriend. She put up with his assholeness, so I considered her a saint. “And you think it's some silly prophecy from our lighting strike instead of, I don’t know, your inability to be less of an asshole?” Maybe the fame had gone to his pretty little head? Because by his logic, my new potential relationship with Olivia was already doomed to fail.

And I was not okay with that.

I remembered Mom and Dad shushing Grandma Kaine and telling her to stop bringing her prophecy up around us kids. Mom and Dad believed firmly that words became reality, so why put that on us? But she didn’t agree. She said the lightning strike was a sign and, combined with her cards, the universe was clear. The old had to be new again before this cycle was complete.

Whatever the hell that meant.

“I’m working on it, okay?” Scott sighed. “But I swear the universe is conspiring against me. We’re good. Solid. I love Lucy and I know she loves me, but every fucking time I start to think I should ask her to marry me, something happens. A shoe drops.”

“What kind of shoe?”

He flinched. “Usually pictures of my good old days. Occasionally a girl I used to party with wanting to sell a story. Stuff like that.”

As was typical, Scott was talking to me about his past. I think he felt safer with me than Ben. We both saw Ben as the older, wiser brother we didn’t want to disappoint, and as a result we avoided confessing our worst sins to him. Ben knew Scott partied hard during his early Hollywood years but he didn’t know the details.

I, unfortunately, did.

“There can’t be much else to hide,” I said. “The stories have been going around for years. Besides, Lucy doesn’t care.” She probably knew more than I did because of who she was. Before she ever met Scott she was a talent agent. If anyone knew all the dirt in the industry, it was her.

“Icare. And I refuse to be the black stain on her life.”

“Got news for you buddy, she’s with you no matter what. You might as well get over yourself and marry her already.”

He shook his head and looked away.

It made me sad for him. He was a good guy who made bad choices when he was young. Almost everyone did something stupid. The difference here was that Scott was already rich and famous when he made his choices. He got pulled in deeper by people who wanted to exploit his position, use his deeds as leverage.

These were all in the past and he’d pulled his life together. To me—and to Lucy—his past didn’t matter. It was the man he became that mattered. But Scott refused to see it that way and was punishing himself. I’d let him do it forever if he wasn’t taking Lucy down with him.

“How about this.” I knew my brother. Knew he liked definitions and goals. “If you go a year without any more drama you let it go. Propose to that woman who loves you and give her the life she deserves.”

That got his attention. “A year?”

“A year. At some point enough time will have passed that even you will have to admit it’s time to move on. Pick a time. Any time.”

“A year,” he said again slowly. “You’re pretty smart for a little brother.” Then he smacked me on the shoulder, put me in a headlock, and gave me a noogie.

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