Page 38 of Dreams
Taylor grabbed his hand. “This is going to be hard for you, isn’t it?”
He nodded, leaning his head back to stare at the ceiling. “He’s been calling me, and now he’s coming here with Dad. I don’t know what’s going on. Why now?”
“Were you guys ever close?” she asked, stroking her thumb against the back of his hand.
“When we were younger, we were inseparable. Michaela’s family has been close to ours for forever, so I was always trailing after the two of them.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her free hand playing with his hair. “I can’t imagine ever hating my sister.”
“I don’t hate him,” he said after a moment. “At least, I don’t think I do. I don’t want to hate him. I want him to be my brother again. But after everything… I don’t know if that’s possible.”
“It’s okay to move past it,” she said, smiling at the way she reformed his own words. “It’s okay to miss him.”
“I think I’ve heard that before.” He chuckled.
“Yeah, well, it’s good advice.”
“Will you go with me to see them? I don’t think I can do it alone and there’s no way I’m taking Mack.”
She considered it for a moment before looking him straight in the eye. “Of course I will.”
“I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“Back at you, buddy.”
He chose to ignore the ‘buddy’ remark and imagine it was just the two of them - no dead boyfriends to grieve, no brother to forgive, no coach/father to please. Just the two of them and all the time in the world.
